vrubel at nightfall 1900 Mikhail Vrubel (1856-1910)

Description of Mikhail Vrubel’s painting By Night

Many critics refer this painting to the most mystical period of Mikhail Vrubel’s oeuvre. The beauty and indeed the mysticism is mesmerizing. Night is near, the moon is visible. But there are horses grazing in the poppy field, and next to them a shepherd. But this is the one that fascinates.

Only his back is visible, no face is visible, and it makes you wonder: who is in front of us? Considering that Vrubel always depicts demons and mystical birds, we can imagine who is herding the horses. Well, yes, the same Pan. A waist-deep poppy field hides both the animals and the unusual shepherd, and the night does not give a good look at the characters. But it seems as if the artist himself is shining a lantern on them and quickly sketches them, so that they do not quickly disappear. But they can, they are mystical people.

But let’s say Pan will disappear, but horses won’t. They will just change their color from red to brown. And once again will be a simple animal, not the companions of someone extraordinary.

Vrubel is amazingly subtle about the connection between nature and the mystical world, and gives it a larger concept than our simple understanding of myth or fairy tale. It is as if he is letting us know that our two worlds, the real and the mystical, are side by side, if you just look closely at certain things, or go out into the fields to the shepherds. And at dusk, at first it will seem to you that they are people like people, but by nightfall... Behind their stories, behind their tales and tall tales, you start to forget who you are talking to and what you are listening to. You find yourself in some otherworldly world, but you have a palpable sense that you are still in the field, and the horses are nearby. That’s probably what the Master wanted to convey. And it seems he succeeded.

I don’t know what we can imagine in the night... But then, as an adult, we will have something to remember and tell our children and grandchildren. But they will definitely think that it’s all fairy tales.