Girl with a cat, Kram – overview of the painting 
- Posted by Ivan Nikolaevich Kramskaya
- Museum: Museum of Russian Art, Kiev
- Year: 1882
Overview of the painting :
The girl with the cat is Ivan Nikolaevich Kramskaya. 1882. Oil on canvas. 71 x 58 cm
It was in portraits that the greatest talent of Ivan Nikolaevich Kramsky was revealed, although his work on a historical and religious topic is no less beautiful.
He seized the very essence, looked for a person in a person, was not afraid of unexpected angles, paid a special role to the image of the face and hands and created a completely new interpretation of the children’s portrait.
The presented canvas depicts the artist’s daughter – this is Sofia. Like a thin lyric and a brave colorist, a master opens here. His daughter is on the verge of moving from childhood to youth, but the viewer will not find any love for freshness and youth here. All from the fact that the artist always saw equal models in children, building his artistic dialogue, first of all, with full-fledged personalities. Kramsky was often reproached for the excessive psychology of children’s portraits.
Here is the face of a girl who lay down on the sofa, seriously, and her eyes are thoughtful. The heroine is immersed in adult thoughts. The broken pose is balanced by soft, gentle outlines of the cat. Very expressive hands and especially long thin fingers.
Kramsky’s attitude with his daughter was very friendly, to say the least – these two native people adored each other. According to the artist’s work, you can clearly see how his daughter grew up and prettier, since the master left many of her portraits. The fate of the girl was sad: she was repressed and, avoiding execution, spent a long time in exile. Kramskaya did not find this anymore …