“Girls with a letter”, Nikolai Alexandrovich Yaroshenko – overview of the painting 
- Posted by Nikolay Alexandrovich Yaroshenko
- Museum: Buryat Museum. Sampilova
- Year: 1892
Overview of the painting :
Girls with a letter – Nikolay Alexandrovich Yaroshenko. Oil on canvas.
The works of Yaroshenko have a depth: in each of his works there is artistic mastery, and motives for social justice, and a deep, intuitive morality.
Yaroshenko was a subtle observer: even the smallest detail did not slip away from his gaze.
The artist, who perfectly showed himself as a landscape painter, portrait painter and author of plot compositions, this time showed his talent by portraying two girls immersed in reading some kind of message.
As stated in the letter, it is impossible to know for sure. It can be a love message: then we explain the joy written on the face of a girl who sits in a wicker chair and her friend’s sad smile. She is obviously glad of the happiness of others, but she is quietly sad because everything is not so successful in her life. If you pay attention to the fact that she is wearing a simple black dress (probably she is in mourning), you can guess that she lost her loved one.
The icon at the top of the canvas as if sanctifies everything that happens with its presence. The audience feels joyful calm: the deceased gained a better destiny, and a new love, a sacred feeling, will last long and bring happiness to his beloved. The divine inspires hope that the survivor will not suffer more trials, and quiet and tasteless happiness will not be destroyed by the intervention of sudden ills.
However, there is a possibility that the letter is not at all a love one; perhaps this is just a letter from a relative living in the distance, and the feelings of the girls are explained very differently.
The main thing that the painter wanted to portray is a sense of friendly unity. The troubles that befell do not matter compared to the happiness of a friend. If a friend is happy, this is sufficient reason for a face darkened with sorrow and the heart filled with joy.