Overview of the painting Vasnetsov “Snow Maiden”, 1899 
- Author: Viktor Mikhailovich Vasnetsov
- Museum: Tretyakov Gallery
- Year: 1899
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Overview of the painting :
Snow Maiden – Viktor Mikhailovich Vasnetsov. Oil on canvas. 116 x 80 cm
Snow Maiden is a favorite fairy character of Christmas holidays. Vasnetsov creates his picture clearly under the influence of the fairy tale of Ostrovsky and the opera Rimsky-Korsakov.
Fairly beautiful night: snowy forest, flooded with moonlight, starry sky. The snow-cracker has just left the forest, it is ready to take the first step towards people. In the distance you can see the lights of the village. At this moment, she, frightened, pale, but decisive, last looks back at her house – the forest. It seems that her eyes are full of tears, and in the next moment you realize that Snow Maiden cannot cry.
Before the heroine, a barely noticeable trap or trap. The trees are surrounded by radiance, in which you can see the eyes and wide open mouths. Native forest warns Snow Maiden of danger. On the left, behind the fabulous heroine, the human silhouette is easily read. Does Mother Spring accompany her, Father Moroz…
Anxiety fills the picture, a premonition of trouble. No, Snow Maiden will pass the trap for the beast. But soon she will fall into a completely different trap. Yarilo-Sun will kill the daughter of Moroz and Spring for knowing love without being a man.
The lights of the village look unkind, like a monster from the dark. It’s not easy for Snow Maiden to make a choice. But the very next moment, she boldly steps towards a new, alien, unknown.
Her outfit (jump, mittens, hat) absorbed all the shades of snow, forest, sky. Dazzlingly white snow, blue-green night, young Christmas trees in the foreground – everything in the picture is prescribed with extraordinary accuracy, reliability. The tale does not tolerate lies.