“Spring”, Arkady Alexandrovich Plastov – overview of the painting 
- Posted by Arkady Alexandrovich Plastov
- Museum: Tretyakov Gallery
- Year: 1954
Overview of the painting :
Spring – Arkady Alexandrovich Plastov.
1954, the beginning of Khrushchev thawed. For the first time at an exhibition at the Academy of Arts of the USSR A.AND. Plastics show a very rare chamber picture for his work, full of love and tenderness. The canvas evokes conflicting opinions, but is exhibited with great success in many countries, and in the 1960s it was acquired by the Tretyakov Gallery.
In the center of the image, we see a young naked girl who ran out of the bath for a moment. Sowing on the courts, she ties a large gray-brown scarf with a wide light coffee strip on her daughter.
Against the background of gray logs, her beautiful body gently glows with gentle creamy-white and pale-pink hues, flickers in the sun with mother-in-law. With warm peach, pink and beige tones, the artist emphasizes the summer tan that has almost gone down. A wedding ring glistens on his right hand. Thick golden red hair in waves descends on its back. With an affectionate smile, mom looks at a little daughter who obediently froze in front of her.
The baby is very focused. Having bitten her lower sponge and covered her eyes, she waits for a scarf to be tied and she can run away to the house. A wet chestnut banged to the forehead. The girl is already wearing a black fur coat, on her legs are boots with galoshes. Small fingers press one mittens to the bench, and the other stands out on a golden straw bedding with a bright green spot.
The master adds some bright spots in the foreground. A green bucket full of water stands against the wall. Dark red and motley washed underwear lies in the copper basin standing on the bench. Amber, honey shades of bright yellow straw, which is covered with a dressing room, add a canvas of light.
The whole background of the picture is occupied by the image of a small wooden can. The logs of grayish brown with black shadows in the depths of the cracks rested a bit, the slits are clogged with sand and olive bags. The boards of the door open and the logs above it turned black, because the bath was drowned in black, all the smoke went out through the door. Thin dry blade of grass are visible on the flat roof.
In the long run, silhouettes of village houses against the background of the ash and gray sky. The fields were almost freed from loose snow. Large wet trees spread branches with bird nests. A cow roams slowly on the sour land. Soft fluffy snowflakes quietly fall from the sky and immediately melt, touching the ground.
The picture is filled with fresh, wet and slightly bitter spring air. Spring is on the doorstep! The audience admires the beauty of the canvas so far, not without reason they called it “North Venus.”.