The barn

Alexey Gavrilovich Venetsianov • Painting, 1821, 80.5×66.5 cm
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About the artwork
Art form: Painting
Subject and objects: Genre scene
Style of art: Realism
Technique: Oil
Materials: Canvas
Date of creation: 1821
Size: 80.5×66.5 cm
Artwork in selections: 27 selections

Description of the artwork «The barn»

Picture "The barn" the first time and the most famous masterpiece of Alexey Venetsianov, which is stored in the State Russian Museum (St. Petersburg). Here are a few little-known facts about him.

"The threshing floor" – creative competition with the French painter Granet
This work Venetsianov considered to be the quintessence of Russian life and the Russian spirit. But few know that she was conceived as a "response" to the French painter Francois Marius Granet. The fact that Venetsianov, who has made a cornerstone of its system of air perspective, intensively studied also the linear term. He was absolutely fascinated with how filled with the prospect of the Granet "Interior view of the choir in the Church of the Capuchin monastery in the Piazza Barberini in Rome" and spent many hours in the Hermitage for its contemplation. Since the Italian form of the French painter inspired the emergence of the Russian masterpiece.

For picture Venetsianov ordered his peasants to cut at the premises of the floor front wall
By and large, this is the only Convention in a completely realistic picture. On this emergency measure had to go because in front of Venetsianova were two mutually exclusive tasks. On the one hand, it needs to be closer to nature to convey the inner space of the threshing floor. On the other hand, he wanted the light in the painting was the most natural. Of course, the dark space did not allow to solve both tasks, so it was decided to withdraw the front wall.

The figures on the canvas similar to staying newsreels
Some viewers Venetsianov irritate the frozen poses in his paintings. People are often depicted as if deliberately stopped to give myself to draw. Partly this accusation is just. And the painting "the threshing Floor" the peasants are forced to look fixed up for certain actions. The seated woman in the left corner slowly unwinds leggings. The farmer in homespun coat and bast on the right stood eerily still, leaning on the frame of the wall. One of the women, having put the hand with the hammer, something he says the retail sector; the second melancholy looks into the distance (it is believed that this is the only figure in the painting, which passed the psychological dynamics). Installation on some static was a conscious choice Venetsianov. He preferred to show the moment of stop, to vividly highlight inner depth.

Work on the painting was so tense that the artist got sick
The process of writing was so fascinated by you that he was working on a painting all day, and when night fell, couldn't wait until dawn again to begin writing. He has invested in "the Barn" all of my perfect perceptions of the value of peasant labor, knowing that will remain misunderstood by most colleagues and not appreciated by the audience. Upon completion of the work Venetsianov felt such devastation that even came down.

Unexpectedly for the authors, when the painting was bought by Emperor Alexander I
"The barn" was presented at the Academic exhibition in 1824. As expected Venetsianov, his colleagues ridiculed the painting and, from the height of his academic training, he subjected her to devastating criticism. The amazement of the artist knew no bounds when he was informed that the film wants to buy the Emperor. Of course, this Venetsianov immediately formed a circle of admirers and lovers, his paintings began to buy and not particularly valuable until the artist felt the sweetness of recognition.

Author: Anna Yesterday
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