Maiden

Fragile figure of a young girl stood on the edge of a winter forest. Above her head is the dark night sky, some sparkling stars, far away on the horizon, barely visible lights of the village Windows. Light drifting snow hazy gauze hides the outlines of the trees and huts in the background, on a thick snow layer is imprinted deep traces, coming from the forest. In front of us "Maiden"— a famous painting by Viktor Mikhailovich Vasnetsov, written in 1899.

His appearance this canvas owes to the friendship of the great artist Savva Mamontov, a Russian entrepreneur and patron of the arts. In 1881 he was writing an idea to present a theatrical production of the play "the snow maiden", written by Ostrovsky. It offers Vasnetsov to work on the scenery of the future performance, and the artist gives their consent — because for him this was an opportunity to get a new artistic experience.

A few years later Vasnetsov had to do the stage design for the Opera by Rimsky-Korsakov, and then he decides on creating their own paintings on the subject. And there was a picture of Victor Vasnetsov the snow maiden.

The play Ostrovsky is a literary presentation of the famous folk tale about the daughter of Frost, who defied her father's ban and left to people. In the picture Vasnetsov the snow maiden, we see a young girl, whose face reflects inner struggle: she really want to go to people, but she is afraid of the unknown, of what awaited her among strangers and strange people. She seemed frozen in a half-turn, solving a difficult question: to go back home to my father before it's too late?

The painting by Viktor Vasnetsov the snow maiden edge of the forest with young trees on the edge of the brightly lit lunar light, which allows you to see intricate patterns on warm clothes, a chain of hare tracks and slightly shifted in anxious meditation girly eyebrows. Which way to go — whether to continue on a dangerous path, to turn back? Grew up among the forest dwellers the girl of long ago beckon cheerful songs and laughter, often coming from the side of the village, she wants to meet these people, be like them. However, her father warned against such a step, convinced that in the woods she'd be safe. What if he's wrong?

Viktor Mikhailovich Vasnetsov painting "the snow maiden" became one of the most important jobs: he worked on this canvas for several years, seeking to transfer to canvas the knowledge of the depths of the Russian soul, which he learned from popular folklore and his trips around the country. The public reaction was positive: the artist's contemporaries admired the skill with which the artist managed to connect heaven and earth. According to critics, none of the artists could never accurately convey the beauty of Russian women, as it was Vasnetsov.

Today to admire a painting by Vasnetsov the snow maiden in one of the halls of the Tretyakov gallery.