March in a Village

Arkady Plastov’s artistic style developed under the influence of the Itinerant school and the masters of the Russian Artists’ Union. From the mid-1930s Plastov turned to the traditions of Russian open-air and genre painting. Typically his works utilize a plain layout and communicate the desired emotional state through states of nature, the large figures generally placed in the foreground and cheerful bright colors. The surroundings and inhabitants of Prislonikha village in Ulyanovsk region, where Plastov spent most of his life, were his main sources of inspiration.

In his painting “The Countryside in March” the artist lovingly recreates a scene from the everyday life of a Russian village. Plastov reveals the beauty of the colors of the thawing March snow, in its blue, azure and rosy tints. The main figures are highlighted in bright shades: a horse with the sun gleaming off its coat, a woman in a colorful skirt and a boy beside her.