The Abolition of Serfdom in Russia

The underdeveloped Tsarist Russia only began to match western Europe politically and economically in the 1800s. The country became weaker after being defeated in the Crimean War (1853–1856) and as a result of peasants’ revolts, so the government was eventually forced to adopt some reforms. The peasants’ reform laid the foundations of the country’s industrial development. No progress was possible without free work, and serfdom, which concerned 47 million inhabitants, was no longer viable. On 19 February 1861, in the sixth year of the reign of Tsar Alexandr II, serfdom was abolished.

The painting depicts a cold March afternoon in the Red Square in Moscow, in front of Saint Basil’s Cathedral. The towers of the Kremlin rise in the background. On the right of the cathedral – built by Ivan the Terrible in the 16th century – there is a round platform which the Tsar’s order to abolish serfdom was announced on 5 March 1861. After the announcement it is being left by the officials. The rural people stay in the square and their faces show that each of them perceives their acquired freedom in his/her own way. Some of them are happy about new opportunities while others do not know what to do.

Above the towers of Saint Basil’s Cathedral, the first rays of the sun, symbolising dawn and freedom, are gradually forcing their way through the thick fog. Alphonse Mucha created this painting in 1914–1915, having returned from his 1913 study trip to Russia. He changed his original intention to paint the abolition of serfdom in Russia as a glorious historic event because he had learned about the oppression and the real living standard of the ordinary Russian people.