Rose - the queen of flowers, appeared many centuries ago, becoming the subject of admiration for writers, musicians and artists, one of the favorite images in art. A penchant for nature, attention to wildlife affected the frequent appearance of pink flowers in the paintings of the Pre-Raphaelites (John William Waterhouse "Pick the Roses Quickly", 1908; "My Sweet Rose (The Soul of a Rose)", 1908). Simple plots with roses were endowed with deep meanings, full of symbols or carried a message.
Roses in landscapes and still lifes of the Impressionists (E. Manet "Lilacs and Roses", 1882; K. A. Korovin "Roses", 1912; P. I. Petrovichev "Still Life. Roses", 1920) - this is what we see - beautiful flowers.Artists of this trend abandoned eternal plots and motifs, embellishment of images and objects. They conveyed the impression of the natural beauty of nature, plots, colors and light. Beauty is in naturalness, the Impressionists believed.
The painting "Pink Mood" by artist Tatyana Rusakova shows a rose bush. Four pale pink blooming buds look up and barely sway in the wind. This impression comes from flowers. Technically, the picture combines the classical traditions in painting: it is made in oil and on a dark background. Short strokes, lack of contours and detailed drawing of inflorescences are reminiscent of the work of the Impressionists.
On the one hand, the artist remained faithful to the traditions of realistic depiction, and on the other hand, he belonged to the new time, the era of modernism. Manet wanted his paintings to have a sense of immediacy, so instead of painstakingly reworking the details he struggled with, he erased them almost completely, leaving only the lowest layer, and repainted them to look fresh. The artist said this: "When you get it, you get it. When you don't, you start again. Everything else is nonsense."
What are the roses talking about? About love, passion, tenderness, about a fairy tale and the reality of being ... About ourselves, revealing to us the essence of human nature, inextricably linked with the beauty of the earth.
Art review by curator Ksenia Redina
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