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Moscow Courtyard
Vasily Polenov · Realism & Academic
- Artist
- Vasily Dmitrievich Polenov (1844–1927)
- Date
- 1878
- Dimensions
- 64.5 x 80.1 cm
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Location
- Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, Russia
Moscow Courtyard shows a sunny grassy courtyard in an old quarter of Moscow on a summer morning. Children play on the grass, a woman carries a bucket, a horse waits harnessed to a cart, and the domes and bell tower of a church rise behind the wooden houses.
A closer look
Polenov painted the view from the window of the apartment he rented in the Arbat district, then a quiet, almost rural part of Moscow. Nothing dramatic happens; the subject is the peaceful rhythm of everyday life, bathed in fresh light and full of soft greens, whites and blues. Polenov combined careful observation with a light, airy touch learned in France. The painting was a revelation at the Peredvizhniki exhibition of 1878 and created a new genre of intimate, lyrical urban landscape in Russian art.
More by Vasily Polenov
Famous works elsewhere
- Christ and the Woman Taken in Adultery 1888
- An Overgrown Pond 1879
- Early snow 1891
- Golden Autumn 1893
- Grandmother's Garden 1878
- Received wisdom 1909