Girl lit by the sun

Summer 1888. Domotkanovo. Valentin Serov decided to spend this summer with his Simonovich relatives - in Domotkanovo. He was 23 years old, but even then he outlined a path in art - it was his own path, known only to him alone.

Painting Valentin Serov he began to study early enough, if we bear in mind precisely classes with famous artists - at the age of eight he took lessons from Keppening, and at the age of nine he became a student of I.E. Repin. Valentin Serov was born into the family of the composer Alexander Nikolaevich Serov. Serov's mother was a wonderful musician and social activist.

Little Tosha, as the family called him, was an incredibly diligent child when he indulged in his favorite business - drawing. In addition to the abilities that were revealed in early childhood, he had all those opportunities that other Russian artists did not have - as a child he traveled with his mother in Germany, lived for some time in Paris, from ten years he spent a long time in Abramtsevo, where the best Russian artists and actors gathered. Therefore, he was able to take advantage of such a favorable environment and develop his artistic taste, which was later recognized as absolute.

I.E. Repin was amazed at the courage and decisiveness of his drawings - "I admired the nascent Hercules in art" - he said. At the time of their communication, as a teacher, Repin never demanded that Serov imitate himself, but secretly admired his talent. Subsequently, becoming a famous artist, Serov strove for simplicity and naturalness in art, believed that true beauty should be sought in the ordinary, he hated vulgarity and banality.

Valentin Serov - self-portrait

Then in Domotkanovo, in that summer of 1888, many young people gathered. And of course the atmosphere of poetry and love reigned here. And Valentin Serov himself was in love with Lyolechka Trubnikova, a pupil of the Simonovichs, who a year later became his wife and faithful companion for life.

That summer, Serov wrote "A girl illuminated by the sun", in his paintings he loved to paint light, the play of the sun and wind, and he succeeded like no one else. The model was his cousin Masha, who was not at all a beauty, she was an ordinary attractive girl who was adorned by her youth.

Masha had a round face, big eyes and a bright blush on her delicate skin, one that you might not notice in a crowd. But it was in the ordinary that Serov was looking for true beauty. He wanted to capture the hidden, invisible to everyone, the charm of the most ordinary. Therefore, he chose Masha, believing that for this she is the most suitable model. Masha understood the importance of posing, she also aspired to art, was preparing to enter an art school (later she became a sculptor).

Serov wrote to Masha in the garden, a light breeze quietly stirred the foliage, and from this the lighting was constantly changing, and with it the shades of skin, hair, clothes. And Serov wanted to capture all these changes in the picture. You say - is it possible? And you will see the answer in the picture - before us is a living life, a living Masha, and we seem to be in the same garden, only watching from the side, as in a dream.

Girl lit by the sun

Light, sun and wind are connected together, Serov was able to see that the shadow cast by a tree on the grass, which is supposed to be green, actually seems dark blue, and the leaves of trees, also green, seem light silver. And that is why the girl's white blouse shines with yellow, green and pearl shades, ... and Masha, pensive with a blush on her cheeks, showing through her thin skin.

It seems this whole play of shades is impossible to convey. However, looking at this masterpiece, we feel as if, having moved in space, we are already there, in this garden.Valentin Serov never mixed colors on the palette, he always worked with pure colors, and this created a special visual effect. He painted in the manner of the Impressionists, although he was not yet familiar with their work at that time. His path, as has been said, is completely independent.

Later, when in 1911 the paintings were swapped in the Tretyakov Gallery, Igor Grabar asked Serov to come in to see how his paintings looked in the new place. Serov stood for a long time in front of the painting "Girl illuminated by the sun", and then suddenly said: "I wrote this thing, and then, all my life, no matter how puffed up, nothing came of it ...". And this was said about himself by a great artist, a recognized master of portrait.

... But then in Domotkanovo every day was new, a lot of feelings were crowded in the heart, and with every stroke on the picture more and more new discoveries were made, the beauty of the world was comprehended, moments of real happiness were experienced.