One of the favorite themes of Makovsky was the image of the life of the people, he often had to refer to the images of the peasants. This picture is considered the best of all his works, it was in it that he was able to most fully reveal the conceived theme and show his skills.
We see that the picture shows a man with a harmony, and next to him sits a young girl, she is holding a baby in her arms, which is wrapped in a blanket. On the harmonist’s reddened cheeks, we can assume that he drank a little after a hard day’s work. It seems to me that he is tired of his boring life, and he wants to get out for a walk, but his wife and baby, who are also tired of him and do not allow it to be done. It seems to me that thoughts about the family, and not simple, but ideal, are absent from this hard worker. In the eyes of his you can see only alcohol.
The image of a girl with a child seems lonely to me. Although we have a family in front of us, it has already collapsed. No matter how much a girl wants to recreate her again, a man and a glass have become more important for a man, he doesn’t need a family, she’s his. I feel sorry for the girl, she does not expect anyone to help or support, she is alone in this city with its own problems and sufferings. And the city against the background of this young mother does not seem friendly, he is as sad and dreary as her life in it.
You may think that the picture does not depict anything special. Simply, we have become accustomed that the drinking head of the family is the norm. That the poor woman is forced to pull the whole household on herself, and often earn money to feed her family. This is a great tragedy of our country, a disease that cannot be cured by anything. We are used to avoiding other people’s problems, we have no compassion for other people, which is why we often do not notice problems in ourselves. It seems to us that if this happened to others, it will never touch us or our family, but we often err in this regard.
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