Thousands of kilometers of railways cut across the country, a locomotive rushing forward with frantic power, ready to transport cargo with unprecedented speed and deliver people from one city to another in one day. Railway. The people perceived its appearance as a real miracle. Everyone in Russia was amazed at the achieved technical capabilities, everyone wanted to see them personally. The railway firmly entered the lives of people, and presented a huge number of subjects for paintings by artists. The painting “On the railroad” by Vasily Perov is a wonderful example.
The artist depicted on the canvas the usual scene for that time: the peasants came to see the unprecedented miracle of technology. Crowded in front of the tracks, they gaze at the creation of human hands that struck their imagination.
Peasants are overwhelmed with a variety of emotions. The two men in the foreground are childly happy with what they saw, having learned in the device for clearing the ways a simple broom, which is in every village house. The women next to them and the peasants behind them view the locomotive, as if numb with admiration for the power of the iron horse. It seems they are even a little afraid of him. A little apart from them is a woman in the form of a railway worker and a red scarf. Perhaps this is the wife of the caretaker, replacing the tipsy hubby. Wrapped in black clothes, a girl is sitting at her feet, the little daughter of the caretakers.
Simple people who came from afar are the main characters of the painting, and the formal background of the canvas does not distract from the main thing – their emotions, brilliantly conveyed by the artist. Looking at each of the characters, you can read their story, present a possible biography. Incredibly, even in such an ordinary picture at first glance, Perov managed to convey the characteristic atmosphere of the era and fill the canvas with deep meaning.
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