In the 90s, Arkhipov painted pictures mostly in the air, he brought his heroes from small stuffy workshops and rooms to the wide expanses of the Volga, to open, sun-drenched areas, lawns and roads. Spring cheerfulness blows from the canvas “Ice passed.” The river is free of ice, tearing the fetters of winter.
To this triumph of the awakened nature came to see the inhabitants of the surrounding villages – old people, women, children. The first rays of sunlight are poured all around. People in the works of the artist are inextricably linked with nature. Their thoughts and feelings are transmitted as if reflected, through a landscape in which, like in Russian epics, folk songs, there is an epic breadth and scope, lyrical intimacy and subtle poetry.
