For the artist-philosopher Ivanov, nature is a special universe, living according to its own laws. Each object in it exists in an infinite space, connected with it by invisible threads. The painting depicts a tree branch against the background of the mountains, but it seems that it contains a whole world. According to the philosopher A. Herder, “in the face of nature itself is perfect, the slightest speck of dust has the same dignity as an immeasurable whole.”
Against the background of the blue distances, a branch of the tree trembles with the golden rays of the sun. Boughs curl, weaving into a beautiful knot. The leaves are written in different ways: some are transmitted by a spot, others by a contour. In this landscape etude, the artist’s full-color gift was fully manifested.
Only the finest gradation of color – greenish, bluish-violet, yellowish, it transmits a huge air space separating the branch from the boundless world. On the bright blue mountain, the artist observes several greenish stripes that correspond with the green leaves of the branch, separate leaves in the shade are also bright blue and this stretches the threads, connects the first plane of the picture with the distant one.