Painting “At the door of the school” by Nikolai Bogdanov-Belsky is an image of a bright, sunny future
“At the Doors of the School” is a painting by the itinerant artist Nikolai Petrovich Bogdanov-Belsky from a series of works dedicated to the folk school of the Russian scientist, educator, professor of Moscow University Sergei Aleksandrovich Rachinsky.
In the center of the work is depicted a teenager in fairly worn clothes, who does not dare to cross the threshold of the class where his peers study. The boy with bated breath looks at the diligent students of a rural school. He is represented as a wanderer: on his back is a shoulder bag, in his hands is a long wooden stick. From these attributes, one can easily guess that the hero of the picture went a long way to school.
The boy stands with his back to the audience, his face is not visible. One can see the timidity of the future student, and the excitement that gripped him. The details of the background are carefully spelled out: a school board, a geographical map, the bowed heads of students. The work gravitates towards yellows and browns. The artist paid great attention to lighting.
Name of the painting: “At the door of the school.”
Author: Nikolai Petrovich Bogdanov-Belsky (1868-1945).
Year of writing: 1897
Size: 127.5 x 72 cm.
Style: Realism.
Genre: Household.
Technique: Oil painting.
Material: Canvas.
Location: State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia.
Nikolai Petrovich Bogdanov-Belsky – a brilliant Russian painter of the XIX-XX centuries
The image of the village school is dominant in his work. With rare observation and great sympathy, the master portrayed the peasant children, the love for which he carried through his whole life. The work is, in a sense, autobiographical. Just as timidly at the door of a rural school, the artist himself once stood, the illegitimate son of a farm worker, dreaming of getting an education. The work clearly expresses the author’s hope that real nuggets from the people’s environment will certainly be supported by society.
The painting “At the door of the school” by Nikolai Petrovich Bogdanov-Belsky captivates with its sincerity, spontaneity and the feeling of a pioneer who saw the human craving for knowledge and everything unknown.
