The painting “Mermaids” by Konstantin Makovsky is a happy undead

Mermaids is a painting by Konstantin Egorovich Makovsky, based on Russian folklore and influenced by Nikolai Gogol’s Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka. The masterpiece is literally permeated with pagan mysticism. A shaky haze of fog lies on sleepy trees, water and buildings. Fantastic moonlight breaks through the clouds, brightly illuminating the bodies of mermaids. At the same time, he magically only slightly touches grasses, bushes and buildings.

An endless round dance of simple-haired young maidens, dressed only in moonlight, rises into the sky. In Slavic mythology, mermaids are unmarried drowned girls who killed themselves. Of course, they had a reason to take their own lives and become undead. The generally accepted image of a drowned woman is similar to that described by Gogol – a pale martyr-mavka. Such are they with another famous Wanderer, Ivan Kramskoy: a sad maiden with an inanimate face.

But the heroines of Makovsky’s painting are completely different. His mawks are beautiful, naked witches circling in a bizarre dance. They absolutely do not suffer on earthly life. It seems that even on the contrary – as if they are glad to get rid of her shackles. Finally, you can throw off heavy stuffy clothes, let your hair down. In each plastic and dynamic posture of river maidens, energy shines through.

Name of the painting: “Mermaids”.
Author: Konstantin Egorovich Makovsky (1839-1915).
Year of writing: 1879
Size: 261.5 x 347 cm.
Style: Academicism.
Genre: Mythological.
Technique: Oil painting.
Material: Canvas.
Location: State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg.

Konstantin Makovsky, without exaggeration, was the darling of fate.

Happy childhood in the circle of a loving family, parents absorbed in art. Then a successful study and a career in demand as a painter. His paintings were valued and were very expensive. Dozens of times higher than the works of other, no less talented and eminent masters. The comfortable existence of the artist, his all-consuming love of life.

Such “free-thinking” could not remain without censure: at the exhibition in 1879, the picture was subjected to harsh criticism. However, there were those who were delighted. They say that the public reaction to the masterpiece was so strong that Alexander II himself became interested in the painting. The emperor visited the exhibition of the Wanderers and was very impressed with the painting. He became a loyal admirer of the master’s talent and even entrusted Makovsky with a series of portraits of his family members.

The painting “Mermaids” by Konstantin Egorovich Makovsky is the personification of everything magical and beautiful that is in Slavic fairy tales. And they truly say that beauty appears in the eye of the beholder – the image of his river maidens is so strikingly different from the folklore heroines of the brush of other Russian masters.