The Tachanka is a famous painting by Mitrofan Borisovich Grekov, who masterfully captured the battle scene. On a hot summer day, horses harnessed to a horse-drawn carriage rush directly towards the viewer across the stubble scorched by the sun. In the bridle of the root, a scarlet ribbon is a symbol of the Red Army. Fluttering manes, dust from under the hooves, a slightly tilted wagon all this very reliably conveys the speed of movement.

The dynamics, the impetuous impulse are easy to read in the figures of people: the rider leaned forward, barely holding the reins of the torn horses, the machine gunners are preparing for battle. In the background, in the haze of hoofed dust and exploding shells, other carts and solitary horsemen are seen. The golden field contrasts with the blue-violet stormy sky, creating an unsettling, heated atmosphere.

Title of the painting: “Tachanka”.
Author: Mitrofan Borisovich Grekov (1882-1934).
Year of writing: 1925.
Dimensions: 85 x 117 cm.
Style: Realism.
Genre: Battle.
Technique: Oil.
Material: Canvas.
Location: State Tretyakov Gallery.

Mitrofan Grekov was a Russian battle painter who worked at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries.

During the Civil War, he volunteered for the Red Army and spent some time in close proximity to the front line, noticing the characteristic features of hostilities, constantly communicating with the soldiers. It was then that the artist had the idea to create a picturesque chronicle of the combat path of the First Cavalry Army. One of the pages of this chronicle was “Tachanka”.

Grekov spent many hours sketching and sketching, observing cavalrymen, painting steppe landscapes to create an expressive work full of dynamics, connecting everything into a single whole. It is no coincidence that the machine-gun carriage became the main element of this picture. The weapon, which often decided the outcome of the battle, according to the author’s plan, demonstrated the power and indomitability of the Red Army.

The painting “Tachanka” by Mitrofan Grekov is a picturesque symbol of the Civil War era

The painter incredibly vividly depicted the complex rhythm of a horse gallop, the tension of the machine gunners captured by the battle, the movement of the cart itself. Dust clouds thickening in the background, harsh shadows, rich colors, blurred figures of other cavalrymen, dynamic composition enhance the expression, convey the energy and emotional tension of the scene to the viewer.

It seems that the horses are about to fall off the canvas, there will be the clatter of hooves, the chirping of a machine gun, and the air will smell of gunpowder. The master himself called this painting “Machine guns to move forward!” In 1933, the artist again depicted on canvas the rapid running of four horses harnessed to the famous cart. At the personal exhibition, timed to coincide with the fifteenth anniversary of the creation of the First Horse Horse, the audience was presented with the painting “Tachanka. Departure to the position Currently, she can also be seen in the State Tretyakov Gallery.

The painting “The Tachanka” by Mitrofan Borisovich Grekov is an emotional, dynamic work that conveys the intensity of the battle with amazing accuracy. The work, which in Soviet times became a legendary symbol of the heroism of the Red Army, to this day attracts viewers with its mastery of performance, deep truthfulness and picturesque expressiveness.