The Mermaids (Kramskoi)

Did You Know?

• The painting is based around works by Alexander Pushkin and Nikolai Gogol's 1831 fantastic story 'A May Night, or The Drowned Maiden.'
• Despite the realist principles of the newly formed Peredvizhniki movement in which Kramskoi was a leading light, the artist continued to be interested in more Romantic fantasy and fairy-tale subject matter.
• Some versions of the myths describe rusalki as spirits who had died unbaptised or unmarried, or had drowned themselves following an unrequited love.

Description

Night dominates the scene, with color nearly absent. The central group of women stands in the mid-ground, illuminated from the upper left—likely moonlight—though the shadows fall inconsistently. Most cluster together in a line; a few linger at the water’s edge or stand apart on the right, appearing lost in thought. In the left foreground, one of Kramskoi’s rusalki rises from the reeds, while in the background another wrings water from her hair. The bank lies at the base of a steep hill, with dense forest on the right. Atop the hill, toward the right background, sits a small cabin that seems empty. The composition and subject may have been shaped by the work of Hungarian painter and designer Hans Makart.