In the Evening

Arkhipov’s village shore contains buildings, a boat and groups of people. Dated around 1910, the painting is held in Warsaw. The slope, water and broad strokes connect an everyday scene with early twentieth-century landscape painting.

Women sit beside the water. A red bucket and light headscarves distinguish the group among the shore’s browns and greens.

A boat crosses the foreground diagonally. Its dark hull interrupts the sky’s reflection and locates the edge of the shore.

Broad bands of paint describe the timber building. Their direction follows the logs and boards.

A second group stands higher up by a house. A steep slope separates them from the figures beside the water.

The light sky is reflected between darker areas of water. Separate strokes remain visible while suggesting its uneven surface.

Arkhipov’s figures occupy a small part of the canvas but establish the scale of the whole shore. People, buildings and water receive different degrees of detail. From farther away, the strokes resolve into a unified scene.