Lake. Evening 

Arkhyp Kuindzhi created this oil painting, called Lake. Evening, sometime in the late 19th century. It presents a vast Russian landscape, typical of the artist, that draws on the aesthetic ideas of Romanticism. Kuindzhi was part of the Peredvizhniki movement, a group of Russian realist artists who formed as an artists' cooperative in protest against academic restrictions. They aimed to represent Russian life and culture in their art, rather than adhering to Western European styles and subjects. Kuindzhi's landscape is not a straightforward representation, however, but a constructed image which uses dramatic light effects and high horizons to convey the sublime vastness of the Russian landscape. It comments on social structures, as its artistic choices are influenced by cultural factors. It critiques the institutions of art. To better understand Kuindzhi's vision and the artistic climate of 19th-century Russia, one might consult exhibition catalogues and critical reviews from the period. The meaning of such artworks is always contingent on the social and institutional context in which they were made and received.