May Flowers 1894

Victor Borisov-Musatov painted 'May Flowers', currently in Moscow's Tretyakov Gallery, sometime around the turn of the twentieth century. In this period, Russian art was caught between the dominant style of social realism and the rising tide of European symbolism. Musatov's scene of bourgeois leisure is far from the social commentary favored by the so-called 'Wanderers'. Instead, we see a dreamlike vision of youth, beauty, and nature, evocative of aristocratic life. Look at the girls’ white dresses, the apple blossoms, and the soft sunlight, which create an atmosphere of serenity and innocence. To really get to grips with this painting, we might look at journals, letters, and exhibition catalogues of the time. Doing so would help us understand how Musatov challenged and yet also reinforced the values of his society. For the social art historian, the meaning of any artwork is always contingent on its historical context.