Peasant Family

Селянська родина

ArtistTaras Shevchenko

MovementRomanticism

Year1843

MediumOil on canvas

LocationNational Museum of Taras Shevchenko, Kyiv

A warm group portrait of a Ukrainian peasant family by their cottage, among Shevchenko's finest genre oils.

About the Artist

Taras Shevchenko

1814–1861

Born a serf and freed in 1838, Shevchenko is regarded as the father of Ukrainian fine art: a Romantic-Realist painter and pioneering etcher (Academician of engraving, 1860), turning his art to Ukrainian life and social injustice.

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Movements

Romanticism

Romanticism—an ideological and artistic movement in European and American culture from the late 18th century to the first half of the 19th century—is characterized by the affirmation of the intrinsic value of the individual’s spiritual and creative life, the depiction of intense (often rebellious) passions and characters, and the portrayal of nature as inspiring and healing. It spread to various spheres of human activity. In the 18th century, anything strange, picturesque, and existing in books rather than in reality was called romantic. At the beginning of the 19th century, Romanticism became the name for a new movement, opposed to Classicism and the Enlightenment.

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Also part of

Realism

Related Works

1840

Kazakh on Horseback

A watercolour from Shevchenko's Aral Sea expedition during his years of exile.

Peasant Family

Related Works

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Kazakh on Horseback