Waterfall 1900

Vasily Polenov, active in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, painted "Waterfall," capturing a moment in the Russian landscape. His identity as part of the Russian elite afforded him the privilege to explore and portray the natural world with an intimacy many did not have access to. Polenov's work emerged during a time when Russian artists were increasingly turning to their own land for inspiration, seeking to define a national identity through its landscapes. Yet, this romanticized view often overlooked the lives and experiences of those who toiled within these spaces. There is a tension between the personal freedom of the artist and the lack thereof for many of his contemporaries. "Waterfall," with its depiction of untamed nature, prompts us to consider our relationship with the environment. It's a reflection on how we, as viewers, are implicated in the narratives of belonging and exclusion that these images can evoke. The painting asks us to consider whose stories are told and whose are left out in the construction of national identity.