Snowdrops 

Valentin Khrushch painted ‘Snowdrops’ with oil on canvas, and the visible brushstrokes are critical to the work's meaning. Khrushch seems to have applied the paint in thick layers, a technique known as impasto, giving the surface a tactile quality. The blooms are rendered with a delicate touch, but the overall impression is robust. It is as if the artist wanted to emphasize the physical nature of paint, a substance born of the earth, and the energy required to move it around the canvas. Khrushch was a nonconformist Soviet artist, which means he rejected the officially sanctioned style of Socialist Realism. Instead, he focused on intimate, personal subjects, like these simple snowdrops. The rough handling of the paint may be seen as a quiet act of resistance, asserting the artist's individual voice against a system that valued conformity. It reminds us that the simplest of materials, when handled with intention, can carry profound meaning.