Portrait of mother and children 2006

Andrey Remnev painted this portrait of a mother and children with oil on canvas. The flat colours and smooth application of paint give the painting a dreamy quality, like a memory or a scene from a folk tale. Look at the way the artist renders the surface of the painting. The colours are luminous, but the brushstrokes are almost invisible, creating a very smooth, almost unreal finish. This makes you focus on the overall image and the symbolism rather than the act of painting itself. The painting is filled with repeating patterns. The birds on the wallpaper, the embroidery on the cushions and the girls’ dresses, all contribute to this sense of a crafted reality, and almost act as a symbolic echo of the figures in the painting. In its artificiality, the work is reminiscent of Balthus, who similarly conjures uncanny atmospheres through staging, symbolism, and the subtle tension between reality and illusion. Like Balthus, Remnev embraces ambiguity, so that this portrait becomes an open field of associations.