Elk Island in Sokolniki

Elk Island in the Sokolniki district of Moscow was, in the nineteenth century, a forested area at the edge of the city used for recreation and characterized by the birch and mixed woodland typical of the Moscow region. Savrasov painted it in 1869, two years before his defining "Rooks Have Returned," exploring the forest landscape as a subject distinct from his open-country spring and autumn scenes. The painting belongs to a period of sustained experimentation in Savrasov's career as he developed his mature approach to the Russian landscape, testing different subjects, seasons, and light conditions. Sokolniki was sufficiently close to Moscow that Savrasov could work directly from nature, returning to the motif across changing conditions of light and weather — his insistence on direct observation was central to his teaching and his practice. The Tretyakov Gallery's holding of this work places it within the canon of Russian landscape painting that Pavel Tretyakov was systematically assembling.

Savrasov composes around the trunks and foliage of a woodland interior, using the vertical rhythms of tree trunks to organize the pictorial space. Light enters from openings in the canopy, and the handling in the lit areas is noticeably brighter than the cool shadows beneath the trees. The forest floor is treated with textured brushwork suggesting fallen leaves and undergrowth.