March is Levitan's most upbeat work. The landscape reflects unique features of Russian Impressionism. Nature is transformed with bright colours, all of which are imbued with light. The contrasting yellow and blue shades “sound” sonorously and joyfully. Everything is still covered in snow, but each detail of the landscape is full of spring exultation. Heated by the sun, the house wall seems to radiate a yellow light that flares up everywhere with golden overtones warming up cold colours. The picture's foreground is full of movement: textured dabs convey both the play of sunlight and the looseness of melting snow. Nature seems to be undergoing a "set change". The tree trunks stretching towards the sun are arranged symmetrically, like side-scenes. Moved far into the background is a pine forest whose colours faded over the winter. The eye is lost in the abundance of impressions, but the drowsy horse dosing under the sun catches the viewer's attention. The impressionist mobility of the landscape expresses various rhythms of awakening nature.
State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow