Natalya Vasilievna Polenova (1898-1964) is the daughter of the artists Vasily Polenov and Natalya Yakunchikova. It is not surprising that her life path also turned out to be strongly associated with painting and art. She was a student of avant-garde artists Ilya Mashkov, Pyotr Konchalovsky, Lyubov Popova, and studied at VKHUTEMAS (‘Higher Art and Technical Studios’). From the 1930s she worked as an artist in Moscow clubs, and during the Great Patriotic War she served as a decorator in a traveling theater at the Moscow Regional Philharmonic, which gave performances in hospitals. In the village of Polenovo, where she began working in 1950, she created a theater group and a puppet theater for children from the local area.

A significant layer of Polenova’s creativity is occupied by her graphic works, including watercolors. Her works are imbued with tenderness of color, lyricism of nature images, subtle observation. The small watercolor “The Willows. Polenovo” opens a view of a small meadow with lonely trees, behind which a dense forest is visible. The autumn is depicted by the muted colors chosen to recreate nature. The main shade is brown. The yellow is mixed with it to convey the foliage that has not yet fallen. The green indicates the wildly growing grass. In the foreground are two trees of different crown shapes. Light bluish, pink and yellow shades depict the sunset sky and clouds, creating the effect of a subtle rainbow. Deep blue is used to represent the silhouette of the forest in the background. The artist’s landscape masterfully recreates the atmosphere of peace and tranquility as well as her sincere admiration for the beauty of Russian nature.