The artist Pavel Kuznetsov is a prominent representative of Russian Art Nouveau. His style, formed at the turn of the XIX — XX centuries, is distinguished by distortion of perspective and the airiness of the palette. He was often criticized for frivolous treatment of form and color. But there were quite a lot of those who highly appreciated about his painting. Among them was the famous art historian of the beginning of the 20th century, Abram Efros, who called Kuznetsov ‘the Russian Gauguin’.

In the canvas Alley in the Park we see a few sunlit benches and tree crowns, some people sitting down, some walking. Here we find the usual for Kuznetsov’s creative work vague forms and fuzzy images of figures that give the viewer a soft, puffy impression of the picture. The unique combination of technique, color and composition conveys a relaxing sensation.

The progressive ideas of the artists of that time were not always accepted favourably. It is known that in the early 1900s Kuznetsov together with Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin and Peter Utkin undertook to decorate the Church of Our Lady of Kazan in Saratov. Upon completion, their work was considered too frivolous and the murals were destroyed.

Finally, Kuznetsov’s fantastical, tuneful style was formed in 1910-1920s of the XX century. After the October Revolution, he tried to stay out of politics. The themes of everyday life and work in his paintings are devoid of ideological accents. For this, he was regularly reprimanded by Soviet critics. They wrote that Kuznetsov’s works are pure fantasy, they do not raise any acute issues, there is no promotion of the idea of restructuring society, the realities of Soviet times are distorted. Some voiced criticism of the artist’s technique. They said that Kuznetsov was breaking away from the canons of realism, the figures of his paintings are carelessly, ‘childishly’ painted. At the beginning of Kuznetsov career, the artist Vasily Milioti wrote: ‘One must accept Kuznetsov as he is or step back silently…’