At the Imperial Academy of Arts, Lukian Popov took classes from Vladimir Makovsky, master of genre painting. From his tutor, he adopted the masterly handling of color and the ability to build composition. Popov himself also often made genre paintings. One of them, At the Graveyard, the artist created in the 1900’s.
The most part of the canvas is occupied by mournful black. The clothes and the background are just outlined sketchily; in stark contrast, the faces of the main characters, woman and boy, are painted with neat strokes. The emphasis on characters is shown by the absence of a funeral ceremony or cemetery attributes: Lukian Popov did not tell the viewer the story of the tragedy, but tried to demonstrate how the characters in the picture perceived it.
The most part of the canvas is occupied by mournful black. The clothes and the background are just outlined sketchily; in stark contrast, the faces of the main characters, woman and boy, are painted with neat strokes. The emphasis on characters is shown by the absence of a funeral ceremony or cemetery attributes: Lukian Popov did not tell the viewer the story of the tragedy, but tried to demonstrate how the characters in the picture perceived it.
