Alexei and Sergei Tkachyov finished the portrait of their mother, Maria Vasilevna Tkachyova, in 1955.

The artists were able to impart an expression of warmth and maternal tenderness into the elderly woman’s eyes. A thoughtful expression hangs on her wrinkled face. The artists meticulously crafted their mother’s hands: through being slightly dry, work-weary and with prominent veins, they demonstrate that the woman is no stranger to physical labour.

The artists chose a muted color scheme for the painting. The canvas is awash with subdued silver-grey tones. Every detail forms part of the painting’s overriding sense of coloristic harmony: the black shawl contrasts with the pale background; the winter coat, painted in broad ocher-tinted strokes brings a sense of warmth to the painting.

Researches have praised this work extensively. In their painting of a loved one, the artists managed to depict a universal image of a working mother, familiar to many. This was the first work completed by the Tkachyov brothers to delve into the theme of Russian women and their challenging existence.

The artists recalled that, whilst their mother was an uneducated woman, she was able to delicately maintain a warm and loving atmosphere at home. She was involved in folk art: she could spin, weave, embroider and knew countless tales and songs. Maria Vasilevna created her own embroidery patterns and her neighbors in the village would come to her to copy them. As her sons were developing as artists, they would frequently paint their mother in their works. They said: “She is the inspiration behind all of our paintings of women.”

Of all of the brothers’ paintings addressing the theme of motherhood, the most famous is ‘Mothers’ (1961). They worked on it just a few months after the death of their own mother.