The painting of Arkady Plastov is deeply rooted in Russian culture. The main theme of his work is the life of people in the Russian countryside, the images of peasants living in harmony with nature. The artist spent most of his life in his native village Prislonikha, occasionally leaving for Moscow and going on trips in search of inspiration. One of his central works of the pre-war period is ‘The collective farm holiday’, featuring the dream of a happy and joyful life. ‘Haymaking’ and ‘Harvest’ portray the everyday life of the village during the war — Plastov received the State Prize for these paintings. The village that he glorified became a symbol of Russia, and his neighbors from Prislonikha can be regarded as the personification of the best qualities of Russian people.

In ‘Dinner of Tractor Drivers’, which was painted during the Stalin regime, the artist remained true to himself: he does not care about transient events — he is rather concerned with the eternal values associated with the world of the Russian countryside. The thick, dense painting technique seems to evoke the smell of the earth in spring or of the last year’s grass. The author emphasizes the harmony between nature and man through the colors: the green, blue, and brown colors of collective farmers' clothes and the shades of the sky, the earth, and the grass are closely interconnected. The warm color of the setting sun unites all the elements of the painting and creates a joyous atmosphere. Arkady Plastov lauded the beauty of a man of labor, who is not always good-looking but is strong and resilient. The simple scene is true-to-life and typical for those years.

The painting was first displayed at the All-Union Exhibition in 1952 and was immediately criticized. The critics accused the author that he was infatuated with the “picturesqueness”, “petty issue”, “little truths” in the era of “heroic deeds”, when people were busy building communism. Since the major central museums of the country refused to accept the painting, it was transferred to Irkutsk at the request of the museum. Only after Khrushchev became the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, the reception of the painting changed dramatically: in 1956 it was brought to Moscow for an exhibition dedicated to the 20th Party Congress. The artwork was a huge success. The picture was included in the list of the International Exhibition, and it received worldwide recognition.

In those years, Irkutsk and Moscow began their struggle for the canvas. Only in 1961, thanks to the efforts of the Irkutsk citizens, the painting was returned from the Tretyakov Gallery to the city. In the same year, Arkady Plastov was requested by the gallery and painted a copy of the picture. In 1966, the artist was awarded the Lenin Prize for his paintings “Dinner of Tractor Drivers” and “Girl with a Bicycle”. Both works are housed in the Irkutsk Art Museum.