Case study: "Sister of Mercy".

Browsing the internet is one of the understated joys of the 21'st century. Getting yourself lost in an endless thread of website pages, driven exclusively by the engines of curiosity and free from the shackles of a predetermined path, borderlines on being a religious experience. Such is the habit that I hold much too dearly. It was by mere chance, while indulging on my habit, that I stumbled upon Marat Sansonov’s “little sister”.

The painting is as beautiful as it is epic. Sansonov’s use of color, composition, and perspective, all add to the painting’s impactful thesis. It was the little details. The red blushes on the girl’s cheeks and knuckles, contrasted to her brothers pale, sickly hands. The painting enchanted me at first glance. It was the soldier’s head, slung back, wrapped around by a pristine white bandage, the shadow of his sunken eyes seeping through. It was the scraps of a burning tank, off to the side of the painting. It was their boots, not simply stepping, but sunk on the snow; a battle of slush and rubber. It was something in the girl’s eyes, looking off into the path. Determination, will, courage.

Sansonov captured my imagination and held it hostage. The website where I first encountered “little sister” did not name an author or title. It was a website that displayed Soviet era art that I stumbled upon when researching neoclassical art. What followed was a cybernetic odyssey to find the mystery painting. An hour of diligent googling finally led me to an obscure art website that provided me with “Marat SAMSONOV. Sister of Mercy” and suggested the date of the painting to be 1960. proud and satisfied, I saved the picture.

It is art that makes me itch. It is art that makes me want to spend an hour translating Russian forums. It is art that drowns me in an endless sea of art websites. I plow through a city of data, praying that in such odd codexes, I may find a treasure.

Marat Samsonov’s “Sister of mercy” is art.