- Year
- 1975
- Technique
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 86×131 cm
- Status
- In the Artist's Estate
Set against the open steppe landscape, the scene unfolds quietly yet with profound emotional weight. A mother holding her child becomes the compositional and spiritual center of the painting, while the surrounding space carries traces of a restless and uncertain time.
Painted in 1975, at the height of Soviet cultural expectations, the work turns away from official narratives and instead returns to timeless human themes - love, protection, and the continuity of life. The vast steppe does not appear heroic or monumental; it feels vulnerable, echoing the fragility of human existence during wartime.
Through this image, Maltsev restores attention to what endures beyond history's upheavals - the bond between mother and child, a symbol of survival and hope despite loss.
