Ivan Kramskoy painted "The Mermaids" as he developed an interest in folklore and fantasy as well as to deviate from academic restrictions as part of the Peredvizhniki movement. Peredvizhniki meant the Wanderers and they were a group of realist artists who fought against the academic conventions placed upon art by bringing their art to the people.
This painting is therefore unique in it's setting within Slavic folklore as the mermaids in this painting are the rusalki, a group of mythical river spirits who emerged from the river or lake at night to sing and dance. They were also said to lure unsuspecting young travellers to their watery grave. There are 19 rusalki depicted here and they are engaged in various activities, wringing the water out of their hair, braiding flowers into it, emerging from the water, and lounging around the bank of the lake.
The rusalki are not the main focus of the painting, rather, it has been painted as a scenery that one might usually happen upon in the Slavic countryside. The tones are fairly grey and cold, with only the pale moonlight highlighting the rusalki and the surroundings. The artist has painted the women in a way that they are the last thing the audience notices, as the eye wanders from the house down the path, and finally to the lake with the gathering of strange mythical women.
This haunting group of rusalki creates an eerie and melancholic mood, illustrating their tragic origins leading them to emerge at night, luring men to their deaths. Kramskoi has used cold moonlight to suspend time and emphasise the supernatural. He has drawn a tension between romantic imagination and loneliness of death and longing.
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By: Nixie Parkes
This painting by Ivan Kramskoy, usually called The Mermaids or Rusalkas, draws you right into a spooky, quiet night inspired by old Slavic folklore. It is a scene that feels completely still and heavy with mystery, almost like you stumbled onto something you weren't supposed to see.
Instead of showing typical fish-tailed mermaids, the artist painted these women as *rusalkas*—the spirits of girls who drowned, trapped in a sad sort of afterlife. They are gathered along the grassy bank of a dark pond, completely surrounded by dense, overgrown nature. The night is pitch black, but everything is lit up by this eerie, cold moonlight that makes their long white dresses glow against the dark woods. Some of them are sitting on the shore, lost in their own thoughts, while one or two are down by the water’s edge near some lily pads, almost blending into the tall reeds. If you look closely toward the back, there is a whole group of them clustered together, looking like pale ghosts under the trees. The rhythm of the painting moves your eyes slowly across these white shapes, creating a really haunting, repetitive feeling of quiet grief.
Up on the hill in the top right, there is a small, humble wooden cottage with a thatched roof, tucked away under the shadows of towering trees. The house looks totally dark and empty, creating this huge contrast between the warm, living world of humans and the cold, supernatural gathering happening just below it. Kramskoy did not use bright, flashy colors here; instead, the whole piece is done in muted shades of deep greens, earthy browns, and soft, silvery blues. The way the pale light catches their faces and clothes gives the whole scene a sad, poetic flow. It really captures that heavy, late-night silence where the air feels thick, leaving you with a haunting glimpse into a world of lost spirits.
