This painting is a stunning illustration of the tragedies of the Russo-Turkish war. Vereshchagin worked as a war correspondent and witnessed the the war’s severity and intensity with his own eyes. This painting masterfully depicts the emotional rawness of the war’s devastation. The brushstrokes are fluid and flowing, possessing an expressiveness that captures the painting’s horrific content. According to the Brooklyn Museum (where this painting is currently on display):
Vereshchagin’s war canvases exemplify the avant-garde Russian interpretation of French Realism, a movement that embraced truthful portrayals of contemporary themes to bring about social reform. The openly antiwar “The Road of the War Prisoners” was rejected for the czar’s collection. In 1891 Vereshchagin finally sold both canvases displayed here to collectors in New York still haunted by the horrors of the American Civil War.
Again, we notice an artistic exchange between Russian and Western European aesthetics. Vereshchagin’s artwork demonstrates an integration of Western techniques into Russia’s cultural fabric, a process that emphasizes Russia’s ongoing effort to establish an autonomous identity while also embracing its European neighbors.