The Rooks Have Returned

The painting depicts a vertical landscape centered on the arrival of rooks, signaling the end of winter. Leafless birch trees in the foreground host numerous dark birds perched and in flight, along with their nests. Behind this avian activity sits a wooden church with a tall bell tower and onion domes, enclosed by a wooden fence. The ground is a patchwork of melting snow, muddy puddles, and wet earth under an overcast sky of layered gray and pale blue clouds. No human figures are present. The returning rooks and the thawing landscape symbolize the rebirth of nature and the resilience of life. The Church of the Resurrection in the background reinforces this theme of spiritual and natural renewal, connecting the physical transition of seasons to the resurrection of Christ and the enduring Russian soul.

Executed in oil on canvas, the painting employs a muted palette of browns, grays, dirty whites, and dull golds to convey the damp, cold atmosphere of early spring. Savrasov's handling of paint varies across the composition. The sky is rendered with smooth brushwork, while the bark of the birch trees and the patchy snow are built with textured, visible strokes that emphasize the physical roughness of the thawing ground. This stylistic approach aligns with Realism, rejecting idealized or polished academic conventions in favor of a direct, unembellished observation of nature. Critics later termed this approach the mood landscape, as the unassuming, even trivial, episode of birds returning home is infused with deep emotional and lyrical significance.

Savrasov began the painting in March 1871 during a trip to the village of Molvitino in the Kostroma Governorate, the location confirmed by his inscription in the lower left corner. The church depicted is the late 17th-century Church of the Resurrection. Scholars debate whether his initial sketches were made in Yaroslavl shortly before the Kostroma trip, under the influence of the healing vastness of nature following the death of his newborn daughter in February 1871. After returning from Molvitino, Savrasov continued work in Yaroslavl and completed the canvas in Moscow by early May. Originally titled Here Come the Rooks by the artist, the painting was purchased by Pavel Tretyakov in the summer of 1871. It was first exhibited at the Moscow Society of Art Lovers in autumn 1871, and later that year at the 1st exhibition of the Society for Travelling Art Exhibitions in Saint Petersburg, where it was listed in the catalogue with an exclamation mark under its current name.

Created during a tumultuous period in Savrasov's life, the work emerged shortly after he joined the Peredvizhniki, or Wanderers, in 1870, a movement that rejected government-sponsored academic art. The death of his daughter in 1871 profoundly affected him, and scholars such as Faina Maltseva and Vladimir Petrov argue that his grief catalyzed his vivid creative response to the arriving spring. The painting's critical reception was highly positive. Artist Ivan Kramskoi declared it the best landscape at the exhibition, and critic Vladimir Stasov called it the most original painting by Savrasov. Fellow painter Isaac Levitan praised the soft soul behind its apparent simplicity, while art historian Alexei Fedorov-Davydov noted its general cultural significance beyond its artistic merit. Critic Boris Asafiev identified the canvas as a symbol of the artistic renewal of the Russian landscape for far ahead.

The Rooks Have Returned is regarded as a foundational work of the realistic Russian landscape, encouraging painters to abandon idealized compositions and embrace the unvarnished reality of native scenery, such as broken roads and untidy trees. It marked the high point of Savrasov's career and defined the lyrical mood landscape style that influenced his students, including Isaac Levitan and Konstantin Korovin. The painting has remained a centerpiece of the Tretyakov Gallery collection, and numerous replicas by the artist have dispersed across the globe. However, the personal tragedy surrounding its creation foreshadowed Savrasov's later decline into alcoholism and poverty, from which he never recovered artistically.