I love the moment Repin caught here, this liberated feeling that this couple felt. No matter how cold the winter is or how roughly the wind blows the water of the Neva onto them, they are happy nonetheless. Repin’s realistic style beautifully depicts the most unrealistic emotion of all: being in love.
The young man, maybe a soldier, holds the young lady’s hand up in the air. They smile at each other. He spreads his arms as if he could embrace the whole world to be happy for them. The girl smoothly tries to keep her hat on her head against the wind, which lashes up the Neva to their feet and floods the shore.
The tall waves, the enormous flooding water, and the wind are just as strong and world altering as the couple’s feelings in this moment. Nature is the projection of their emotions. Imagine the sounds of the mass of water and the wind in the picture. How powerful and overwhelming it must be! Just like love.
They could conquer the world; they could fight against giants or even gods, and they could fly away in this moment. In this moment. Because tomorrow, the wind gets tired, the Neva rests, the waves subside, only caressing the shore’s stones.
