"There are artists who work in many genres, without thinking about what is essential for them. I am a landscape artist by calling, all my best works are paintings of nature," Kim Britov said of himself. He often worked in the open air, his favourite seasons being spring and autumn. He felt most creative at those times, embracing the waxing and waning of life. Over 60 years, he painted very few purely summer or winter landscapes, which makes this painting, “Winter in the Urals”, truly unique. He painted it while travelling around the country. "Our landscapes are rooted in the realist school, but we have added certain conventions – from the Russian popular print (the lubok), partly from miniatures, decorative national patterns, and our own vision of the world,” Britov said. The artist stands out for his sensitive attitude to the surfaces of his paintings. Look closely at the dense brushstrokes, and the contrast between the green and the bluish-white tones enhancing the expressiveness of nature. Britov captures the fickleness of the surrounding landscape, and he puts the whole range of his feelings about the scene into the painting.