"Battle of the Amazons", "The Heart of the Andes", and "The Volga Boatmen" are, probably, the most impressive works created by three outstanding painters Rubens, Church, and Repin correspondingly. All of them left a significant trace in the art development and these masterpieces may characterize not only the painter's mood or thoughts in the moment of their creation but also they reveal painters' style, their way of thinking and their work at large. Despite the fat that they were created by different people, of different age, nationality, and beliefs they still have something in common as well as they differ from each other due to very particular style and manner of each painter.
I'm going to try to compare and contrast all three paintings. First of all, I would like to start with the common traits of these works. From the first glance they produce quite a sad impression, though "The Heart of the Andes" at the beginning may seem better, very soon it becomes obvious that it is also have some pessimistic trends, particularly when you look at the people mourning over someone's tomb at the foreground of the picture. The same impression produce trees hanging over the waterfall and it seems to me that they are on their way to fall down that symbolizes an approaching death. In general, dark colors domain in this painting. The same may be said about "Battle of the Amazons" where through dark and red colors the artist tries to convey a sad, even tragic mood. Unlike previous pictures, Repin's "The Volga Boatmen" are painted in light colors it is full of sun but the more pitiful impression produce dark, exhausted people.
One of the common themes of all three paintings in my opinion is the theme of struggle. It is the struggle against different forces but the goals are alike, namely the main goal is life in the figurative sense of this word. We really feel how close are life and death, particularly in "Battle of the Amazons" which conveys a desperate struggle, as well as in "The Volga Boatmen" boatmen, being exhausted, continue to pull the boat because it is not just their work but it is their life and they not just simply do their work they also fight for the better future for them and one of the particular feature of this picture is that it is not only a struggle with outer forces but it is rather inner struggle with their entities. Also these pictures are full of sufferings and pity to those people or nature that are going to die or disappear.
As for differences, I may add that the principal difference is the role of people. For the role of a man gradually evaluates from the dominant in "Battle of the Amazons" through weak attempts to rebel and survive in "The Volga Boatmen" to a complete insignificance and weakness of a man before the almightiness of nature in "The Heart of the Andes". The fact that makes "The Volga Boatmen" and "The Battle of the Amazons" quite different is the role of people depicted because Amazons are obviously warriors who got used to struggle whereas boatmen are weak, unprotected people who are almost slaves and the boat they pull symbolize their fate their life just flows as the boat on the river. As for "Battle of the Amazon" the current of people also is a symbol of life but unlike calm and silent in "The Volga Boatmen" it is vivid and seething.
Finally, I want to conclude that three paintings are focused on such eternal themes as life and death, man and nature and it is symbolically expressed by the flow of river in "The Volga Boatmen" and "The Heart of the Andes", or the flow of people in "Battle of the Amazons".
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