A crippled and deformed man wandering through a desolate landscape with the watchful eyes of monks. The monk-like figures run like a red thread through some of my paintings as a metaphor for Russian Orthodoxy. It also gives it a mysterious touch. Mussorgsky was inspired by a nutcracker that Hartmann had carved from wood with an ugly wrinkled face. He renders the deformed nature of the Gnome with large melody jumps and erratic tempo changes.

Pictures at an exhibition by Modest Moessorgski
It is a ten-part suite by Modest Musorgsky (1874) a Russian composer. Inspired by paintings by his friend the painter Viktor Hartman. I painted my version. These were projected through a keynote presentation by Jan Penninkhof while the suite was played by colleague Gerard van der Laan (pianist).
See this link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEwUvacXPlY&t=223s