[3] Levitan painted the picture in March 1895 while living in the Gorka estate, situated in the Vyshnevolotsky Uyezd of Tver Governorate.

This motif later became a popular theme for many Russian landscape painters of the 20th century, including Igor Grabar and Konstantin Yuon.

[13] According to art historian Faina Maltseva, March is a 'inspired work in a major tone' that presents 'a whole and internally complete image, preserving at the same time all the immediacy and freshness of first impressions.

The estate, located on the southern shore of Lake Ostrovno, was owned by Privy Councillor Ivan Nikolayevich Turchaninov.

Dry, sandy land, healthy pine air and a beautiful forest, a garden and a wonderful view of the lake with its green islands, a white church and a tall old tavern of the village 'Ostrovno.

The two-storey building was situated on the shore of the lake, at the confluence of the Syezha River (the same one depicted in Levitan's later painting Golden Autumn).

[31] The youngest daughter of the Turchaninovs, Anya (known as Lyulyu within the family), who was 14 years old at the time, witnessed the artist's work on the painting March.

[23] She assisted the artist in carrying a box of paints, listened to his stories about the beauty of nature, and observed the creation of a future masterpiece.

[32][33] In later publications, the youngest daughter of the Turchaninovs was occasionally mistakenly referred to as Julia, likely due to its similarity to the name Lyulyu.

[38] The painting March is sometimes said to be preceded by the 1894 landscape Winter by Russian impressionist painter Konstantin Korovin (now in the State Tretyakov Gallery).

However, unlike Levitan's sunny spring canvas, Korovin's painting portrays a gloomy winter day.

According to Chuiko, 'the shortcomings noted in Mr Levitan's manner will disappear, we hope, in the near future, when his talent finally strengthens.

[2][7] The 24th travelling exhibition continued its journey to other cities of the Russian Empire in autumn and winter, visiting Kharkiv (October–November), Kyiv (December–January) and Tula (January–February).

In particular, he recognised the place in Levitan's painting: "As we approached the black porch of the house, my heart trembled at the image that suddenly appeared before me.

In another description of the same meeting, Byalynitsky-Birulya wrote: "We walked past the black porch, where the view falls on a magnificent barren, which everyone knows from Levitan's painting March.

[17] The scene is set on a sunny day in March, with melting snow, trees, and a country road leading up to the porch.

[60] According to art historian Mikhail Alpatov, the wall of the house with planks that extend deep into the canvas, and the thawed country road "draw the viewer into the painting, help him to enter it mentally.

The scene conveys a sense of slight motion, with the deciduous trees, pines, ajar door partly covered with shadows, and shutter lying next to the porch all appearing to move.

[72] The horizontal edge of the snow-covered field, extending to the distant coniferous trees, divides the painting into two roughly equal parts and "brings a note of tranquillity to it.

[10][76] Unlike Savrasov's Rooks, where the narrative character dominates and the landscape is largely interpreted through genre means, in March there is "a desire for a direct sensual and visual representation of natural phenomena",[77] with "an intimate perception of the everyday environment conveyed in the feeling of warm air melting the heavy spring snow".

[79] According to the memoirs of the artist Yakov Minchenkov, when Levitan painted the snow on the canvas March, he checked the proportions of light and dark using photographic images.

[81][82] However, according to Minchenkov, “nowhere do you see signs of photography, nowhere did it lead the artist to crude naturalism, did not force him to opt for unnecessary details.”[82] The paintings March and Golden Autumn, created in 1895, are considered to be the most significant examples of the influence of Impressionism on Levitan's work.

"[86] In his memoirs, the painter Vasily Baksheev noted that Isaac Levitan remained in his memory as "an artist inseparably connected with the Russian national school of landscape", while "deeply loving the nature of his homeland, tirelessly studying it and embodying it with great skill in his works".

Fedorov-Davydov wrote that "after Levitan, such a motif became a favourite theme in Russian landscape painting,"[13] citing as examples works such as Igor Grabar's February Azure and Konstantin Yuon's March Sun.

[87][Note 6][88] According to art historian Mikhail Alpatov, the compositional structure of Levitan's March is characterised by its exceptional simplicity, clarity and precision, in which "everything seems simple, natural and even uncomplicated".

Lyaskovskaya praised the accuracy of the relations between sky, earth and trees, and the precision with which "the reflections in the snow and the dark blue shadows in the depths" were painted.

"[89] Art historian Faina Maltseva called March a "great and inspired work" and wrote that it would be difficult to find another landscape in painting of the time that "so reverently conveys the awakening of nature".

Noting the brevity of the artistic means used by Levitan to create the canvas, Maltseva wrote that the painting March presents "a whole and internally complete image, at the same time preserving all the immediacy and freshness of the first impressions.

"[14] According to Maltseva, the sunny palette the artist created in this landscape was perceived by his contemporaries as "a discovery in the representation of Russian nature.

"[92] According to the literary critic Andrei Turkov, "Levitan's March seems to capture forever the joyful moment when everything is in front of you, everything is possible.