First of all, let's refresh our knowledge of Vasily Surikov's biography. The scion of a Cossack family whose members once built the city of Krasnoyarsk in Siberia and participated in each and every Cossack uprising and military campaign in Siberia and on the River Don in southern Russia, Vasily Surikov grew up in an atmosphere of virgin Nature and severe human environment which molded his strong character.

Surikov started drawing at an early age. Appreciating Vasily's bigger-than-usual talent, his drawing teacher supported the young man's desire to become a professional painter. They then found a rich sponsor, the owner of several gold mines, who agreed to pay for Vasily's tuition at the Academy of Fine Arts in St.Petersburg. An all-A student there, Surikov didn't care much about the big-city night life and, his sights set firmly on the portrayal of Russian history, worked day and night to master that very challenging profession...

Graduating from the Academy with honors in 1875, Surikov was allowed the privilege of a two-year trip abroad, all paid for by the state. He refused, though, asking instead to be allowed to paint the murals for Christ the Savior's Cathedral in Moscow, a commission that made him a wealthy man. Soon after he got married and his happy family life and financial security gave him a chance to devote himself wholly to paining. And paint he did churning out a raft of all-time masterpieces like, for example, The Morning of the Streltstys' Execution, Menshikov in Berezov and The Boyarynya Morozova.

Then, all of a sudden, his wife died... Devastated by the tragic loss of the woman he loved so much, Surikov threw up all work. As his good friend Mikhail Nesterov later recalled, "...after a torturous night he would get up in the wee hours and head to a morning prayer. There, in the quiet of the old church, he prayed ecstatically for his deceased wife hitting his burning forehead against the cool plates of the stone floor. Then, rain or shine, he would go straight to the Vagankovo cemetery weeping tears on his beloved' grave calling out to her and praying desperately on end..."

Surikov didn't touch the brush for a whole year and in the spring of 1889 he took his two children out of Moscow heading to Krasnoyarsk. There, inspired by the very air of his native Siberia, he created the Recovery, which is based on chapter 9 of the Gospel from St. John:

"And, as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth. And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?

Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him. I must work the works of him that sent me, while it's day: the night cometh, when no man can work. And Jesus said: For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind...

And some of the Pharisees, which were with him, heard these words, and said unto him, “Are we blind too?”

Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth.

As a profoundly religious man, Surikov was well aware of the above lines from the New Testament and he surely realized he could see, but still felt despondent, which is a sin because depression and anguish, laziness to do good things means that you have no hope in God and doubt His promises. 

The painter ultimately managed to overcome his doubts, hence the Recovery where Jesus is shown putting His hand on the head of a blind-born man who is visibly terrified by recovery of sight. Jesus here symbolizes peace and grace.

Soon after he completion his work on the Recovery, Vasily Surikov followed up
with the Storming of a Snow Fortress, so awash with joy, happiness and good
health...