The article describes the specificity of the term «concept» as used in studies of artistic speech and other aspects of the literary work. The analysis of the artistic (metaphorical) concept of «minuvschee» in the context of space and temporal organization in Bunin’s autobiographical story was done. The article deals with lexical, grammatical expressing aspect of the concept, its plastic image, the connection with the concepts of beauty, happiness, underlined peripheral meanings, literary and folklore reminiscences. It is revealed that the basic meaning of the concept of the past (part of the concept «time»), its historical and geographical sense, designation of historical events that changed the space-time coordinates, remained at the periphery. The author updated the metaphorical field of the concept «minuvschee».