The sea and Aivazovsky have been synonymous for a century and a half. We say “Aivazovsky” - we imagine the sea, and when we see a sea sunset or a storm, a sailboat or a foaming surf, a calm or a sea breeze, we say: “Pure Aivazovsky!”
It is difficult not to recognize Aivazovsky. But today Arthive will show you a rare and little-known Aivazovsky. Aivazovsky unexpected and unusual. Aivazovsky, whom you may not even immediately recognize. In short, Aivazovsky without the sea.
Winter landscape. Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky, 1880s
These are graphic self-portraits of Aivazovsky. He's probably unrecognizable here. And more like not his own picturesque images (see below), but his good friend, with whom he traveled around Italy in his youth, Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol. The self-portrait on the left is Gogol, composing "Dead Souls" at a table littered with drafts.
Even more entertaining is the self-portrait on the right. Why not with a palette and brushes, but with a violin? Because the violin was Aivazovsky's faithful friend for many years. No one remembered who gave it to 10-year-old Hovhannes, a boy from a large and poor family of Armenian settlers in Feodosia. Of course, parents could not afford to hire a teacher. But this was not necessary. Hovhannes was taught to play by itinerant musicians at the Feodosia bazaar. His hearing was excellent. Aivazovsky could pick up any tune, any melody by ear.
The novice artist brought the violin with him to St. Petersburg, played "for the soul." Often at a party, when Hovhannes made useful contacts and began to visit society, he was asked to play the violin. Possessing a complaisant character, Aivazovsky never refused. In the biography of the composer Mikhail Glinka, written by Vsevolod Uspensky, there is the following fragment: “Once at the Dollmaker’s, Glinka met with a student of the Academy of Arts, Aivazovsky. He skillfully sang a wild Crimean song, sitting on the floor like a Tatar, swaying and holding the violin to his chin. Glinka really liked Aivazovsky’s Tatar melodies, his imagination was attracted to the east from his youth ... Two tunes eventually entered the lezginka, and the third into the Ratmir scene in the third act of the opera Ruslan and Lyudmila.
Aivazovsky will take the violin with him everywhere. On the ships of the Baltic squadron, his playing entertained the sailors, the violin sang to them about warm seas and a better life. In St. Petersburg, when he first saw his future wife Yulia Grevs at a social reception (she was just a governess to the master's kids), Aivazovsky did not dare to introduce himself - instead, he would pick up the violin again and start a serenade in Italian.
An interesting question: why in the picture Aivazovsky does not rest the violin on his chin, but holds it like a cello? Biographer Yulia Andreeva explains this feature as follows: “According to numerous testimonies of contemporaries, he held the violin in an oriental manner, resting it on his left knee. That way he could play and sing at the same time.”
Self-portrait of Ivan Aivazovsky, 1874
And this self-portrait of Aivazovsky is just for comparison: unlike the not so widely known previous ones, the reader is probably familiar with it. But if at first Aivazovsky reminded Gogol, then on this one, with sleek sideburns - Pushkin. By the way, Natalya Nikolaevna, the poet's wife, had exactly this opinion. When Aivazovsky was introduced to the Pushkin couple at an exhibition at the Academy of Arts, Natalya Nikolaevna kindly remarked that the artist's appearance very much reminded her of the portraits of the young Alexander Sergeevich.
Petersburg. Crossing the Neva. Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky, 1870s
At the first (and if we discard the legends, then the only) meeting, Pushkin asked Aivazovsky two questions. The first one is more than predictable when meeting: where does the artist come from? But the second one is unexpected and even somewhat familiar. Pushkin asked Aivazovsky if he, a southern man, was freezing in Petersburg? Pushkin would have known how right he turned out to be. All winters at the Academy of Arts, young Hovhannes really froze catastrophically.
There are drafts in the halls and classrooms, teachers wrap their backs in downy shawls. 16-year-old Hovhannes Aivazovsky, accepted into the class of Professor Maxim Vorobyov, has frisky fingers numb from the cold. He gets cold, wraps himself in a jacket that is not warm at all, stained with paint, and coughs all the time.
It is especially difficult at night. A moth-eaten blanket does not allow you to warm up. All members are chilled, the tooth does not fall on the tooth, for some reason the ears are especially cold. When the cold does not let you sleep, the student Aivazovsky recalls Feodosia and the warm sea.
Head physician Overlakh scribbles reports to Academy President Olenin about Hovhannes’s poor health: “Academician Aivazovsky, was transferred several years ago to St. I was in the academic infirmary, suffering, as before, and now, with chest pain, dry cough, shortness of breath when climbing stairs and a strong heartbeat.
Isn't that why the "Crossing the Neva", a St. Petersburg landscape rare for Aivazovsky's work, looks like it's teeth cramping from an imaginary cold? It was written in 1877, the Academy is long gone, but the feeling of the piercing cold of Northern Palmyra remains. Giant ice floes reared up on the Neva. Through the cold hazy colors of the purple sky, the Admiralty Needle appears. It's cold for the tiny people in the wagon. Chilly, disturbing - but also fun. And it seems that there are so many new, unknown, interesting things - there, in front, behind a veil of frosty air.
Betrayal of Judas. Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky, 1834
The State Russian Museum in St. Petersburg carefully preserves Aivazovsky's sketch "The Betrayal of Judas". It is made on gray paper with white and Italian pencil. In 1834, Aivazovsky was preparing a painting on a biblical theme on the instructions of the Academy. Hovhannes was rather secretive by nature, liked to work alone and did not comprehend at all how his idol Karl Bryullov was able to write in any crowd of people.
Aivazovsky, on the contrary, preferred solitude for work, so when he showed his comrades at the academy "The Betrayal of Judas", it turned out to be a complete surprise for them. Many simply could not believe that a 17-year-old provincial, only in his second year of study, was capable of such a thing.
And then his detractors came up with an explanation. After all, does Aivazovsky disappear all the time from the collector and patron Alexei Romanovich Tomilov? And that one in the collection has Bryullov, and Poussin, and Rembrandt, and you never know who else. Surely the cunning Hovhannes simply copied a picture of some little-known European master in Russia and passed it off as his own.
Fortunately for Aivazovsky, the president of the Academy of Arts, Alexei Nikolaevich Olenin, turned out to have a different opinion about the “Betrayal of Judas”. Olenin was so impressed with the skill of Hovhannes that he honored him with a high favor - he invited him to stay with him at the Priyutino estate, where Pushkin and Krylov, Borovikovsky and Venetsianov, Kiprensky and the Bryullov brothers visited. The honor for a novice academician is unheard of.
Eastern scene. A coffee shop at the Ortakoy Mosque in Constantinople. Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky, 1846
By 1845, the 27-year-old Aivazovsky, whose seascapes are already thundering across Europe from Amsterdam to Rome, is being paid homage in Russia as well. He receives "Anna on the neck" (Order of St. Anna, 3rd degree), the title of academician, 1500 acres of land in the Crimea for 99 years of use, and most importantly - the official naval uniform. The Naval Ministry for services to the Fatherland appoints Aivazovsky the first painter of the Main Naval Staff. Now Aivazovsky must be allowed to enter all Russian ports and all ships, wherever he wishes to go. And in the spring of 1845, at the insistence of Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich, the artist was included in the naval expedition of Admiral Litke to Turkey and Asia Minor.
By that time, Aivazovsky had already traveled all over Europe (there were more than 135 visas in his foreign passport, and customs officers were tired of pasting new pages there), but he had not yet been to the lands of the Ottomans. For the first time he sees Chios and Patmos, Samos and Rhodes, Sinop and Smyrna, Anatolia and the Levant. And most of all he was impressed by Constantinople: “My voyage,” Aivazovsky wrote, “with His Imperial Highness Konstantin Nikolaevich was extremely pleasant and interesting, everywhere I managed to sketch sketches for paintings, especially in Constantinople, from which I admire. Probably, there is nothing in the world more majestic than this city, both Naples and Venice are forgotten there.
"Coffee House at the Ortakoy Mosque" is one of the Constantinople views painted by Aivazovsky after this first trip. In general, Aivazovsky's relationship with Turkey is a long and difficult story. He will visit Turkey more than once. The Turkish rulers greatly appreciated the artist: in 1856, Sultan Abdul-Mejid I awarded him with the Order of Nitshan Ali, 4th degree, in 1881, Sultan Abdul-Hamid II - with a diamond medal. But between these awards was the Russian-Turkish war of 1877, during which Aivazovsky's house in Feodosia was partially destroyed by a shell. However, it is significant that the peace treaty between Turkey and Russia was signed in a hall decorated with paintings by Aivazovsky. When visiting Turkey, Aivazovsky communicated especially warmly with the Armenians living in Turkey, they respectfully called him Ayvaz-efendi. And when, in the 1890s, the Turkish sultan commits a monstrous massacre in which thousands of Armenians die, Aivazovsky defiantly throws Ottoman awards into the sea, saying that he advises the sultan to do the same with his paintings.
Aivazovsky's "Coffee House at the Ortakoy Mosque" is an ideal image of Turkey. Ideal - because peaceful. Sitting relaxed on embroidered pillows and immersed in contemplation, the Turks drink coffee, inhale hookah smoke, listen to unobtrusive melodies. Molten air flows. Time flows between the fingers like sand. No one is in a hurry - there is no need to rush: everything necessary for the fullness of being is already concentrated in the present moment.
Windmills in the Ukrainian steppe at sunset. Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky, 1862
It cannot be said that Aivazovsky in the landscape "Windmills in the Ukrainian steppe ..." is unrecognizable. The wheat field in the sunset rays is almost like the shaking surface of the sea, and the mills are the same frigates: in some, the wind inflates the sails, in others, it rotates the blades. Where and, most importantly, when could Aivazovsky be distracted from the sea and become interested in the Ukrainian steppe?
Return from the wedding. Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky, 1891
Chumaki on vacation. Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky, 1885
Perhaps when he moved his family from Feodosia to Kharkov for a short time? And not idly transported, but hastily evacuated. In 1853, Turkey declared war on Russia, in March 1854 Britain and France joined it - the Crimean War began. In September the enemy was already in Yalta. Aivazovsky urgently needed to save his relatives - his wife, four daughters, an old mother. “With sincere regret,” the artist informed one of the correspondents, “we had to leave our dear Crimea, leaving all our fortune, acquired by our labors over the course of fifteen years. In addition to his family, a 70-year-old mother, he had to take all his relatives with him, and we stopped in Kharkov, as the nearest city to the south and inexpensive for a modest life.
The biographer writes that in the new place, Aivazovsky's wife Yulia Grevs, who had previously actively helped her husband in the Crimea in his archaeological excavations and ethnographic research, "tried to captivate Aivazovsky with archeology or scenes of Little Russian life." After all, Julia so wanted her husband and father to stay with the family longer. It did not work out: Aivazovsky rushed to the besieged Sevastopol. For several days under bombardment, he painted sea battles from nature, and only a special order from Vice Admiral Kornilov forced the fearless artist to leave the theater of operations. Nevertheless, Aivazovsky's legacy contains quite a lot of ethnographic-genre scenes and Ukrainian landscapes: "Chumaks on vacation", "Wedding in Ukraine", "Winter Scene in Little Russia" and others.
Portrait of Senator Alexander Ivanovich Kaznacheev, marshal of the nobility of the Tauride province. Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky, 1848
Aivazovsky left relatively few portraits. But he wrote this gentleman more than once. However, it is not surprising: the artist considered Alexander Ivanovich Kaznacheev to be a “second father”. When Aivazovsky was still small, Kaznacheev served as the mayor of Feodosia. In the late 1820s, he began to receive complaints more and more often: in the city someone was playing pranks - painting fences and walls of houses whitewashed with lime. The mayor went to inspect the art. On the walls were figures of soldiers, sailors and silhouettes of ships, induced by samovar coal - I must say, very, very believable. After some time, the city architect Kokh told Kaznacheev that he had figured out the author of these "graffiti". It was 11-year-old Hovhannes, the son of the market head Gevorg Gayvazovsky.
“You draw beautifully,” Kaznacheev agreed, meeting with the “criminal”, “but why on other people's fences ?!” However, he immediately understood: the Aivazovskys are so poor that they cannot buy drawing supplies for their son. And Kaznacheev did it himself: instead of punishment, he gave Hovhannes a stack of good paper and a box of paints.
Hovhannes began to visit the mayor's house and became friends with his son Sasha. And when in 1830 Kaznacheev became the governor of Tavria, he took Aivazovsky, who had become a family member, to Simferopol so that the boy could study at the gymnasium there, and three years later he made every effort to enroll Hovhannes in the Imperial Academy of Arts.
When the grown and famous Aivazovsky returns forever to live in the Crimea, he will maintain friendly relations with Alexander Ivanovich. And even in a sense, he will begin to imitate his “named father”, strenuously taking care of the poor and disadvantaged and founding the “General Workshop” - an art school for local talented youth. And Aivazovsky, according to his own project and at his own expense, will erect a fountain in honor of Kaznacheev in Feodosia.
Caravan in the oasis. Egypt. Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky, 1871
On November 17, 1869, the Suez Canal was opened for navigation. Laid through the Egyptian deserts, it connected the Mediterranean and Red Seas and became a conditional border between Africa and Eurasia. The inquisitive and still greedy for impressions 52-year-old Aivazovsky could not miss such an event. He came to Egypt as part of a Russian delegation and became the first marine painter in the world to paint the Suez Canal.
“Those pictures in which the main force is the light of the sun ... must be considered the best,” Aivazovsky was always convinced. And just the sun in Egypt was in abundance - just work. Palm trees, sands, pyramids, camels, distant desert horizons and "Caravan in the Oasis" - all this remained in the paintings of Aivazovsky.
And the artist also left amusing memories of the first meeting of the Russian song and the Egyptian desert: “When the Russian steamer entered the Suez Canal, the French steamer ahead of it ran aground, and the swimmers were forced to wait until it was removed. This stop lasted five hours.
It was a beautiful moonlit night, giving some majestic beauty to the deserted shores of the ancient country of the pharaohs, cut off by a canal from the Asian coast.
In order to shorten the time, the passengers of the Russian steamer staged an impromptu vocal concert: Ms. Kireeva, having a beautiful voice, took over the duties of the lead singer, a slender choir picked up ...
And now, on the shores of Egypt, a song about the “Mother Volga”, about the “dark forest”, about the “clear field” sounded and rushed along the waves, silvered by the moon, shining brightly at the turn of the two parts of the world ... "
Catholicos Khrimian in the vicinity of Etchmiadzin. Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky, 1895
Portrait of the artist's brother Gabriel Ayvazyan. Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky, 1883
Baptism of the Armenian people. Grigor the Enlightener (IV century) Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky, 1892
Perhaps it will be new for someone to find out that Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky was a true zealot of the Armenian Apostolic Church, one of the oldest, by the way, Christian churches. The Armenian Christian community was also in Feodosia, and the Synod was located in the "heart of Armenia" - the city of Etchmiadzin.
Aivazovsky's older brother Sargis (Gabriel) became a monk, then an archbishop and an outstanding Armenian educator. For the artist himself, his religious affiliation was by no means an empty formality. On the most important events of his life, for example, about the wedding, he informed the Synod of Etchmiadzin: “On August 15, 1848, he married Julia, the daughter of Yakov Grevs, an English Lutheran, but he got married in the Armenian church and on the condition that my children from this marriage will also be baptized in the Armenian holy font.”
When family life goes wrong, Aivazovsky will have to ask for permission to dissolve the marriage there.
In 1895, a distinguished guest arrived in Feodosia to Aivazovsky - Catholicos Khrimyan, the head of the Armenian Church. Aivazovsky took him to Stary Krym, where he erected a new one on the site of the destroyed churches and even painted an altarpiece for it. At a solemn dinner for 300 people in Feodosia, the Catholicos promised the artist: "I, Khrimian Hayrik, in one hand - a cross, in the other - the Bible, I will pray for you and for my poor Armenian people." In the same year, inspired by Aivazovsky, he will paint the painting “Catholicos Khrimyan in the vicinity of Etchmiadzin”.
In five years, 82-year-old Aivazovsky will be gone. His grave in the courtyard of an ancient temple is decorated with an inscription in Armenian: “Born a mortal, he left an immortal memory behind him.”
Anna Nikitichna Burnazyan-Sarkizova, the second wife of I.K. Aivazovsky. Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky, 1882
It would be unfair to the reader to end our story about the paintings of Aivazovsky, where there is no sea, with the fact of the death of the artist. Moreover, having touched on many important biographical milestones, we never talked about love.
When Aivazovsky was no less than 65 years old, he fell in love. Moreover, he fell in love in a completely boyish way - at first sight and in circumstances that were least conducive to romance. He rode in a carriage through the streets of Feodosia and crossed paths with a funeral procession, which included a young beautiful woman dressed in black. The artist believed that in his native Feodosia he knew everyone by name, but he seemed to see her for the first time and did not even guess who she was to the deceased - daughter, sister, wife. He made inquiries: it turned out - a widow. 25 years. My name is Anna Sarkizova, nee Burnazyan.
The late husband left Anna an estate with a marvelous garden and great wealth for the Crimea - a source of fresh water. A completely wealthy, self-sufficient woman, moreover, 40 years younger than Aivazovsky. But when the artist, trembling and not believing in possible happiness, proposed to her, Sarkizova accepted him.
A year later, Aivazovsky confessed to a friend in a letter: “Last summer I married a lady, an Armenian widow. Previously, I was not familiar with her, but I heard a lot about her good name. Now my life is peaceful and happy. I have not lived with my first wife for 20 years and have not seen her for 14 years. Five years ago, the Synod of Etchmiadzin and the Catholicos allowed me to divorce… Only now I was very afraid to connect my life with a woman of another nation, so as not to shed tears. This happened by the grace of God, and I sincerely thank you for the congratulations.”
For 17 years they will live in love and harmony. As in his youth, Aivazovsky will write a lot and incredibly productively. And he will also have time to show his beloved the ocean: in the 10th year of marriage, they will sail to America through Paris, and, according to legend, this beautiful couple will often be the only people on the ship who are not prone to seasickness. While most of the passengers, hiding in their cabins, waited out the rolling and the storm, Aivazovsky and Anna serenely admired the expanses of the sea.
After the death of Aivazovsky, Anna will become a voluntary recluse for more than 40 years (and she will live to be 88): no guests, no interviews, much less attempts to arrange a personal life. There is something strong-willed and at the same time mysterious in the look of a woman whose face is half hidden by a gas veil, so similar to the translucent surface of water from the seascapes of her great husband, Ivan Aivazovsky.
Author - Ela2012. This is a quote from this post.
RUSSIAN ARTISTS Aivazovsky - the master of the sea (part 2).The remarkable English landscape painter Turner, admiring the painting of Aivazovsky, dedicated the following lines to him:
Forgive me artist
If I made a mistake by taking the picture
for reality,
But your work fascinated me,
and rapture took possession of me.Bay of Naples in the early morning
1893
Canvas, oil. 46 x 74.7 cm
Aivazovsky's work is a kind of marine encyclopedia. From it you can learn in detail about any state in which the water element is - calm, slight excitement, storm, storm, giving the impression of a universal catastrophe. In his works you can see the sea at any time of the day - from radiant sunrises to moonlit nights; and at any time of the year count dozens of shades that color the sea waves - from transparent, almost colorless through all conceivable nuances of blue, blue, azure to deep blackness. Aivazovsky perfectly knew how to convey the peal of the waves on the sandy shore, so that the coastal sand could be seen, translucent through the foamy water. He knew many techniques for depicting waves breaking on coastal rocks. But Aivazovsky considered it impossible to reproduce the sea as it is, and therefore he never painted from nature, relying only on imagination.
Yalta
1899 58х94The sea appears in his paintings as many-sided, sometimes as an element that does not obey any laws, crushing a person, sometimes as an alluring distance, a symbol of a romantic dream. In front of the viewer is the boundless sea space and the boundless sky above it. In the foreground - a wave with scallops of foam - "Aivazovsky's wave", as its contemporaries called it. The palette is unusually rich, it thickens from greenish, silvery, emerald hues to deep, blackening blue at the horizon. In the center - a lonely sail, a symbol of the insignificance of a person in front of the universe and at the same time a sign of a romantic thirst for wandering.
Surf 1897 143х107Born in Feodosia, Aivazovsky felt drawn to the sea. Despite the fact that the artist has paintings with landscapes of land, the sea for him is a real native element. He understands and reveals it better than anyone else. Aivazovsky easily conveys to the viewer the “mood” of sea waters: their duality, silence or fury. His paintings are simply mesmerizing. Looking at the canvases, the viewer is ready to simply dissolve in the depths of the sea.
sea view
1899 38x50The painting “The Ninth Wave” (1850) belongs to the early period of Aivazovsky’s work, marked by the desire to convey a special state of nature. It conveys the power awakened in man by the elements. The sublime romantic feeling is conveyed in coloring - in contrasts of the rich dark green color of the waves, the haze that enveloped the dawn sun, in the shades of the foamy crests of the raging sea, in the bright spot of the sunset against the backdrop of menacing, raging waves.
"The Ninth Wave"
1850
Canvas, oil. 221 x 332 cm
Despite the drama of the plot, the picture does not leave a gloomy impression; on the contrary, it is full of light and air and is all permeated with the rays of the sun. The picture is painted with the brightest colors of the palette, which includes a wide range of yellows, oranges, pinks and purples in the sky, combined with greens, blues and purples in the water. The bright, major gamut of colors sounds like a joyful hymn to the courage of people who defeat the blind forces of a terrible, but beautiful element in its formidable grandeur. This picture found a wide response in the hearts of contemporaries and to this day remains one of the most popular in Russian painting.
“Aivazovsky himself, and indeed in all world art, has no other picture that would convey with such breathtaking power the all-destroying power of the elements, the inevitable horror of the impending giant wave, the “ninth wave,” writes N.G. Mashkovtsev. - In this picture, Aivazovsky's huge talent unfolded to its full extent. Rays of bright light breaking through broken clouds driven by the wind, rolling menacing waves, foaming and transparent, lively, changeable colors, striking in their brightness, beauty and realism, create an irresistible impression of power and grandeur.
Wave
1895 74х96In creativity, one can trace the appearance of a number of paintings depicting the open sea at noon, painted in blue colors. The combination of cold blue, green, gray tones gives the feeling of a fresh breeze lifting the swell on the sea. The beauty of these paintings lies in the crystalline clarity, the sparkling radiance they radiate. This cycle is usually called “blue Aivazovsky”.
Caucasus mountains from the sea
1899 59х94Numerous landscapes depicting sunrises and sunsets on the sea are simply grandiose. Heavenly purity and the radiance of solar reflections on the silent surface of the water in the painting "Morning on the Sea":
Morning at sea
1849 85х101
"Fishermen on the Sea"
1852
Oil on canvas 94 x 144
Yerevan
Bay of Naples in the early morning
1897 61х94"Fishermen on the Sea"
1852
Oil on canvas 94 x 144
State Art Gallery of Armenia
Yerevan
"Bathing Sheep"
1877
Oil on canvas 56 x 74
Irkutsk Art Museum
Irkutsk
"View of Yalta in the evening"
1860s
Oil on canvas 82 x 110
Art Gallery
Gumri (Armenia
"Morning at sea"
1883
Oil on canvas 110 x 163
National Art Museum of the Republic of Belarus
Minsk
"Sunset"
1866
Oil on canvas 46 x 61
Collection of A. Shahinyan
NY
"Sea"
1882
Oil on canvas 32 x 47
Rostov Regional Museum of Fine Arts
Rostov
RussiaIn his landscapes, Aivazovsky sets up a kind of intrigue: the situation is presented, as they say, “on the verge”, when the abyss is about to swallow people up or, conversely, allow them to survive. The viewer himself can imagine what a terrible thunderstorm passed at night, what a disaster the crew of the ship suffered, how the sailors died. The author found the exact means to depict the greatness, power and beauty of the sea.
"Off the coast of Yalta"
1872
Oil on canvas 62 x 80
Etchmiadzin Museum
Armenia
"Marina"
1874
Oil on canvas 21 x 31
Museum of the Armenian Mekhitarist Congregation
Venice. Island of St. Lazarus
"Seascape"
1870
Oil on canvas 132 x 162
Dilijan Regional Museum
Peterhof, Leningrad region
RussiaFor graphic works, Aivazovsky used a variety of materials and techniques. By the sixties, there are a number of finely painted watercolors made in one color - sepia. In 1860, Aivazovsky wrote the beautiful series “The Sea after the Storm”. Aivazovsky sent this watercolor as a gift to P. M. Tretyakov. Aivazovsky widely used coated paper. The drawing “The Tempest” (1855) was made on paper, tinted in the upper part with warm pink, and in the lower part with steel gray. With various methods of scratching the tinted chalk layer, Aivazovsky well conveyed the foam on the crests of the wave and the glare on the water.
The sixties and seventies are considered to be the heyday of Aivazovsky's creative talent. During these years, he created a number of remarkable canvases: “Storm at Night” (1864), “Storm on the North Sea” (1865), which are among the most poetic paintings by Aivazovsky.
"Storm in the North Sea"
1865
Oil on canvas 276 x 202
Feodosia Art Gallery. I. K. Aivazovsky
FeodosiaI. K. Aivazovsky Storm on the North Sea. 1865
Ivan EsaulkovMoonlit night on the North Sea
A handful of people are arguing with a formidable storm.
The moon looks at them from behind the clouds.
The masts of the wreckage are raised by a wave.The raging wind broke the mast with a bang.
Huge waves flashed with brilliance,
And after them runs the moonlight ...
Sinking ship silhouetteBarely noticeable, and the waves are getting steeper,
Torn clouds drown in the darkness of the night,
The moonlight path lay down
Between two waves, and around her haze.Scraps of equipment on the yardarm are beating
At the ship under the gust of Boreas.
We feel the acuteness of all senses
Groups of tired people on a raft.Maybe they will be saved, or is it too late?
The waves hit the raft menacingly,
With each wave, the swing is stronger -
It seems like a sliver on the waves;With a furious roar, the wind drives the wave;
The raft then takes off, then, falling, sinks;
And people barely keep on it -
Now in the light, now in the darkness of the night.Dali in the picture is barely distinguishable.
The storm is written so palpably:
Phosphorescent moonlight
A gust of wind, a silhouette of a ship,Torn sail, torn tackle,
Gloomy clouds, human misfortune -
Aivazovsky conveyed everything in the canvas,
Not predicting only the final storm.Copyright: Ivan Esaulkov, 2012
Publication Certificate No. 112102602237
"Storm"
1872
Oil on canvas 110x132
State Museum of Russian Art
Kyiv
Into the storm
1899 152х107
"Storm at Cape Aya"
1875
Oil on canvas 215 x 325
State Russian Museum
Saint Petersburg
Storm over Evpatoria
1861 206.6x317.3F.M. wrote about her. Dostoevsky: “There is ecstasy in his storm, there is that eternal beauty that strikes the viewer in a living, real storm. And this property of Mr. Aivazovsky's talent cannot be called one-sided, even because the storm itself is infinitely diverse. Let us only note that, perhaps, in the depiction of the infinite variety of storms, no effect can seem exaggerated, and is this not why the viewer does not notice unnecessary effects in the storms of Mr. Aivazovsky?
"Sea"
Ho
1881 sheet, oil 49 x 42
State Museum of Arts named after A. Kasteev of the Republic of Kazakhstan
Almaty
Storm
1857
Canvas, oil
100 x 149
Tretyakov Gallery
In the painting "The Tempest", the raging sea and the stormy sky turn into a single inseparable element. Blue-black clouds hang low over the water and make the silhouette of the ship and the outlines of the mountains barely visible in the background almost indistinguishable.In the later years of his life, Aivazovsky experienced a new flowering of his talent. At the very beginning of the eighties, when the realistic direction of landscape painting was fully strengthened and flourished, when a mighty galaxy of landscape painters appeared, Aivazovsky painted The Black Sea (1881). The harsh realistic truth of this picture is quite consonant with the painting of that era.
The sea is depicted on an overcast day; waves, arising at the horizon, move towards the viewer, creating by their alternation a majestic rhythm and sublime structure of the picture. It is written in a restrained colorful range that enhances its emotional impact. Aivazovsky knew how to see and feel the beauty of the sea element close to him, not only in external pictorial effects, but also in the barely perceptible strict rhythm of her breathing.
This canvas "The Black Sea (A storm begins to break out on the Black Sea)" marks the heyday of the talent of the marine painter I.K. Aivazovsky. Its first marine species were inhabited by sailing ships, boats and travelers admiring the sea from the shore. Subsequently, small seascapes were replaced by large-format ones, sometimes of a dramatic nature. The favorite theme of the artist was the image of the power and beauty of the sea.
Black Sea. A storm begins to play out on the Black Sea
1881
Oil on canvas 149 x 208
State Tretyakov Gallery
MoscowIn the painting "Black Sea" the main place is occupied by the boundless sea space and the same endless sky above it. The wind is picking up, the waves are rolling steadily, the lambs of foam are already boiling on the crests. The color of the darkening water is changeable and varied. From greenish-gray, silvery and light emerald shades in the center, the color thickens to a dark blue, almost black density, leading the eye into the bottomless depths of the sea. A tiny sail of a fishing boat is visible on the horizon, hurrying home.
I.N. Kramskoy considered "The Black Sea" the best work of Aivazovsky.
I. N. Kramskoy wrote about the painting “The Black Sea” (1881): “There is nothing in the picture but water and sky, but water is an endless ocean, not stormy, but swaying, severe, endless, and the sky, if possible, even more endless . This is one of the most grandiose paintings that I know.”
In the waves
1893The grandiose canvas "Wave" is a vivid example of the artist's late work. The painter departs here from the early romantic “flowery” and approaches a realistic solution. It is interesting to note that he creates this canvas at the age of 72.
Wave
1889, oil on canvas, 304 x 505 cm
State Russian Museum, St. PetersburgRepresenting the mouth of a whirlpool boiling in the stormy movement of the waves, Aivazovsky admires the power of nature and seems to compare the vanity of human efforts with it - heavy lead clouds hung low over the waves, the abyss is about to swallow the broken ship; there is probably no hope for the sailors who are trying to escape.
The master highlights the center of the composition with a white clot of foam, illuminated by a flash of lightning; in general, the color of the canvas is cold and gloomy.
Depicting the stormy movement of the waves, the painter admires the cyclopean power of nature and seems to compare the vanity of human efforts with it: heavy lead clouds hang low over the waves, the abyss is about to swallow the broken ship, there is no hope for sailors trying to escape. The coloring of the picture is cold and gloomy.
The painter departs here from the early romantic brightness of the palette and approaches a realistic solution.
Into the storm
1872 72х92The sky has always occupied a large place in the composition of Aivazovsky's paintings. The ocean of air - the movement of air, the variety of outlines of clouds and clouds, their formidable rapid run during a storm or the softness of the radiance in the pre-sunset hour of a summer evening, sometimes in themselves created the emotional content of his paintings.
Storm off the coast of Nice
1885 118x150With each stroke of the artist, Aivazovsky's paintings convey more and more drama. And the success of the master is precisely in the huge opportunities to convey the shocking realism of what is happening. The viewer seems to begin to see through the vast expanses of the waves, where the wreckage of the lost ships is shown. With such magnificent works, we can safely say that Aivazovsky's paintings are the works of a magnificent master in love with nature and the sea. He managed to preserve an unforgettable expression and charm of spiritual warmth and light on each canvas. And it is precisely this fidelity to the unusual style and exciting plots that captivates every connoisseur of the master's masterpiece talent.
Ocean 1896 67.5x100In 1867, Aivazovsky creates a large cycle of paintings associated with the uprising of the inhabitants of the island of Crete against the Turkish yoke.
In 1868 Aivazovsky undertook a journey to the Caucasus. He painted the foothills of the Caucasus with a chain of snowy mountains on the horizon, panoramas of mountain ranges stretching into the distance like petrified waves, the Darial Gorge and the village of Gunib, lost among the rocky mountains.
"Chains of the Caucasus Mountains"
1869
Oil on canvas 139 x 170
Yaroslavl
Russia
"View of Tiflis"
1868
Oil on canvas 36 x 47
State Art Museum of GeorgiaAmong the dozens of paintings on the Armenian theme, the portraits of the artist's grandmother and his older brother Gabriel, Catholicos Khrimyan, Novo-Nakhichevan mayor A. Khalibyan, especially attract attention with their skill and psychologism. Aivazovsky created a number of paintings on biblical and historical subjects, including “The Baptism of the Armenian People” and “The Oath. Commander Vardan. Among these works is the large canvas “The Descent of Noah from Ararat”, where the refined harmony of light tones conveys the freshness of the air permeated with morning light and the grandeur of the biblical land.
Belonging by religion to the Armenian Apostolic Church, Aivazovsky created a number of paintings on biblical as well as historical subjects. Among the latter are "The Baptism of the Armenian People" and "The Oath. Commander Vardan", which at one time decorated one of the Feodosian Armenian churches and aroused patriotic feelings in the parishioners.
The plot for the painting "Baptism of the Armenian people" served as a turning point in the history of Armenian culture. Its flourishing was facilitated by the adoption of Christianity by the Armenians. At the very beginning of the 4th century, under Tsar Trdat III (287-330), who relied on Rome in the fight against the expansion of the Persian state of the Sassanids, this religion was legalized as a state religion. Armenia, therefore, is today one of the most ancient Christian states.
Baptism of the Armenian people. Gregory the Illuminator (IV c)
"Oath. Commander Vardan"
In 1869, Aivazovsky went to Egypt to participate in the opening ceremony of the Suez Canal. As a result of this trip, a panorama of the canal was painted and a number of paintings were created reflecting the nature, life and life of Egypt, with its pyramids, sphinxes, camel caravans.
Aivazovsky was able to convey in the landscape the state when a turning point occurs and the sea gives way after indignation, calming down and resigning. This is shown, for example, in the painting "Rainbow" (1873)."
In 1873, Aivazovsky created an outstanding painting "Rainbow". In the plot of this picture - a storm at sea and a ship dying near a rocky coast - there is nothing unusual for Aivazovsky's work. But its colorful range, picturesque execution was a completely new phenomenon in Russian painting of the seventies.
Depicting this storm, Aivazovsky showed it as if he himself was among the raging waves. Through the rushing whirlwind, the silhouette of a sinking ship and the indistinct outlines of a rocky shore are barely visible. A hurricane wind blows water dust off the crests of the waves. The clouds in the sky dissolved into a transparent wet shroud. Through this chaos, a stream of sunlight made its way, laying down like a rainbow on the water, giving the color of the picture a multi-colored coloring. The whole picture is written in the finest shades of blue, green, pink and purple colors. The same tones, slightly enhanced in color, convey the rainbow itself. It flickers with a barely perceptible mirage. From this, the rainbow acquired transparency, softness and purity of color. The painting "Rainbow" was new, higher
step in the work of Aivazovsky.
Rainbow
1873
Canvas, oil
102 x 132
Tretyakov GalleryHe was attracted by the unusual effects of light reflected in the plane of water, and the rainbow motif, beloved by romantics, was not accidental. In Aivazovsky's painting, a rainbow hovering over a stormy sea colors the water splashes, and the sea water translucent through them acquires a pinkish tint. A high wave closes the horizon line, and the sea element, transformed by rainbow light, with which people fleeing from a sinking ship are struggling, becomes the main character of the canvas.
"Storm on the Rocky Shores"
1875
Oil on canvas 73 x 102
Armenian Society for Cultural Relations
YerevanLight as an idea plays a significant role in Aivazovsky's work. Depicting the sea, clouds and air space, the artist actually depicts light. Light in his art is a symbol of life, hope and faith, a symbol of eternity.
Storm on the Arctic Ocean
1864 208x148Aivazovsky was close to many Wanderers. His brilliant skill was highly appreciated by Kramskoy, Repin, Stasov and Tretyakov. Aivazovsky began to arrange exhibitions of his paintings in St. Petersburg, Moscow, and in many other large cities of Russia long before the organization of traveling exhibitions. In 1879, Ivan Konstantinovich visits Genoa, where he collects materials on the discovery of America by Columbus. In 1880, Aivazovsky opened the first peripheral art gallery in Russia in Feodosia.
"Storm"
1886
Oil on canvas 84 x 142
Yaroslavl Art Museum
Yaroslavl
RussiaIn 1898, Aivazovsky painted the painting “Among the Waves”, which became the pinnacle of his work. The artist depicted a raging element - a stormy sky and a stormy sea covered with waves, as if boiling in collision with one another.
Among the waves
1898, oil on canvas, 284x429 cm
Feodosia Art Gallery. I.K.AivazovskyHe abandoned the usual details in his paintings in the form of fragments of masts and dying ships lost in the boundless sea.
He knew many ways to dramatize the plots of his paintings, but did not resort to any of them while working on this work. "Among the Waves" seems to continue to reveal in time the content of the painting "Black Sea": if in one case an agitated sea is depicted, in the other it is already raging, at the moment of the highest formidable state of the sea element.
This is the fruit of a long, tireless work and search for the entire life of the master. It is written, like most of his works, in a free improvisational method. The picture is full of movement and expression. Only a great artist could so amazingly easily, literally in one breath, depict on the canvas a boiling, moving and foaming whirlpool of waves. The picturesque palette consists of a grayish-bluish-greenish color with the finest shades and nuances. The ray of the sun, passing along the diagonal of the canvas, enhances the color scheme so much that a narrow strip of a stormy sky does not violate the overall major color. Masterfully written snow-white weightless lace foam gives the canvas a special state of joy and elation of feelings. In his heart, the artist remained a romantic until the last days of his life. This canvas can be attributed to a phenomenal phenomenon in the visual arts.
The mastery of the painting "Among the Waves" is the fruit of a long and hard work of the artist's entire life. Work on it proceeded quickly and easily. Obedient to the hand of the artist, the brush sculpted exactly the shape that the artist wanted, and laid the paint on the canvas in the way that the experience of skill and the instinct of a great artist, who did not correct the brushstroke once put, prompted him. Apparently, Aivazovsky himself was aware that the painting "Among the Waves" is much higher in terms of execution of all previous works of recent years. Despite the fact that after its creation he worked for another two years, arranged exhibitions of his works in Moscow, London and St. Petersburg, he did not take this painting out of Feodosia, he bequeathed it, along with other works that were in his art gallery, to his native city of Feodosia.
The painting "Among the Waves" did not exhaust the creative possibilities of Aivazovsky. In the subsequent time, he created several more paintings, no less beautiful in execution and content.In 1899, he painted a small picture, beautiful in clarity and freshness of color, built on a combination of bluish-green water and pink in the clouds - “Calm near the Crimean coast”.
Calm off the Crimean coast
Genre: seascape
Base: canvas
Technique: oil
Location: Feodosia gallery, FeodosiaAs Aivazovsky's creative experience and skill accumulated, a noticeable shift took place in the process of the artist's work, which affected his preparatory drawings. Now he creates a sketch of the future work from his imagination, and not from a natural drawing, as he did in the early period of creativity. Aivazovsky was not always immediately satisfied with the solution found in the sketch, for example, there are three versions of the sketch for his last painting “Explosion of the Ship”. Aivazovsky spoke about the method of his work: “Having sketched a plan of the picture I conceived with a pencil on a piece of paper, I set to work and, so to speak, give myself to it with all my heart.”
With tirelessness and amazing speed, the artist worked until the end of his days. He died in Feodosia on May 2, 1900 while working on the painting “The Explosion of a Turkish Ship”.
ship explosion
1900 67x96.5
This is the last painting, unfinished.According to the will of Aivazovsky, he was buried in Feodosia in the courtyard of the Church of Surb Sargis, where he was baptized and where he got married. The tombstone inscription - carved in ancient Armenian words of the historian of the 5th century Movses Khorenatsi - reads: "He was born a mortal, he left an immortal memory behind him."
- Family and native Feodosia
- Study and envy of the teacher
- Rise and false death
- Glory and family
- old age and death
Creative biography of the main marine painter of the Russian Empire.
Family and native Feodosia
Ivan Aivazovsky was born in Feodosia, the son of an Armenian merchant Ayvazyan (Gaivazovsky), and was baptized under the name Hovhannes (the Armenian form of the name "John").
The family was not rich, the artist's father had to work hard. The boy clearly grew up talented: he even taught himself to play the violin. His artistic abilities were also evident. Feodosia mayor Alexander Kaznacheev, who noticed how Hovhannes draws, became his first patron: he gave him paints and paper, and also offered to study drawing with his children from the city architect Koch. Moreover, when Hovhannes graduated from the district school in his native city, Kaznacheev, who was transferred to Simferopol, helped the 13-year-old boy get into the Simferopol gymnasium.
The boy continued to draw from nature and copy from engravings, and the city started talking about the young talent. His next patron was Natalya Naryshkina, the daughter of Fyodor Rostopchin and the wife of the Tauride governor. With the help of the famous portrait painter Salvator Tonchi, she was able to get Hovhannes to the Imperial Academy of Arts - moreover, at public expense and despite the fact that he had not yet reached the required age (he was under 14 years old). The President of the Academy, Olenin, made this decision after reading Naryshkina's letter and looking at the drawing of the boy enclosed in it.
Study and envy of the teacher
In St. Petersburg, the future great artist ended up in 1833 and began to study at the Academy - no longer as Ovanes Gaivazovsky, but as Ivan Aivazovsky. He was accepted into the landscape class of Maxim Nikiforovich Vorobyov.
Ivan Aivazovsky. Seashore at night. At the lighthouse. 1837
Ivan Aivazovsky. Kerch. 1839
Ivan Aivazovsky. Kronstadt raid. 1840
Soon, at the invitation of Emperor Nicholas I, the French marine painter Philip Tanner arrived in the northern capital, to whom Aivazovsky was assigned as a student. The Frenchman dumped a huge amount of menial work on the young man. However, Aivazovsky still found time to paint his own paintings, and in 1836 presented them at the Academic Exhibition, where Tanner also exhibited. One of the paintings was awarded a silver medal. In a review of this exhibition, the Art Newspaper praised the young painter, and reproached the Frenchman for mannerisms. This caused a wild fury in Tanner, and he complained about the negligent student who violated the chain of command, his main customer - Emperor Nicholas. Aivazovsky was formally wrong indeed - according to the rules, the canvases for the exhibition were to be selected by the teacher, but he did not ask Tanner for permission.
The emperor, without going into details, ordered the removal of Aivazovsky's paintings from the exhibition. The artist fell into disgrace, and his further career was in jeopardy. In vain did Krylov, Zhukovsky, and the President of the Academy, Olenin, fuss over him. However, they managed to attract to his side the artist Alexander Sauerweid, who taught the children of the emperor. This patron turned out to be more powerful - in an informal setting, he was able to show Nikolai a picture of Aivazovsky. He praised the young man, ordered him to pay money for the work and, moreover, sent with his son Konstantin on a summer practical trip to the Baltic, where both young men got to know the sailing fleet - however, with different goals. In addition, Aivazovsky was assigned to a new teacher - the same Sauerweid, who specialized in battle painting.
Having received the Great Gold Medal of the Academy in 1837, Aivazovsky won a trip to the Crimea and Europe. By the way, 20-year-old Aivazovsky was released from the educational institution two years earlier, since the teachers decided that the Academy could not give him anything more.
Rise and false death
Before leaving for Europe, Aivazovsky was noted in military operations - Admiral Mikhail Lazarev invited him to witness the victories of Russian weapons. Together with Nikolai Raevsky, he took part in the landing on the Caucasian coast (where Sochi is now located) and sketched the consequences of the bloody battle with a notebook in his hands.
In 1840-1844, the young master traveled around Europe, improving his skills. At first, it was difficult for him financially: he sent part of his pension to his mother in Feodosia, and did not spend it on himself. At first he lived and studied in Italy. During these years, he developed his own creative method and learned to work from memory.
Paintings painted in Venice, Florence, Naples, Amalfi and Sorreno, presented at exhibitions in Rome and Naples, brought him great success. His income began to rise and he was able to afford travel to Switzerland, Germany, France and England. During the trip, his ship fell into a severe storm, the ship was considered drowned, and the artist was considered dead, and his obituaries even appeared in St. Petersburg newspapers.
Ivan Aivazovsky. Amalfi coast. 1841
Ivan Aivazovsky. The brig "Mercury" after defeating two Turkish ships meets with the Russian squadron. 1848
Glory and family
Aivazovsky returned to Russia in triumph. He received the title of academician and by imperial decree was assigned to the Main Naval Staff as an artist with the right to wear the uniform of the Naval Ministry.
In subsequent years, Aivazovsky's career developed happily. In 1845, as part of the Russian Geographical Society, he set off on a journey to the shores of Asia Minor and the Greek islands. In the late 1860s, the artist made a long journey through the Caucasus and Transcaucasia - he visited Ossetia, Dagestan, Georgia, Armenia. This period includes a cycle of amazing mountain landscapes. He was also in Egypt at the opening of the Suez Canal.
As soon as finances allowed, Aivazovsky settled in his native Feodosia, where he bought a plot and built a house on it, reminiscent of Italian palazzos in style. The mansion was always full of guests - many visitors wanted to see the famous artist and his work. Over time, Aivazovsky turned it into a private museum open to visitors and added a gallery. Today it is the building of the Feodosiya National Art Gallery. Aivazovsky.
In 1848 he married a governess, Julia Grefs, who bore him four daughters. The marriage ended in divorce: the wife had a complex character, preferred to live in St. Petersburg and did not approve of her husband's love for the Crimean home and travel. In the end, she left him and began to live separately, while introducing her husband into large debts. In 1877, he sold a petition to the Etchmiadzin Synod for a divorce. In 1882, the 65-year-old Aivazovsky was married for the second time to the young widow of a Feodosia merchant, Anna Burnazyan (Sarkizova). With the newlywed, he undertook a new journey through the countries of the Mediterranean.
Museums section publications
A dozen seas by Ivan Aivazovsky: geography in paintings
We recall the famous canvases of Aivazovsky and study the maritime geography of the 19th century from them.
Adriatic Sea
Venetian lagoon. View of the island of San Giorgio. 1844. State Tretyakov Gallery
The sea, which is part of the Mediterranean, was named in antiquity after the ancient port of Adria (in the region of Venice). Now the water has receded from the city by 22 kilometers, and the city has become land.
In the 19th century, reference books wrote about this sea: “... the most dangerous wind is the northeast wind - Borey, also the southeast wind - sirocco; southwestern - siffanto, less common and less prolonged, but often very strong; it is especially dangerous near the mouths of the Po, when it suddenly changes to the southeast and turns into a strong storm (furiano). Between the islands of the east coast these winds are doubly dangerous, for in the narrow channels and in each bay they blow differently; the most terrible are the boreal in winter and the hot "south" (Slovensk.) in summer. Already the ancients often talk about the dangers of Adria, and from the numerous prayers for salvation and vows of sailors preserved in the churches of the Italian coast, it is clear that the changeable weather has long been the subject of complaints from coastal swimmers .... ”(1890).
Atlantic Ocean
Napoleon on Saint Helena. 1897. Feodosia Art Gallery. I.K. Aivazovsky
The ocean got its name in antiquity, in honor of the mythical titan Atlanta, who held the vault of heaven on his shoulders somewhere near Gibraltar.
“... The time recently used by sailing ships in various indicated directions is expressed by the following numbers: from Pas de Calais to New York 25-40 days; back 15–23; to the West Indies 27–30, to the equator 27–33 days; from New York to the equator 20–22, in summer 25–31 days; from the English Channel to Bahia 40, to Rio de Janeiro 45, to Cape Horn 66, to Capstadt 60, to the Gulf of Guinea 51 days. Of course, the duration of the crossing varies depending on the weather; more detailed guidance can be found in the "Passage tables" published by the London Board of Trade. Steamboats are less dependent on the weather, especially postal ones, equipped with all the modern improvements and now crossing the Atlantic Ocean in all directions ... ”(1890).
Baltic Sea
Big raid in Kronstadt. 1836. Timing
The sea got its name either from the Latin word balteus (“belt”), since, according to ancient geographers, it encircled Europe, or from the Baltic word baltas (“white”).
“... Due to the low salt content, shallow depth and severity of winter, the Baltic Sea freezes over a large area, although not every winter. So, for example, driving on ice from Reval to Helsingfors is not possible every winter, but in severe frosts and deep straits between the Åland Islands and both coasts of the mainland are covered with ice, and in 1809 the Russian army with all military weights crossed here over the ice to Sweden and in two other places across the Gulf of Bothnia. In 1658, the Swedish king Charles X crossed the ice from Jutland to Zeeland…” (1890).
ionian sea
Naval Battle of Navarino, October 2, 1827. 1846. Naval Academy. N.G. Kuznetsova
According to ancient myths, the sea, which is part of the Mediterranean, was named after Zeus's beloved Princess Io, who was turned into a cow by his wife, the goddess Hera. In addition, Hera sent a huge gadfly to Io, fleeing from which the poor thing swam across the sea.
“... There are luxurious olive groves on Kefalonia, but in general the Ionian Islands are treeless. Main products: wine, oil, southern fruits. The main occupations of the inhabitants are agriculture and sheep breeding, fishing, trade, and shipbuilding; manufacturing industry in its infancy…”
In the 19th century, this sea was the site of important naval battles: we talked about one of them, captured by Aivazovsky.
Cretan Sea
On the island of Crete. 1867. Feodosia Art Gallery. I.K. Aivazovsky
Another sea, which is part of the Mediterranean, washes Crete from the north and is named after this island. "Crete" is one of the oldest geographical names, it is already found in the Mycenaean linear letter "B" of the 2nd millennium BC. e. Its meaning is unclear; perhaps in one of the ancient Anatolian languages it meant "silver".
“...Christians and Mohammedans are here in terrible mutual enmity. Industries are in decline; harbors, which were in a flourishing state under the Venetian rule, almost all became shallow; most of the cities are in ruins…” (1895).
Sea of Marmara
Golden Horn Bay. Turkey. After 1845. Chuvash State Art Museum
The sea, located between the Bosporus and the Dardanelles, connects the Black Sea with the Mediterranean and separates the European part of Istanbul from the Asian. It is named after the island of Marmara, where the famous quarries were located in ancient times.
“... Although the Sea of Marmara is in the exclusive possession of the Turks, both its topography and its physico-chemical and biological properties have been studied mainly by Russian hydrographers and scientists. The first detailed description of the shores of this sea was made on Turkish military ships in 1845-1848 by the hydrographer of the Russian fleet, captain-lieutenant Manganari ... ”(1897).
North Sea
View of Amsterdam. 1854. Kharkov Art Museum
The sea, which is part of the Atlantic Ocean, washes the shores of Europe from France to Scandinavia. In the 19th century in Russia it was called German, later the name was changed.
“... With the exception of the aforementioned very narrow expanse of great depths off the coast of Norway, the German Sea is the smallest of all coastal seas and even of all seas, with the exception of the Sea of \u200b\u200bAzov. The German Sea, together with the English Channel, are the seas most visited by ships, since through it there is a path from the ocean to the first harbor of the globe - London ... ”(1897).
Arctic Ocean
Storm on the Arctic Ocean. 1864. Feodosia Art Gallery. I.K. Aivazovsky
The current name of the ocean was officially approved in 1937, before that it was called differently - including the North Sea. In ancient Russian texts, there is even a touching version - the Breathing Sea. In Europe, it is called the Arctic Ocean.
“... Attempts to reach the North Pole have not been successful so far. The closest expedition to the North Pole was the expedition of the American Peary, who set off from New York in 1905 on a specially built Roosevelt steamer and returned in October 1906 ”(1907).
Mediterranean Sea
Port of La Valletta on the island of Malta. 1844. Timing
This sea became "Mediterranean" in the III century AD. e. thanks to the Roman geographers. The composition of this large sea includes many small ones - in addition to those named here, these are Alboran, Balearic, Icarian, Carpathian, Cilician, Cypriot, Levantine, Libyan, Ligurian, Myrtoic and Thracian.
“... Navigation in the Mediterranean Sea at the present time, with the strong development of the steam fleet, does not present any particular difficulties, due to the comparative rarity of strong storms and due to the satisfactory fencing of shallows and coasts with lighthouses and other warning signs. About 300 large lighthouses are distributed along the coasts of the continents and islands, with the latter accounting for about 1/3, and of the remaining 3/4 located on the European coast ... ”(1900).
Tyrrhenian Sea
Moonlit night in Capri. 1841. State Tretyakov Gallery
The sea, which is part of the Mediterranean and located north of Sicily, was named after the character of ancient myths, the Lydian prince Tyrrhenus, who drowned in it.
“... All the latifundia [large estates] of Sicily belong to large owners - aristocrats who live permanently either in continental Italy, or in France and Spain. The shredding of landed property often goes to extremes: the peasant owns one dugout on a piece of land measuring several square arshins. In the seaside valley, where private property lies in fruit plantations, there are often such peasant owners who have only 4-5 chestnut trees ”(1900).
Black Sea
Black Sea (A storm begins to break out on the Black Sea). 1881. State Tretyakov Gallery
This name, probably associated with the color of the water during a storm, the sea received only in modern times. The ancient Greeks, who actively settled on its shores, called it first the Inhospitable, and then the Hospitable.
“... Urgent passenger and cargo shipping traffic between the Black Sea ports is supported by Russian ships (mainly of the Russian Shipping and Trade Society), Austrian Lloyd, French Messageries maritimes and Frayssinet et C-ie and the Greek company Courtgi et C-ie under the Turkish flag. Foreign ships visit almost exclusively the ports of Rumelia, Bulgaria, Romania and Anatolia, while the ships of the Russian Society of Shipping and Trade visit all the ports of the Black Sea. The composition of the ships of the Russian Society of Shipping and Trade in 1901 - 74 ships ... "(1903).
Aegean Sea
Island of Patmos. 1854. Omsk Regional Museum of Fine Arts. M.A. Vrubel
This part of the Mediterranean Sea, located between Greece and Turkey, is named after the Athenian king Aegeus, who threw himself into it from a cliff, thinking that his son Theseus was killed by the Minotaur.
“... Sailing along the Aegean Sea, which lies in the path of ships coming from the Black and Marmara Seas, is generally very pleasant, thanks to good, clear weather, but in autumn and early spring storms are not uncommon, brought by cyclones coming from the North Atlantic Ocean through Europe to Malaya Asia. The inhabitants of the islands are excellent sailors ... "(1904).
Amazing in its beauty, the painting “Sea. Koktebel Bay" was created in the 18th century by Ivan Aivazovsky. She personifies the uniqueness of the recalcitrant, raging sea.
In the foreground of the painting, the artist depicted a beach and a small boat aimed at the depths of the sea. It feels like a little more and the boat will break out of the embrace of the shore and rush into the distance along the waves towards dangers. Most of the picture is occupied by the foaming and endless sea, the same as the sky. Waves and heavenly expanses merge behind the horizon - turning into some kind of large and super-powerful creature that obscures the sunlight and hangs over the ship, which has already plunged into the raging waves.
Aivazovsky also painted rocks, they give the picture even more rigor and menacing. They seem to be silently watching everything that happens, but they do not want to interfere. From their harsh silence it becomes somehow hopeless and eerie, but then you notice a slight reflection of the sun, timidly peeking out from behind the clouds, it is like a glimmer of hope that everything will end soon, the sea will again become friendly and kind.
This picture shows the manifestation of love for the native land, it is felt in every stroke of the author's brush. Seeing the "Koktebel Bay" live, you will feel the full power of the picture and as if you will feel the fresh sea air, the atmosphere of the restless sea element, which, despite this, is beautiful.
In the landscapes of Ivan Aivazovsky, and during his life he painted more than six thousand of them, the sea appears before us as the basis of nature in all its mighty beauty and splendor. The painter created many of his paintings in his studio, whose windows overlooked the side opposite to the sea. Aivazovsky painted landscapes not from nature, but from his memory.
Sometimes a painter, as he is sometimes called a singer of the sea, invited customers to his studio and painted a picture right in front of their eyes in an hour or two. Such a show attracted more and more customers, which is why the popularity of the virtuoso painter grew unheard of, and orders simply poured in.
The academically literate, solid quality of painting is universally admired by fans of landscapes, especially in Western countries, where since the late 80s. In the 20th century, the creations of the great marine painter Aivazovsky simply began to boom.
In our time, paintings by Ivan Aivazovsky are mandatory exhibits at all auctions, they fit perfectly into the pan-European series, which is dedicated to the oriental theme, as well as academicism and painting of the 19th century.
