Ivan Aivazovsky's painting "The Flood" was painted in 1864 on a biblical story, to which the artist repeatedly turned during his life. This picture is one of the best options created by Aivazovsky. The emphasis is on the sea element, wild beauty and the superiority of the sea over all.
A huge crest of a wave will inexorably and cruelly capture people and send them into the depths of the sea ... The inevitable death of people and the inability to escape is predicted by a sad palette of colors. The horror and despair of a person alone with the elements contrast with the artistic picture. The power of nature is primarily shown by the artist. At the same time, he emphasizes that sins and darkness go away with water. This is not death, for him the element presented is a glimmer of hope and faith, the only chance for people to cleanse themselves and receive mercy from the Creator. As a final result, the artist assumes a way out of the abyss into another world full of goodness and light.
The original of this painting is stored in the storerooms of the Russian Museum in St. Petersburg: due to the impressive size (246.5 - 319.5 meters) and the small area of the museum halls intended for the exhibition of Aivazovsky's works, art lovers cannot see the original ...
FAVORABLE offer from the BigArtShop online store: buy the painting The Flood by the artist Ivan Aivazovsky on natural canvas in high resolution, decorated in a stylish baguette frame, at an ATTRACTIVE price.
Painting by Ivan Aivazovsky The Flood: description, biography of the artist, customer reviews, other works of the author. A large catalog of paintings by Ivan Aivazovsky on the website of the online store BigArtShop.
The BigArtShop online store presents a large catalog of paintings by the artist Ivan Aivazovsky. You can choose and buy your favorite reproductions of paintings by Ivan Aivazovsky on natural canvas.
Ivan Kostantinovich Aivazovsky - the most outstanding artist - Armenian of the XIX century Hovhannes Ayvazyan.
Aivazovsky's ancestors were Galician Armenians who moved to Galicia from Turkish Armenia in the 18th century. There is also a family tradition that there were Turks among his ancestors: the artist’s father told him that the artist’s great-grandfather on the female side was the son of a Turkish military leader and, as a child, when Azov was captured by Russian troops in 1696, he was saved from death by a certain Armenian who he was baptized and adopted.
Ivan Aivazovsky discovered artistic and musical abilities from childhood. He taught himself to play the violin. The Feodosia architect Yakov Kokh was the first to pay attention to the artistic abilities of the boy. He gave him paper, pencils, paints, taught him the skill, helped him enter the Feodosia district school. Then Aivazovsky graduated from the Simferopol gymnasium and was admitted at public expense to the Imperial Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg. Was assigned to the fashionable French landscape painter Philip Tanner. But Tanner forbade Aivazovsky to work independently. Despite this, on the advice of Professor Alexander Ivanovich Sauerweid, he managed to prepare several paintings for the exhibition of the Academy of Arts. Tanner complained about Aivazovsky's arbitrariness to Emperor Nicholas I, by order of the tsar, all the paintings were removed from the exhibition, despite rave reviews from critics.
The conflict was neutralized thanks to Sauerweid, in whose class six months later an aspiring young artist was assigned to practice maritime military painting. In 1837, Aivazovsky received a Grand Gold Medal for the painting “Calm”. This gave him the right to a two-year trip to the Crimea and Europe. There, in addition to creating seascapes, he was engaged in battle painting and even participated in hostilities on the coast of Circassia. As a result, he painted the painting "Landing of the detachment in the length of Subashi", which was acquired by Nicholas I. At the end of the summer of 1839, he returned to St. Petersburg, received a certificate of graduation from the Academy, his first rank and personal nobility.
In 1840 he went to Rome. For his paintings of the Italian period he received the Gold Medal of the Paris Academy of Arts. In 1842 he went to Holland, from there - to England, France, Portugal, Spain. During the trip, the ship on which the artist was sailing got into a storm and nearly sank in the Bay of Biscay. The Parisian newspapers even reported on his death. After a four-year journey in the fall of 1844, Aivazovsky returned to Russia and became a painter of the Main Naval Staff, and since 1947 a professor at the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts, he was also a member of the European academies of Rome, Paris, Florence, Amsterdam and Studgard.
Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky painted mainly seascapes. His career has been very successful. He was awarded many orders and received the rank of Rear Admiral. In total, the artist wrote more than 6 thousand works.
From 1845 he lived in Feodosia, where he opened an art school with the money he earned, which later became one of the art centers of Novorossia, was the initiator of the construction of the Feodosia - Dzhankoy railway, built in 1892. He was actively involved in the affairs of the city, its improvement.
At his own expense, he built a new building for the Feodosia Museum of Antiquities, for services to archeology he was elected a full member of the Odessa Society of History and Antiquities.
In 1848 Ivan Konstantinovich got married. His wife was Yulia Yakovlevna Grevs, an Englishwoman, the daughter of a staff doctor who was in the Russian service. They had four daughters. But due to Aivazovsky's unwillingness to live in the capital, Yulia Yakovlevna left her husband after 12 years. However, the marriage was annulled only in 1877. In 1882, Aivazovsky met Anna Nikitichna Sarkisova. Aivazovsky saw Anna Nikitichna at the funeral of her husband, a famous Feodosia merchant. The beauty of the young widow struck Ivan Konstantinovich. A year later they got married.
The texture of the canvas, high-quality paints and large-format printing allow our reproductions of Ivan Aivazovsky to be as good as the original. The canvas will be stretched on a special stretcher, after which the picture can be framed in a baguette of your choice.
In the Museum of the city of St. Petersburg, there is an amazing painting by marine painter Ivan Aivazovsky called "The Flood". The painting began in 1864. The masterpiece reflected the faith of the marine painter. A huge number of paintings were created on biblical themes. "The Flood" is the personification of beautiful stories from the Bible. The versatility of Ivan Aivazovsky's art never ceases to amaze. The ability to convey life and emotions on paper with paints makes every person who has seen the work of the artist at least once in his life breathe heavily.
The foamy sea again appears in the picture of the great marine painter. This art canvas clearly shows the wild life of the sea element, rather than a tale from the bible. The emphasis is on the sea, its beauty and rigidity, the contours of the artist's brush show the advantage of sea waves over all.
The catastrophic wave crest spares no one. Clear laws have been established by which the sea element lives. They are relentless and cruel. The nautical luxury overshadows the overall look of the art, as the power is released with the speed of thought. It was very important for the creator to show how strong nature can be before man. It is impossible to defeat her, and if you fall into the depths of the sea, you can’t go back.
People who die in the sea abyss show the role of this cataclysm. The powerful element attracts attention to itself so strongly as if by hypnosis. An alluring sad set of colors predicts the death of people and the inability to escape. The contrast of the artistic picture complements the horror and despair of a man who was left alone with the sea.
Along with water, sins and gloom go away, this is not death, the artist showed. The presented element is a glimmer of hope and faith, through darkness and sadness. For people, the only chance to purify and receive mercy from the Creator. The end result of the picture suggests a way out of the abyss into another world - the realm of goodness and light.
The history of the famous painting by Ivan Aivazovsky on the biblical theme "The Flood".
The Flood is one of the most famous paintings by the great Russian artist Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky. The picture was painted in 1864. Canvas, oil. Dimensions: 246.5 x 369 cm. Currently located in the State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg.
The Flood is a picture of a religious direction. Here Aivazovsky depicted a biblical scene that tells how the whole world was swallowed up by the waters. As a result of this catastrophe, everyone died, except for Noah, who was able to save a variety of animals with the help of the ark he built. However, in his painting, Ivan Konstantinovich did not depict Noah and his ark at all, as other artists do, placing the key figure of biblical history in the center of the pictorial narrative. The marine painter was more attracted by the tragedy of ordinary people who are trying to escape from the advancing sea.
Aivazovsky is primarily known precisely as an unsurpassed marine painter. The sea in his paintings is often the main theme of the work. The artist was completely absorbed by the irresistible power of the water element, its beauty, mysteries, infinity and even cruelty. Of course, Aivazovsky simply could not get past such a plot, where the sea destroys almost all life on earth.
The painting depicts people who are fleeing from the advancing elements and raging waves at the very top of the rocks. Not only people, but also animals are trying to escape, but the merciless elements easily wash them into the depths of the sea. The artist emphasized this tragedy in gloomy tones on the right side of the picture. However, in the upper left corner we can see a bright light, which indicates that the flood is designed to free the earth from sins. The bright light in the picture is a symbol of what the very history of the Flood implies - the renewal of the world, the advent of the kingdom of good and light.
Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky "The Flood", 1864
Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
Romanticism
In 1862, Aivazovsky wrote two versions of the painting "The Flood", and then repeatedly returned to this biblical story throughout his life. One of the best versions of the painting The Deluge was painted by him in 1864.
It is the sea that usually appears in him as the universal basis of nature and history, especially in plots with the creation of the world and the flood; however, the images of religious, biblical or gospel iconography, as well as ancient mythology, cannot be counted among his greatest successes.
The foamy sea again appears in the picture of the great marine painter. This art canvas clearly shows the wild life of the sea element, rather than a tale from the bible. The emphasis is on the sea, its beauty and rigidity, the contours of the artist's brush show the advantage of sea waves over all.
The catastrophic wave crest spares no one. Clear laws have been established by which the sea element lives. They are relentless and cruel. The nautical luxury overshadows the overall look of the art, as the power is released with the speed of thought. It was very important for the creator to show how strong nature can be before man. It is impossible to defeat her, and if you fall into the depths of the sea, you can’t go back.
People who die in the sea abyss show the role of this cataclysm. The powerful element attracts attention to itself so strongly as if by hypnosis. An alluring sad set of colors predicts the death of people and the inability to escape. The contrast of the artistic picture complements the horror and despair of a man who was left alone with the sea.
Along with water, sins and gloom go away, this is not death, the artist showed. The presented element is a glimmer of hope and faith, through darkness and sadness. For people, the only chance to purify and receive mercy from the Creator. The end result of the picture suggests a way out of the abyss into another world - the realm of goodness and light.
I will digress from sad historical memories and turn my eyes to the world of beauty.
Perhaps the main cultural event of this winter in our cultural capital was the exhibition of Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky in the Russian Museum, dedicated to the 200th anniversary of his birth.
The exhibition was supposed to be closed the other day (maybe already closed). I managed to visit it last week. We went to the exhibition with several sisters. I am deeply convinced that Orthodox priests should go to exhibitions more often. We would diligently go to museums, maybe Isaac would have been handed over to us long ago without any problems.
Believers should feel at home in museums. This is all ours, dear. Because real art is always religious and glorifies the Creator, and real artists have always been religious people, inspired by faith and creating for those who believe. A non-religious person simply does not have enough motivation for creativity (except for banal self-expression). Museums are our territory.
Once I was in the Hermitage with two nuns, and some typical St. Petersburg intellectual, seeing us in black cassocks, could not restrain himself: “And they have already reached here! What did they forget here? I replied: “We forgot to see Madonna Litta ...” He, apparently, did not understand me.
I came to Aivazovsky because I had not seen his The Ninth Wave for a long time, a great picture, an optimistic tragedy. Everything around was lost, except for hope - that's its meaning. Despondency removes like a hand.
Some paintings of the classics, which we know from school textbooks, periodically need to be compared with the original.
If you don’t come to the Aivazovsky exhibition early, you can stand in line longer than in a museum. Within an hour and a half after the opening, there was a queue on the street, the tail of which went around the corner.
Aivazovsky is a classic of Russian painting, without which it is impossible to imagine it, a poet of the sea, without which it is already difficult to imagine the seas themselves, a Russian genius of Armenian origin, without which it is impossible to imagine either the Russian or the Armenian peoples.
Everyone knows Aivazovsky as Pushkin. And everyone thinks they understand it. But this is a deceptive effect, as with Pushkin. Aivazovsky must be discovered, looked at and revised, just as Pushkin must be read and re-read.
When you find yourself among the many paintings by Aivazovsky, it seems that you swam far into the sea and there is only water around. Wherever you look at the exhibition - Aivazovsky is everywhere, Aivazovsky is all around, Aivazovsky alone, at some point it seems that you are drowning in it, like in the sea. This is some kind of artistic storm, or the ninth wave...
Only when I felt heavy in my legs and began to look for some free chair, I realized that I was tired, and we had already been at the exhibition for more than four hours.
No matter how much you look at Aivazovsky's canvases, it is impossible to get rid of the feeling that this is art beyond the limits of human capabilities, a person is not given the opportunity to draw in such a way that it was not written, but arose somehow by itself. For some reason, it is easier to admit that these canvases arose by themselves, as a natural phenomenon, than to assume that they were written by a human hand. The Aivazovsky Sea seems as authentic as in nature. It turned out that Aivazovsky almost never painted from nature. She interfered with him. At best, he made pencil sketches, and then in the workshop he created his own seas and oceans.
In general, it is unfair that not a single sea was named after Aivazovsky. But it still exists - "Aivazovsky's sea" - in his paintings.
Why did Aivazovsky love the sea so much and understand the very soul of the sea? Where does this Armenian Russian artist come from? Armenia is a mountain country, Russia is a forest country. Rather, the sea should have revealed its secrets to a Greek or an Italian. Of course, you can remember that Aivazovsky was born in the Crimea in Feodosia, on the seashore. It was his world of childhood, it was his element. But in the Crimea there are mountains and hills, and beautiful fields and groves. Apparently, there is something internal. In the sea he recognized his soul, in the sea he recognized his Creator, in the sea he heard the prayers of angels, in the sea he read the Holy Scripture, which begins with the words: “In the beginning God created heaven and earth. The earth was formless and empty, and darkness was over the deep, and the Spirit of God hovered over the waters. I would put the last words as an epigraph to all the canvases of the marine painter, in them, in fact, the Spirit "is hovering over the water." This is the formula of Aivazovsky, who can be called the seer of the sea. He always looked deep into the depths of the sea, as if contemplating the first moments of the creation of the world. The sea appears to him as the universal basis of nature.
In this sense, Aivazovsky is a biblical marine painter.
It is no coincidence that he so loved to embody biblical stories that he painted all his life. He is especially captivated by the "sea scenes" and "water" scenes of the Holy Scriptures. Paintings on the theme "Biblical Aivazovsky" would be enough for a huge exhibition (if collected from all museums).
At the exhibition in the Russian Museum, one could also see several paintings on biblical themes.
Aivazovsky did not pass by the main "sea" plot of the Bible - the Flood. In 1862, Aivazovsky wrote two versions of the painting "The Flood", and then repeatedly returned to this biblical story throughout his life. One of the best versions of the painting The Deluge was painted by him in 1864 and is in the collection of the Russian Museum.
Aivazovsky's painting "The Flood" is a rather rare work on a plot borrowed from the Bible. Here Aivazovsky brilliantly combined talent, imagination and love for improvisation. It is possible that none of his contemporaries could have portrayed the scale of the cataclysm so magnificently, the storm in the heavens and the sea, the huge waves sweeping over the rocks, where people and animals are unsuccessfully trying to escape.
True, Aivazovsky's masterpiece is for some reason hidden from art lovers and is kept in storerooms as usual. Moreover, it is necessary to appreciate the rare opportunity to see the original painting on a biblical theme.
Maybe that's why the painting at the exhibition had the most crowds of people. It was not possible to remain a spectator in the singular. The painting ended up in the collection of the Russian Museum, because it was once highly appreciated by the two emperors Alexander II and Alexander III. The first of them bought it at an exhibition at the Academy of Arts for the Hermitage, and the second gave it to the collection of the Russian Museum he created.
The size of the masterpiece is not small - 246.5 x 319.5 meters and it occupies an entire wall. The picture makes a strong impression, even when you see it in its entirety from a distance. But even more powerful when you get closer and look closely at all the details. From a distance you see a powerful rocky mountain, which leaves under the pressure of a ruthless skillfully written water element. They say that these are the spurs of Ararat. Up close you already see another sea - a sea of perishing doomed people. This is no longer the "Ninth Wave", but the "hundredth wave".
Another step closer and in front of you - concrete faces of people and a sea of human tears. 
This is a requiem in colors.
The flood is a terrible cataclysm that manifests the wrath of God. The water element is relentless and ruthless. Nobody can resist her. Man is powerless before the judgment of God. Therefore, the picture gives the impression of the Last Judgment.
Particular emphasis is placed on a huge elephant, which makes its last trumpet call.
Especially in this picture, against the background of universal death in the face of imminent death, examples of goodness make the deepest impression, somehow the desire of people to help each other is especially touched, such as this outstretched helping hand, which sounds like a triumph of human love.
It is this gesture that is remembered most in this picture. Maybe that's why, or maybe for another reason, the canvas does not make a terrible hopeless impression. Still, it seems that, contrary to the biblical narrative, now this element will be tamed by Christ meekly walking on the water. 
This picture of Aivazovsky was wisely hung not far from his "Flood". It seemed that Christ was in a hurry to move from one picture to another.
"Christ Walking on the Water" was one of Aivazovsky's favorite subjects, to which the artist returned more than once throughout his life (by the way, Aivazovsky presented one of the versions of this picture to St. John of Kronstadt). 
