1. Kuindzhi worked on the painting " Moonlight night on the Dnieper for about six months. A few months before the completion of work, rumors spread around St. Petersburg about incredible beauty this work. Long queues lined up under the windows of his workshop. Everyone wanted at least a glimpse of this work of art. Kuindzhi went to meet the Petersburgers and lifted the veil of secrecy. Every Sunday, the artist opened the doors of his workshop for everyone for exactly 2 hours.
2. During this time, many great people of that time became guests of his workshop - I.S. Turgenev, D.I. Mendeleev, Ya.P. Polonsky, I.N. Kramskoy, P.P. Chistyakov. One Sunday, a modest naval officer came to the artist and inquired about the cost of the painting. Arkhip Ivanovich called an incredible amount for those times - 5 thousand rubles. He didn't expect him to agree. But the officer replied, “Okay. I'm leaving behind." It turned out that it was Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich Romanov, who bought the painting for his collection.
3. "Moonlight Night on the Dnieper" was exhibited on Bolshaya Morskaya Street in St. Petersburg, in the hall of the Society for the Encouragement of Artists. It is important that this was the first exhibition of one painting in Russia. And people stood in queues for hours to see the work of the “artist of light”. That is how fans of his work began to call Kuindzhi.
4. Arkhip Kuindzhi approached the exhibition of his painting responsibly. The idea came to him in a dream: in order to achieve a greater effect, the artist asked to curtain all the windows in the hall and illuminate the picture with a beam focused on it. When visitors entered the semi-dark hall, they could not believe their eyes - the sparkling silvery-greenish disk of the moon flooded the entire room with its deep bewitching light. Many of them looked behind the picture in the hope of finding a lamp there in order to convict the author of charlatanism. But she wasn't.
5. In this picture, Kuindzhi managed to show all the beauty of nature, calm and serene Ukrainian night- the majestic Dnieper, dilapidated huts and the cold glow of moonlight. I.E. Repin recalled how dozens of people stood in front of the canvas “in prayerful silence” with tears in their eyes: “This is how the poetic spell of the artist acted on the chosen believers, and they lived at such moments with the best feelings of the soul and enjoyed the heavenly bliss of the art of painting.”
6. There were rumors that Kuindzhi paints with "magic moon" paints from Japan. Envious people contemptuously argued that it was not necessary to draw them with great intelligence. The superstitious did accuse the master of being in cahoots with evil spirits.
7. The secret of the "artist of light" was the artist's fantastic ability to play on contrasts and long experiments on color reproduction. In the process of creating a picture, he mixed not only paints, but also added to them chemical elements. In this Kuindzhi helped him close friend- D.I. Mendeleev.
8. The new owner, Grand Duke Konstantin, liked the painting so much that he decided not to part with it even when traveling. He placed the canvas on his yacht and went to sea. I.S. Turgenev was horrified by this. He wrote to D.V. Gigorovich: "There is no doubt that the picture ... will return completely ruined." He even personally persuaded the prince to leave the picture, but he was adamant. Of course, dampness, wind and salt-soaked air had a negative impact on the condition of the canvas. The paint is cracked and faded. But, despite this, the picture still captivates the viewer.
9. The painting was hugely popular. This prompted Kuindzhi to create two more author's copies of Moonlit Night on the Dnieper. They were written 2 years later - in 1882. The first one is kept in the State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow, the other - in the Livadia Palace in Yalta.
10. The glory that fell on Kuindzhi after “Moonlight Night on the Dnieper” almost “crushed” the artist. At the height of your creativity great creator took an unexpected step. He closed the doors of his workshop and stopped exhibition activities. He explained his act as follows: “... an artist needs to perform at exhibitions, as long as he, as a singer, has a voice. And as soon as the voice subsides - you have to leave, not show up, so as not to be ridiculed. For 30 years of "silence" there was not a day that the artist did not pick up a brush or pencil. Even before his death, he remained faithful to the cause of his life. Not having the strength to get out of bed, he lay down drawing pencil sketches.
11. The museum-apartment of a talented master is located in the famous "artist's house" in Birzhevoy Lane. The initiative to create a museum-apartment was made by Kuindzhi's student - Nicholas Roerich. Unfortunately, the exposition was opened only in 1991, on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the artist.
REFERENCE KP
Arkhip Ivanovich Kuindzhi Born January 27, 1842 in the family of a poor shoemaker. The surname Kuindzhi was given to him by the nickname of grandfather, which in Tatar means "goldsmith". In the 60s, the novice artist “failed” the exam 2 times and entered the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts only the third time. There he became friends with V.M. Vasnetsov and I.E. Repin, met I. N. Kramskoy, the ideologist of leading Russian artists. Early work the artist were written under the influence of the manner of Aivazovsky. Over time, he begins to think about themes, the style of writing, independently studying paints, color, lighting effects, and by the age of forty becomes famous. In the early 90s, Kuindzhi began a period of "silence" and for almost 30 years he painted "on the table." In the period 1894-1897, Kuindzhi led the higher art school at the Academy of Arts. His students were A. Rylov, N. Roerich, K. Bogaevsky. In 1909 Kuindzhi organized the Society of Artists. He donated his money, land and paintings to this organization. The "Artist of Light" died in St. Petersburg on July 11, 1910.
"Moonlight Night on the Dnieper" (1880) - one of the most famous paintings Arkhip Kuindzhi. This work made a splash and gained mystical fame. Many did not believe that the light of the moon could be conveyed in this way only artistic means, and looked behind the canvas, looking for a lamp there. Many silently stood for hours in front of the picture, and then left in tears. Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich bought the "Moonlight Night" for his personal collection and took it everywhere with him, which had sad consequences.
Which? This is what we now find out...
In the summer and autumn of 1880, during a break with the Wanderers, A.I. Kuindzhi worked on new picture. By Russian capital rumors spread about the enchanting beauty of the Moonlit Night on the Dnieper. For two hours on Sundays, the artist opened the doors of his studio to those who wished, and the St. Petersburg public began to besiege her long before the completion of the work. This painting gained truly legendary fame. I.S. Turgenev and Y. Polonsky, I. Kramskoy and P. Chistyakov, D. I. Mendelev came to the workshop of A. I. Kuindzhi, they looked at the picture famous publisher and collector K.T. Soldatenkov. Directly from the workshop, even before the exhibition, “Moonlight Night on the Dnieper” was bought for huge money by the Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich. And then the picture was exhibited in St. Petersburg. It was the first exhibition of one painting in Russia.
The house in St. Petersburg, in which Kuindzhi's apartment is located, is often called the "House of Artists", since here in different time many Russian painters lived: A. Beggrov, E. Volkov, M. Klodt, I. Kramskoy, the Chernetsov brothers.
The work was exhibited in a separate hall of the Society for the Encouragement of Artists on Bolshaya Morskaya. At the same time, the hall was not illuminated, only a bright electric beam fell on the picture. The image from this "deepened" even more, and Moonlight became simply stunning. And decades later, the witnesses of this triumph continued to recall the shock experienced by the audience, who “got it” to the picture. It was the "worthy ones" - during the exhibition days, Bolshaya Morskaya was densely packed with carriages, and a long queue lined up at the doors to the building and people waited for hours to see this extraordinary work. To avoid a crush, the audience was allowed into the hall in groups.
Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich
Roerich still found the servant Maxim alive, who received rubles (!) from those who tried to get to the picture out of turn. Artist's performance personal exhibition, and even consisting of only one small picture, was an unusual event. Moreover, this picture interpreted not some unusual historical plot, but a very modest landscape. But AI Kuindzhi knew how to win. The success exceeded all expectations and turned into real sensation.
A.I. Kuindzhi was always very attentive to the exposure of his paintings, placed them so that they were well lit, so that neighboring canvases did not interfere with them. This time, "Moonlight Night on the Dnieper" hung on the wall alone. Knowing that the effect moonlight fully manifested under artificial lighting, the artist ordered to drape the windows in the hall and illuminate the picture with a beam of electric light focused on it. Visitors entered the semi-dark hall and, spellbound, stopped in front of the cold glow of moonlight. Before the audience a wide space stretching into the distance opened up; plain, crossed by a greenish ribbon of a quiet river, almost merges at the horizon with dark skies covered with rows of light clouds. Above, they parted a little, and the moon peered through the resulting window, illuminating the Dnieper, the huts and the web of paths on the near bank.
And everything in nature fell silent, enchanted by the wonderful radiance of the sky and the Dnieper waters. The sparkling silvery-greenish disk of the moon flooded the earth immersed in night peace with its mysterious phosphorescent light. He was so strong that some of the spectators tried to look behind the picture to find a lantern or lamp there. But there was no lamp, and the moon continued to radiate its bewitching, mysterious light. The waters of the Dnieper reflect this light like a smooth mirror, the walls of Ukrainian huts turn white from the velvety blue of the night. This majestic spectacle still immerses viewers in thoughts about eternity and the enduring beauty of the world. So before A.I. Kuindzhi, only the great N.V. Gogol sang about nature. The number of sincere admirers of the talent of A.I. Kuindzhi grew, rare person could remain indifferent before this picture, which seemed like witchcraft.
celestial sphere AI Kuindzhi portrays majestic and eternal, striking the audience with the power of the Universe, its immensity and solemnity. Numerous attributes of the landscape - huts creeping along the slope, bushy trees, gnarled stalks of the tartar - are absorbed by darkness, their color is dissolved in a brown tone. The bright silvery light of the moon is shaded by depth of blue color. With his phosphorescence, he turns the traditional motif with the moon into such a rare, meaningful, attractive and mysterious that it transforms into poetic and excited delight. There have even been speculations about unusual colors and even strange artistic techniques that the artist allegedly used. Rumors of a secret artistic method A.I. Kuindzhi, the secret of his colors was talked about even during the life of the artist, some tried to convict him of tricks, even in connection with evil spirits. Maybe this happened because A.I. Kuindzhi concentrated his efforts on the illusory transfer of the real the effect of lighting, on the search for such a composition of the picture, which would allow the most convincing expression of the feeling of wide spatiality.
Famous artist Arkhip Kuindzhi, 1907
And with these tasks he coped brilliantly. In addition, the artist defeated everyone in distinguishing the slightest changes in color and light ratios (for example, even during experiments with a special device, which were carried out by D.I. Mendeleev and others). Some have claimed the use chemical compositions based on phosphorus. However, this is not entirely true. A decisive role in creating an impression is played by the unusual color structure of the canvas. Applying in the picture additional colors reinforcing each other, the artist achieves incredible effect moon color illusions. True, it is known that the experiments still took place. Kuindzhi intensively used bituminous paints, but did not use phosphorus. Unfortunately, due to the careless mixing of chemically incompatible paints, the canvas darkened greatly.
Creating this canvas, A.I. Kuindzhi applied a complex scenic reception. For example, he contrasted the warm reddish tone of the earth with cold silvery shades and thereby deepened the space, and small dark strokes in the illuminated places created a feeling of vibrating light. All newspapers and magazines responded to the exhibition with enthusiastic articles, reproductions of Moonlight Night on the Dnieper were distributed in thousands of copies throughout Russia. The poet Y. Polonsky, a friend of A. I. Kuindzhi, wrote then: “I positively do not remember that people stagnated in front of any picture for so long ... What is it? Picture or reality? In a golden frame or through an open window, did we see this month, these clouds, this dark distance, these “trembling lights of sad villages” and these play of light, this silvery reflection of the month in the jets of the Dnieper, bending around the distance, this poetic, quiet, majestic night? » The poet K. Fofanov wrote the poem "Night on the Dnieper", which was later set to music.
I. Kramskoy foresaw the fate of the canvas: “Perhaps Kuindzhi put together such colors that are in natural antagonism with each other and after a certain time they will either go out, or change and decompose to the point that the descendants will shrug their shoulders in bewilderment: from what they came to the delight of the good-natured spectators? Here's how to avoid this unfair treatment in the future, I would not mind drawing up, so to speak, a protocol that his “Night on the Dnieper” is all filled with real light and air, and the sky is real, bottomless, deep.
Unfortunately, our contemporaries cannot fully appreciate the initial effect of the picture, since it has reached our times in a distorted form. And it's all to blame special treatment to the canvas of its owner, Grand Duke Konstantin.
Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich, who bought the painting, did not want to part with the canvas, even going to trip around the world. I.S. Turgenev, who was in Paris at that time (in January 1881), was horrified by this thought, about which he wrote indignantly to the writer D.V. Grigorovich: “There is no doubt that the picture ... will return completely ruined , thanks to the salty vapors of the air, etc.” He even visited the Grand Duke in Paris, while his frigate was in the port of Cherbourg, and persuaded him to send a picture to a short time in Paris.
I.S. Turgenev hoped that he would be able to persuade him to leave the painting at the exhibition in the Zedelmeyer Gallery, but he failed to persuade the prince. Humid, salt-soaked sea air, of course, had a negative effect on the composition of paints, and the landscape began to darken. But the lunar ripples on the river and the radiance of the moon itself are conveyed by the brilliant A.I. Kuindzhi with such force that, looking at the picture even now, the audience immediately falls under the power of the eternal and Divine.
Arkhip Kuindzhi. After the rain.
Arkhip Kuindzhi. Sea. Crimea.
Brought this amazing picture Arkhip Ivanovich pafter a trip to Ukraine and exhibited one painting at a solo exhibition. People entered a darkened room where only the picture was lit. The moon was shining over the river! The audience could not understand where
Arkhip Kuindzhi. Dnieper in the morning.
The tranquility of the azure waters of the painting "Lake Ladoga" was transmitted to the viewer, leaving an indelible impression.
The picture "The Forgotten Village", despite the aching feeling of contemplating the Russian hopeless reality, still left a feeling of hope and faith that all this is temporary, and will soon change for the better.
Arkhip Kuindzhi. Rainbow.
Arkhip Kuindzhi. Night.
Registration number 0222764 issued for the work:
Arkhip Kuindzhi. Portrait by I.E. Repin.
Arkhip Kuindzhi was born in Mariupol into a poor Greek family.shoemaker. Having a craving for drawing, he went to Feodosia and triedto become a student of Ivan Aivazovsky, but only for two months he rubbed his paints.Having changed several professions, Arkhip Kuindzhi arrived in St. Petersburg and after three failed attempts he was admitted to the Imperial Academy of Arts as a volunteer. But he was not a diligent student at the academy, often skipping classes. Having painted several interesting paintings, he was noticed by the WanderersIvan Repin, Ivan Kramskoy and invited to the partnership traveling exhibitions. Arkhip Kuindzhi left the academy. A paradox of fate: at first they did not want to be admitted to the academy, but after many years the academy invited Arkhip Kuindzhi to the ranks of its teachers.Arkhip Kuindzhi was well with the Wanderers for almost 10 years, his paintings were sold at very high prices, but then he had a conflict with Mikhail Klodt and left the artel.Arkhip Kuindzhi was a man of not the best manners. He had a somewhat ferocious look. He was squat, with a head like that of Olympian Zeus with an aquiline nose. He came, sat down and unceremoniously, without asking, took other people's cigarettes, because he never had his own, although by that time he was a professor at the Academy of Arts.
Arkhip Kuindzhi. After the rain.
His paintings sold well, and he was not a poor man. Was with Arkhip Ivanovichbusiness acumen. Once he bought a house for twenty thousand rubles, brought it to an exemplary state and resold it immediately for sixty thousand rubles.
Arkhip Kuindzhi. Ukrainian night.
But on his food with his wife, he spends an insignificant amount of fifty kopecks a day. Part of the money is spent in a meager amount on paints, brushes and a workshop. But it wasn't stingy. Arkhip Kuindzhi spent all his huge money on talented students, sending them to study abroad. Sick, he paid for trips to medical resorts. He helped free of charge anyone who got into trouble. Arkhip Ivanovich was a holy man, a bright soul and a noble heart.
Arkhip Kuindzhi. Sea. Crimea.
Having accumulated one hundred thousand rubles, Arkhip Ivanovich contributes them to the Academy so that the interest from this money will be used as a bonus for the most talented students.After one of his trips to the island of Valaam, Kuindzhi painted a wonderful pictureabout the magnificent nature of the north. The painting was purchased by Tretyakov for his gallery.
Arkhip Kuindzhi. On the island of Valaam.
The world around us is perceived and created by Kuindzhi as a grandiose creation of nature,giving, when contemplated, sublime, colorful associations of the pleasures of perfectionand harmony. The pinnacle of Kuindzhi's creativity was amazing picture: "Moonlit night on the Dnieper".
Arkhip Kuindzhi. Moonlit night on the Dnieper.
After a trip to Ukraine, Arkhip Ivanovich brought striking picture- "Moonlit night on the Dnieper". It was a solo exhibition of one painting. People entered a darkened room where only the picture was lit. The moon was shining over the river! The audience could not understand wherethe moon on the canvas may have a glow. Some looked behind the picture in the hope of seeing a backlight there. Lined up a huge queue of people wishing to look at the glowing moonin the picture. Even the artists were amazed by the picture. No one could understand how Kuindzhi painted the moon and its reflection in the water. It seemed to everyone that it was a small but real moon, shining with its light, hanging above the canvas.
Another of his Ukrainian painting"Dnepr in the morning" pacified the audience at the next exhibition of the Wanderers with its spaciousness, breadth, vast hazy distances.
Arkhip Kuindzhi. Dnieper in the morning.
The next picture shows the Chumatsky tract, along which Arkhip got to Feodosia. On the sodden road, watered by rain, carts of Chumaks moved under the dreary howl of dogs.
Arkhip Kuindzhi. Chumatsky tract.
The calmness and tranquility of the painting "Lake Ladoga" were transmitted to the viewer, leaving an indelible impression.
Arkhip Kuindzhi. Ladoga lake.
In the painting "Autumn Thaw" Arkhip Kuindzhi managed to show realistic picture the main Russian trouble is the road. Cover the whole vast Russia good roads- is practically unrealistic. It is especially difficult to move in rainy weather, when carts often get bogged down in impassable mud up to the hubs, when pedestrians pull their feet out of the muddy mud with a champ, when such a road has already taken all their strength and it seems that this road has no end, and it only forces you to move along it. cruel necessity.
Arkhip Kuindzhi. Autumn thaw.
The impending twilight in the painting "The Steppe in the Evening" shaded the just sultry steppelandscape, a few houses and a calm, pacifying expanse of the river, quietly carrying its waters. A little more and the darkness of the night will give coolness and sleep to this secluded, godforsaken land.
Arkhip Kuindzhi. Steppe in the evening.
Arkhip Kuindzhi with a friend, working forCaucasus, witnessed a raremountain phenomenon - Broken ghosts,
enthralled them. Rainbowthe image of the artists appeared on the cloud.The low sun cast light from behind
artists on a foggy cloud, distinctlyhighlighting two lonely figures on itartists, as if favorably encouraging
and inspiring them to create a masterpiece. And a masterpiecetook place! There was only one pity: thisthe mystical miracle of nature melted away before,than they managed to transfer it to the canvas.
Brocken ghosts. (modern reconstruction).
The painting "Elbrus in the evening" delighted the audience, fascinated by the grandeur and beauty of the Caucasus.
Arkhip Kuindzhi. Elbrus in the evening.
The picture "The Forgotten Village", despite the aching feeling from contemplating the Russian hopeless reality, still left a feeling of hope and faith that all this is temporary, and will soon change for the better.
Arkhip Kuindzhi. Forgotten village.
The paintings of Arkhip Kuindzhi were sold out, most often, even before the exhibition. For some canvases, collectors paid big money. "Birch Grove" millionaire from Kyiv bought for 7thousand rubles, while the portraits of Ivan Kramskoy cost 800 - 900 hundred rubles, and the works of other artists cost even less.
Arkhip Kuindzhi. Birch Grove.
noble heart Arkhip Ivanovich could not stand rudeness and injustice. When the academy refused Isaak Brodsky a trip abroad as a Jew, Arkhip Ivanovich banged his fist on the table and left the meeting in protest. At his own expense, he sent Brodsky to Italy, and with him 16 more of his best students.
Kuindzhi wrote a lot beautiful pictures, but he was primarily a poet of the night landscape.
Arkhip Kuindzhi. Darial Gorge.
Arkhip Ivanovich was friends with Dmitri Mendeleev. Great chemist he adored painting, artists and once presented his device for measuring the sensitivity of the eye to the subtle nuances of color shades.
Arkhip Kuindzhi. Evening in Little Russia.
Arkhip Kuindzhi broke all test records to perfect accuracy.
Arkhip Kuindzhi. Rainbow.
Arkhip Ivanovich loved not only people, but also birds. This was the weakness of the artist, which was mocked by negligent cartoonists. High noon, by the sound of an artillery gunPeter and Paul Fortress, Arkhip Ivanovich went to the roof of his house and fed the birds from his hands. Thousands of birds flew in advance from all over the area, they stuck around their breadwinner from head to toe. It was impressive: a gray-haired man, beaming with happiness, shared his daily bread with the chirping and croaking feathered brethren, which he got with hard, overwork. Arkhip Ivanovich fed the birds, he took some of them in his hands, and they were not at all afraid of him, loving their benefactor and trusting him. From one hand of this noble man both huge crows and small birds pecked at the food, and no one offended anyone. Quite a lot was spent daily on feeding the birds. white bread, cereals and meat for crows. Is this not an example of a divine attitude towards each other? He picked up sick and frozen crows, jackdaws and sparrows, dragged them into the house, warmed them up and, having cured them, set them free. Once I flew into Kuindzhi's workshopa urticaria butterfly with a torn wing, so Arkhip Ivanovich glued the wing of the butterfly and released it into the wild.
Arkhip Kuindzhi had a special love for nature. He was afraid to trample the grass, avoided accidentally crushing a beetle, a caterpillar, or even a barely noticeable ant. It was touching to see how oldthe man, groaning, cleared the source, diligently transplanted a bunch of grass to another place.Arkhip Ivanovich was also kind to people, giving away money to all those in need. And he loved to do his good deeds in such a way that the recipient did not even know where the help came from. The generosity of his soul knew no bounds. Acquired by overwork and personal deprivationArkhip Ivanovich bequeathed a millionth fortune to the independent Society of Artists, created by him in last years life.
Arkhip Kuindzhi. Night.
But having reached the pinnacle of his fame, Kuindzhi suddenly stops exhibiting, saying that he can no longer create anything significant. And he did not show anything to anyone for twenty years, although, as he said, he works and looks for new approaches in painting, not wanting to repeat himself. And one day, friends, having drunk the great master, persuaded him to show his work of the last twenty years. And in vain they got drunk - it was a complete disappointment. The author of Moonlit Night on the Dnieper really had nothing more to show. The impression was that he was naked crucified on the cross. And this was also the great merit of Arkhip Kuindzhi: if there are no worthy new paintings, then one must have the courage and not exhibit. Not everyone is capable of such a feat ...
The name of Arkhip Ivanovich Kuindzhi became famous as soon as the public saw his paintings “After the Rain” and “ Birch Grove". But at the Eighth Exhibition of Wanderers, the works of A.I. Kuindzhi were absent, and this was immediately noticed by the audience. P. M. Tretyakov wrote to I. Kramskoy from Moscow that even those few who had not previously treated the artist’s works were grieving over this.
In the summer and autumn of 1880, during a break with the Wanderers, A.I. Kuindzhi worked on a new painting. Rumors about the enchanting beauty of the "Moonlight Night on the Dnieper" spread throughout the Russian capital. For two hours on Sundays, the artist opened the doors of his studio to those who wished, and the St. Petersburg public began to besiege her long before the completion of the work.
This picture has gained a truly legendary fame. I.S. Turgenev and Y. Polonsky, I. Kramskoy and P. Chistyakov, D. I. Mendelev came to the workshop of A. I. Kuindzhi, the well-known publisher and collector K. T. Soldatenkov asked the price of the painting. Directly from the workshop, even before the exhibition, “Moonlight Night on the Dnieper” was bought for a huge amount of money by the Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich.
In his book about the artist O.P. Voronova describes the purchase of the painting as follows: “Soldatenkov wanted to buy Moonlit Night on the Dnieper, but it turned out that it no longer belonged to Arkhip Ivanovich. It was sold still smelling of fresh paint, right in the workshop. One Sunday, a naval officer inquired about its price. “Yes, why do you? Kuindzhi shrugged. “After all, don’t buy it anyway: it’s expensive.” – “And yet?” “Yes, five thousand,” Arkhip Ivanovich called an incredible amount for those times, almost a fantastic amount. And suddenly he heard in response: “Good. I leave behind." And only after the officer left, the artist found out that Grand Duke Konstantin had visited him.
And then the picture was exhibited on Bolshaya Morskaya Street in St. Petersburg, in the hall of the Society for the Encouragement of Artists. The performance of the artist with a solo exhibition, and even consisting of just one small painting, was an unusual event. Moreover, this picture did not interpret some unusual historical plot, but was a very modest landscape in size. But AI Kuindzhi knew how to win. The success exceeded all expectations and turned into a real sensation. St. Petersburg was full of rumors, they say, for huge money, special paints with mother-of-pearl were brought to the artist Kuindzhi from Japan or China, and now his picture radiates light.
Long queues lined up on Bolshaya Morskaya Street, and people waited for hours to see this extraordinary work. To avoid a crush, the audience was allowed into the hall in groups.
A.I. Kuindzhi was always very attentive to the exposure of his paintings, placed them so that they were well lit, so that neighboring canvases did not interfere with them. This time, "Moonlight Night on the Dnieper" hung on the wall alone. Knowing that the effect of moonlight would be fully manifested under artificial lighting, the artist ordered the windows in the hall to be draped and the picture to be illuminated with a beam of electric light focused on it.
Visitors entered the semi-dark hall and, spellbound, stopped in front of the cold glow of moonlight. The effect of the painting was amazing. Even artists were at a loss, not understanding how he painted the moon and glitter on the water. It seemed to everyone that the moon shone with its true light. I.N. Kramskoy, an authority recognized in artistic circles, did not hide his emotions: “What a storm of enthusiasm Kuindzhi raised! A kind of fellow - charm.
Ivan Bunin.
My night will come...
My night will come, a long, silent night,
Then the Lord who works miracles commands
A new luminary to ascend to heaven.-
Shine, shine, moon, lifting higher and higher
Your face, given by the Sun.
Let the world know
That my day has burned out, but my trace
in the world is.
Before the audience a wide space stretching into the distance opened up; the plain, crossed by a greenish ribbon of a quiet river, almost merges at the horizon with a dark sky covered with rows of light clouds. Above, they parted a little, and the moon peered through the resulting window, illuminating the Dnieper, the huts and the web of paths on the near bank. And everything in nature fell silent, enchanted by the wonderful radiance of the sky and the Dnieper waters.
The sparkling silvery-greenish disk of the moon flooded the earth immersed in night peace with its mysterious phosphorescent light. He was so strong that some of the spectators tried to look behind the picture to find a lantern or lamp there. But there was no lamp, and the moon continued to radiate its bewitching, mysterious light.
The waters of the Dnieper reflect this light like a smooth mirror, the walls of Ukrainian huts turn white from the velvety blue of the night. This majestic spectacle still immerses viewers in thoughts about eternity and the enduring beauty of the world. So before A.I. Kuindzhi, only the great N.V. Gogol sang about nature.
The number of sincere admirers of the talent of A.I. Kuindzhi grew, a rare person could remain indifferent to this picture, which seemed like witchcraft. AI Kuindzhi depicts the celestial sphere majestic and eternal, striking the audience with the power of the Universe, its immensity and solemnity. Numerous attributes of the landscape - huts creeping along the slope, bushy trees, gnarled stalks of the tartar - are absorbed by darkness, their color is dissolved in a brown tone.
The bright silvery light of the moon is shaded by the depth of blue. With his phosphorescence, he turns the traditional motif with the moon into such a rare, meaningful, attractive and mysterious that it transforms into poetic and excited delight. There were even suggestions about some unusual colors and even about strange artistic techniques that the artist allegedly used. Rumors about the secret of the artistic method of A.I. Kuindzhi, about the secret of his colors went around during the life of the artist, some tried to convict him of tricks, even in connection with evil spirits.
Perhaps this happened because A.I. Kuindzhi concentrated his efforts on the illusory transmission of the real effect of lighting, on the search for such a composition of the picture that would allow the most convincing expression of the feeling of wide spatiality. And with these tasks he coped brilliantly. In addition, the artist defeated everyone in distinguishing the slightest changes in color and light ratios (for example, even during experiments with a special device, which were carried out by D.I. Mendeleev and others).
Creating this canvas, A.I. Kuindzhi applied a complex pictorial technique. For example, he contrasted the warm reddish tone of the earth with cold silvery shades and thereby deepened the space, and small dark strokes in the illuminated places created a feeling of vibrating light.
All newspapers and magazines responded to the exhibition with enthusiastic articles, reproductions of Moonlight Night on the Dnieper were distributed in thousands of copies throughout Russia. The poet Y. Polonsky, a friend of A. I. Kuindzhi, wrote then: “I positively do not remember that people stagnated in front of any picture for so long ... What is it? Picture or reality? In a golden frame or through an open window, did we see this month, these clouds, this dark distance, these “trembling lights of sad villages” and these play of light, this silvery reflection of the month in the jets of the Dnieper, bending around the distance, this poetic, quiet, majestic night? » The poet K. Fofanov wrote the poem "Night on the Dnieper", which was later set to music.
The picture caused an ambiguous reaction and made a real sensation among the comrades-in-arms in the brush. Repin recalled: “Having scolded Kuindzhi loudly, the opponents could not help imitating and vied with passion, tried to jump forward with their fakes, passing them off as their personal paintings.” Couldn't resist this one famous landscape painter like Lagorio. He recreated the "Kuindzhi effect" in the landscape "Night on the Neva". But instead of glory, he only waited for the fact that they began to point the finger at him.
The audience was delighted with the illusion of natural moonlight, and people, according to I.E. Repin, who stood in “prayerful silence” in front of the canvas by A.I. Kuindzhi, left the hall with tears in their eyes: believers, and they lived in such moments with the best feelings of the soul and enjoyed the heavenly bliss of the art of painting.
F. Tyutchev
Vision
1829
There is a certain hour, in the night, of universal silence,
And in that hour of phenomena and miracles
Living chariot of the universe
Rolling openly into the sanctuary of heaven.
Then the night thickens like chaos on the waters,
Unconsciousness, like Atlas, crushes the land;
Only the Muses a virgin soul
In prophetic dreams the gods disturb!
AI Kuindzhi seemed to be trying to penetrate the world of the ideal, but stopped before its incomprehensibility. Reproducing the earthly appearance, the artist created an ideal world of harmony and beauty. In such a comparison, echoes of Christian philosophy are heard, according to which earthly life- only lowest level the sphere of ideal being that extends above it, created by a higher mind.
Kuindzhi strove for a way of being, where the thought of a person is absorbed above peaceful forces, dissolved in the philosophy of time and peace. In the view of the artist, being is motionless and majestic. Visual means correspond to the essence of the image. lines romantic works Kuindzhi are smooth and viscous, the color spreads over the canvas in slow motion, the almost phosphorescent light is mysterious, deep and spatial composition as if preparing the ground for a breakthrough of imagination into other worlds.
Kramskoy was stunned, fascinated. The instinct of a true artist gave rise to anxiety for the fate of this extraordinary masterpiece; he wrote to Stasov: “Maybe Kuindzhi’s colors will wither or change and decompose to the point that descendants will shrug their shoulders in bewilderment: what kind-hearted viewers were delighted with ...” Kramskoy could not come to terms with this - the picture should live in the future! He decided that it was necessary to draw up a "protocol", where a few of the best contemporary artists confirmed that they saw with their own eyes "Night on the Dnieper", that in the picture "everything is filled with real light and air, the river really makes its majestic course and the sky is real bottomless and deep." Such a "protocol" was written, but it was not possible to print it.
Unfortunately, Kramskoy's fears came true much sooner than he expected. The painting was in trouble. Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich, who bought the painting, did not want to part with the canvas, even going on a trip around the world. I.S. Turgenev, who was in Paris at that time (in January 1881), was horrified by this thought, about which he wrote indignantly to the writer D.V. Grigorovich: “There is no doubt that the picture ... will return completely ruined, thanks to salty vapors of the air, etc.” He even visited the Grand Duke in Paris, while his frigate was in the port of Cherbourg, and persuaded him to send the painting to Paris for a short time. I.S. Turgenev hoped that he would be able to persuade him to leave the painting at the exhibition in the Zedelmeyer Gallery, but he failed to persuade the prince.
Humid, salt-soaked sea air, of course, had a negative effect on the composition of paints, and the landscape began to darken. Now we cannot see many details of the landscape in the picture. But the lunar ripples on the river and the radiance of the moon itself are conveyed by the brilliant A.I. Kuindzhi with such force that, looking at the picture even now, the audience immediately falls under the power of the eternal and Divine.
In 1880, one extraordinary exposure. In front of the building on Bolshaya Morskaya Street, there was a huge line of people wishing to get into the exhibition hall. After waiting on the street for several hours, visitors went inside to look at one single picture.
It was a landscape by a Russian itinerant artist Arkhip Ivanovich Kuindzhi entitled "". The canvas is quite small in size, and the sky, the moon and the river are painted on it. It would seem that nothing special ... However, the audience was amazed. In the semi-dark hall it seemed to them that from the gray St. Petersburg morning they were transported by some magic into the moonlit Ukrainian night.
They saw a wide plain, along which the Dnieper slowly carries its waters, and in the height of the sky covered with clouds, the moon shines through a small hole, illuminating the river and its bank with a mysterious silvery light. Admiring this most beautiful landscape, visitors to the exhibition recalled the words of the great N.V. Gogol who sang the beauty of the Ukrainian night.
Singer of Light
In his own way he sang the poetry of this night and Kuindzhi, because it was not without reason that he was called "the singer of expanses and light." He, like no one else, knew how to create an amazing illusion Sveta.
This silver-green light in the painting was so bright and visible that many viewers tried to find some kind of catch, trying to understand how the artist managed to achieve such an effect. It was rumored that the picture was painted not with strokes of oil on canvas, but with some mysterious moon paints on glass and illuminated by a lamp with reverse side. 
The curious peered behind the picture and found no lamp, and the moon continued to shine with a mysterious magical light.
Of course, well-chosen lighting of the hall played a role. The picture looked especially advantageous with artificial lighting and drawn curtains. And paint Kuindzhi, indeed, in fact, were not quite ordinary and typical. The artist devoted a lot of time to a serious study of the properties of paints, spending many hours in the university laboratory, using even special devices to achieve the shades and effects he needed.
The process of creating a picture was long for him - Kuindzhi for a long time he picked up paints, for a long time he pondered each stroke with a brush, peering intently at the work being created.
Colors or feelings?
But still, the main thing in his canvas is not special colors, but the ability to convey with their help all the splendor of nature, its mood. He was able to convey the space, silence and poetry of the warm Ukrainian night. And that is why people stood at the picture for a long time, unable to take their eyes off it. Many even left the hall with tears in their eyes, such strong impression had this work on them Kuindzhi.
The audience was delighted. The entire press then wrote about this exhibition, reproductions of the painting were distributed in huge circulations throughout the country. Inspired by this work, the poet K. Fofanov created the poem "Night on the Dnieper", which was later set to music.
The painting itself was bought for a huge amount of money by the Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich, who cherished it so much that he did not want to part with the masterpiece, even going to cruise. Unfortunately, the sea air had a detrimental effect on the canvas, and the colors darkened somewhat, but the moonlight did not dim, so even now people do not get tired of admiring this outstanding work art.
Give me the beauty of this world...
Kuindzhi developed and skillfully applied his hitherto unprecedented system of decorative plastics, came up with unusual visual techniques with lighting effects, intense tones and sharp compositional angles. 
But main secret paintings by Arkhip Ivanovich Kuindzhi in the fact that he was able in his works to convey and convey to the audience feelings. And if in another famous landscape (« Birch Grove”), the main thing is joy that is literally poured into the air, then here it is peace, harmony, and admiration for the extraordinary beauty of nature.
In his paintings, the painter created his own ideal world, where life and the space around us is perceived as a blessing, carrying people goodness, beauty and joy of impressions.
I.E. Repin wrote that A. Kuindzhi returned to the landscape an enthusiastic sense of beauty and the strangeness of the world.
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