January 13 (25), 1832, 180 years ago, the future outstanding Russian landscape painter, painter, draftsman and engraver-aquaphorist was born Ivan Ivanovich Shishkin.
Shishkin was born in the small town of Yelabuga, on the banks of the Kama River. The dense coniferous forests surrounding this city and the harsh nature of the Urals conquered the young Shishkin.
Of all types of painting, Shishkin preferred the landscape. "...Nature is always new... and is always ready to give an inexhaustible supply of its gifts, what we call life... What could be better than nature..." - he writes in his diary.
Close contact with nature, its careful study aroused in the young researcher of nature the desire to capture it as authentically as possible. “Only the unconditional imitation of nature,” he writes in a student album, “can fully satisfy the requirements of a landscape painter, and the most important thing for a landscape painter is a diligent study of nature, as a result of this, a picture from nature should be without imagination.”
Just three months after entering the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts, Shishkin attracted the attention of professors with his natural landscape drawings. He anxiously awaited the first exam at the Academy, and his joy was great at being awarded a small silver medal for the painting "View in the vicinity of St. Petersburg" submitted for the competition. According to him, he wanted to express in the picture "fidelity, similarity, portraiture of the depicted nature and convey the life of a hot-breathing nature."
Painted in 1865, the painting "View in the environs of Düsseldorf" brought the artist the title of academician.
By this time, he was already being talked about as a talented and virtuoso draftsman. His pen drawings, executed with the smallest strokes, with filigree finishing of details, surprised and amazed the audience both in Russia and abroad. Two such drawings were acquired by the Düsseldorf Museum.
Lively, sociable, charming, active Shishkin was surrounded by the attention of his comrades. I. E. Repin, who visited the famous "Thursdays" of the St. Petersburg Artel of Artists, later spoke about him: "The loudest voice of the hero I. I. Shishkin was heard: like a mighty green forest, he amazed everyone with his health, good appetite and truthful Russian speech During these evenings he drew with a pen a good deal of his excellent drawings. The audience used to gasp behind him when, with his mighty paws of a dray and clumsy, callused fingers from work, he began to distort and erase his brilliant drawing, and the drawing was as if by some miracle or magic from such The rude treatment of the author comes out more and more elegant and brilliant.
Already at the first exhibition of the Wanderers, the famous painting by Shishkin "Pine forest. Mast forest in the Vyatka province" appeared. Before the viewer appears the image of the majestic, mighty Russian forest. Looking at the picture, one gets the impression of deep peace, which is not disturbed by either bears near a tree with a beehive, or a bird flying high in the sky. Pay attention to how beautifully the trunks of old pines are painted: each has "its own character" and "its own face", but in general - the impression of a single world of nature, full of inexhaustible vitality. A leisurely detailed story, an abundance of details along with the identification of a typical, characteristic, the integrity of the captured image, the simplicity and accessibility of the artistic language - these are the distinguishing features of this picture, as well as the artist's subsequent works, which invariably attracted the attention of viewers at the exhibitions of the Association of the Wanderers.
In the best paintings by Shishkin I.I., created by the end of the 70s and in the 80s, a monumental-epic beginning is felt. The paintings convey the solemn beauty and power of the endless Russian forests. The life-affirming works of Shishkin are consonant with the worldview of the people, who connect the idea of happiness, the contentment of human life with the power and richness of nature. On one of the artist's sketches, one can see the following inscription: "... Expanse, space, land. Rye... Grace. Russian wealth." A worthy completion of the integral and original work of Shishkin was the painting of 1898 "Ship Grove".
In Shishkin's painting "Polesye", contemporaries pointed out that the artist failed to achieve in coloring the perfection that distinguished the artist's drawings. N. I. Murashko noted that he would like to see more light in the painting "Polesie" "with its golden play, with its thousand reddish, then airy bluish transitions."
However, the fact that color began to play a much greater role in his works of the 80s did not pass by the attention of his contemporaries. In this regard, the highest appreciation of the picturesque qualities of Shishkin's famous sketch "Pine Trees Illuminated by the Sun" is important.
Working as a professor, Shishkin demanded painstaking preliminary work on location from his students. In winter, when I had to work indoors, I forced novice artists to make redrawings from photographs. Shishkin found that such work contributes to the comprehension of the forms of nature, helps to improve the drawing. He believed that only a long, intense study of nature could eventually open the way for a landscape painter to create independently. In addition, Shishkin noted that the mediocre will slavishly copy it, while "a person with a flair will take what he needs." However, he did not take into account that copying from photographs of individual details taken outside their natural environment does not bring closer, but moves away from the deep knowledge of it, which he sought from his students.
By 1883, the artist is at the dawn of his creative powers. It was at this time that Shishkin created the capital canvas "Among the Flat Valley ...", which can be considered classic in terms of the completeness of the artistic image, completeness, and monumentality of sound. Contemporaries invaded the merits of the picture, noticing the essential feature of this work: it reveals those features of natural life that are dear and close to any Russian person, meet his aesthetic ideal and are captured in a folk song.
Suddenly, death crept up on the artist. He died at the easel on March 8 (20), 1898, while working on the painting "Forest Kingdom".
A great painter, brilliant draftsman and etcher, he left a huge artistic legacy.
Based on the book "Ivan Ivanovich Shishkin", compiled by I. N. Shuvalova
Paintings by Shishkin I.I.
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| Sea shore |
Sea shore. Mary Howie |
Pond shore | River bank | birch forest |
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| Big Nevka |
Logs. Village Konstantinovka near Red village |
bumps | Beech forest in Switzerland | Beech forest in Switzerland |
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| goby | In the spruce forest | In Crimea | In forest thickets | In the forest |
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In the woods of the Countess Mordvinova |
In the deciduous forest | Around Düsseldorf | In the park | in the grove |
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Ivan Ivanovich Shishkin was born on January 13 (25), 1832 in Yelabuga, a small provincial town located on the banks of the Kama. Here the future painter spent his childhood and youth.
The figure of the father was very significant for Ivan Shishkin. My father himself was a merchant, not at all rich, he traded grain from a rented mill. In addition, he was fond of archeology and history. He wrote the book "History of the city of Yelabuga", developed and implemented a local water supply system. At his own expense, Ivan Vasilyevich Shishkin restored an old tower located in the suburbs. It is also known about his participation in the excavations of the famous Ananyevsky burial ground. He taught all this knowledge to his son, developed his interest in nature. From early childhood, Ivan did not part with coal and chalk, diligently decorating the walls and doors with intricate figures, carved, like his father, on wood.
For several years, Shishkin studied at the Kazan gymnasium, but dropped out of school, returned home, and began to draw and read again. He was very attracted to the forest, Shishkin could walk for a long time in the forest, in its vicinity, studying its features. So about 4 years passed, Shishkin, having received permission from his father, leaves for Moscow.
Since 1852, Shishkin became a student of the Moscow School of Painting and Sculpture. Immediately he gets to the exhibition of Caucasian mountain views by L.F. Lagorio and marines by I.K. Aivazovsky, among which was the famous "Ninth Wave". This exhibition only strengthened Shishkin's interest in the landscape.
At that time, the principles of Venetsianov's pedagogical system were widely used in teaching, with an emphasis on a careful study of nature. Shishkin, being quiet, shy, ended up in the class of professor of portrait painting A.N. Mokritsky, an admirer of K. Bryullov. Having identified Shishkin's great abilities, Mokritsky managed to direct him along the right path, encouraged in him an interest in nature, a passion for landscape.
Shishkin draws a lot from nature in Moscow and the Moscow region, copies Western European masters.
After graduating from college in 1856, Shishkin entered the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts. Here he also entered the circle of democratically minded youth. Art was recognized not only as a means of understanding the world, but also as a serious factor in its reconstruction. Under the influence of these ideas, Shishkin's worldview was formed. Subsequently, the artist was able to clearly express them in his work.
Nature has always been Shishkin's main teacher. In sketches ("Stones in the forest. Valaam"), he lovingly and surprisingly skillfully for a novice artist conveys ancient boulders overgrown with moss, fern leaves.
Shishkin was a born draftsman, drawn to the line, to the open stroke. Drawing from the very beginning became for him the most important means of studying nature. Success in drawing brought Shishkin in 1857 one of the first academic awards - the Silver Medal. His works were filled with such professional skill that the academic council decided to make them a model for students.
Shishkin graduated from the Academy in 1860 with the highest award - the Big Gold Medal and the right to three years of travel abroad. But the artist is not in a hurry with the trip, but goes to his native Yelabuga, and only in April 1862 he goes abroad. Even there, Ivan Shishkin did not forget about his native country. Letters from friends who reported on ongoing events increased the desire to return, moreover, the works performed in Germany and Switzerland did not satisfy the author. His landscapes, marked by outwardly romantic features - figures of villagers, herds on pastures - bore obvious traces of an academic school. It was possible to create a national landscape only in Russia, where Shishkin returned in 1865. He was already famous. Drawings with a pen, masterfully executed with the smallest, beaded strokes, with filigree finishing of details, amazed the audience. Two such drawings were acquired by the Düsseldorf Museum, and the painting "View in the vicinity of Düsseldorf" brought the artist the title of academician.
With the arrival at home, Shishkin seemed to have new forces. He becomes close to the members of the Artel, around which representatives of the progressive creative intelligentsia were grouped, participates in meetings about the role of art, about the rights of the artist. Ivan Shishkin was always surrounded by the attention of his comrades. I.E. Repin spoke about him like this: " I.I. Shishkin’s voice was loudest of all: like a mighty green forest, he amazed everyone with his health, good appetite and truthful Russian speech ... with his fingers, he begins to distort and erase his brilliant drawing, and the drawing, as if by miracle or magic, from such a rough treatment of the author comes out more and more elegant and brilliant."
Shishkin's works, created in the late 60s, mark a new stage in the master's work. 
Achieving the utmost resemblance to nature, the artist at first carefully writes out every detail, and this interferes with the integrity of the image. An example of such works is the painting "Deforestation". In the 60s, Shishkin finally overcomes the abstractness of the landscape characteristic of the academic school. The best work of these years is "Noon. In the vicinity of Moscow". The merit of this painting, bright in color, filled with a joyful and peaceful mood, is not only in the mastery of the transfer of space, but above all in the fact that the landscape created by Shishkin is truly Russian in character.
In 1870, Shishkin joined the founders of the largest association of realist masters - the Association of Traveling Art Exhibitions. Until the end of his life, Shishkin remained one of the most active and loyal members of the Association.
At the second traveling exhibition, Shishkin presented the painting "Pine Forest" (1872), which was a new step in the creative development of the master. The artist managed to create an image of a mighty, majestic Russian forest.
The work of Ivan Ivanovich Shishkin was a step on the way to understanding and reflecting the world around him, according to Kramskoy's apt expression, it was a "living school" of working with nature.
In the 70s, most of Shishkin's works are devoted to coniferous forests: "Forest Wilderness", "Black Forest", "Spruce Forest". Shishkin is attracted by vast forest areas. The best landscapes of that time are full of majestic solemnity.
In the 70s. the artist strives for greater generalization of forms, integrity of color solutions. At the same time, he is quite close to Kramskoy. Friendship with this man, the ideological leader of the partnership, theorist and subtle critic of art, played a special role in the creative development of Shishkin. There was no other person who would have so keenly noticed his mistakes and helped to overcome them. Often they lived together in the country, where they worked fruitfully.
Ivan Shishkin attached great importance to etudes. For him, the creation of an etude was a truly creative process based on long observations and reflections. He assigned a large role to the drawing and almost did not part with the pencil. Admiring the sharp powers of observation and the confidence with which Shishkin wrote sketches, Kramskoy said: "... When he is in front of nature, he is exactly in his element: here he is both bold and dexterous, he does not think."
The main form of expression of Shishkin's ideas that excited him was always the picture, with the greatest completeness he revealed in it the ideas that inspired him. An example of this is the work "Rye".
At this time, Shishkin is at the zenith of fame, but new wonderful achievements awaited him ahead. 80-90s - a period of increased flowering of the landscape painter's talent. The canvases "Debri", "Pine Forest", "Windfall" are close in character to the works of the previous decade, but are interpreted with greater pictorial freedom.
In the 80s. Shishkin enthusiastically continues to work on landscapes that glorified the expanses of his native land. "Among the Flat Valley" - one of his best paintings - is built on the opposition of a boundless plain and a lone mighty oak, as if hovering above it.
In the last decade of his life, the artist perceives nature more penetratingly, subtly, the role of light in his paintings increases. In the 90s. organized two exhibitions of the artist's works. The first in 1891 was of a retrospective nature: over five hundred sketches revealed the artist's creative laboratory, his search. At another exhibition in 1893, works made during the last summer were shown. They testified to the diversity of ideas, the exceptional vigilance of the eye and the high skill of the sixty-year-old landscape painter.
In 1895, Shishkin published his fourth album of etchings. It was a genuine event in the artistic life of the country. The album included 60 sheets - all the best works.
A brilliant result of almost half a century of the artist's journey in Russian art was the painting "Ship Grove" (1898). It can be considered classical in terms of completeness, completeness of the artistic image, monumentality of sound. The work is based on sketches made in Yelabuga. The role of Ivan Shishkin in Russian art remained just as significant in those years when many magnificent works of I. Levitan, V. Serov, K. Korovin appeared in landscape painting.
Death came to the artist unexpectedly. Ivan Ivanovich died at the easel on March 8 (20), 1898, while working on the painting "Forest Kingdom". After himself, he left a huge artistic legacy.
Ivan Ivanovich Shishkin (1832-1898) - Russian landscape painter, painter, draftsman and engraver-aquaphorist. Representative of the Düsseldorf art school. Academician (1865), professor (1873), head of the landscape workshop (1894-1895) of the Academy of Arts. Founding member of the Association of Traveling Art Exhibitions.
Biography of Ivan Shishkin
Ivan Ivanovich Shishkin is a famous Russian artist (landscape painter, painter, engraver) and academician.
Ivan was born in the city of Yelabuga in 1832 in a merchant family. The artist received his first education at the Kazan gymnasium. After studying there for four years, Shishkin entered one of the Moscow schools of painting.
After graduating from this school in 1856, he continued his education at the Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg. Within the walls of this institution, Shishkin received knowledge until 1865. In addition to academic drawing, the artist also honed his skills outside the Academy, in various picturesque places in the suburbs of St. Petersburg. Now Ivan Shishkin's paintings are highly valued as never before.
In 1860, Shishkin received an important award - the gold medal of the Academy. The artist goes to Munich. Then - to Zurich. Everywhere engaged in the workshops of the most famous artists of that time. For the painting "View in the vicinity of Düsseldorf" he soon received the title of academician.
In 1866 Ivan Shishkin returned to Petersburg. Shishkin, traveling around Russia, then presented his canvases at various exhibitions. He painted a lot of paintings of a pine forest, among the most famous - "Stream in the forest", "Morning in a pine forest", "Pine forest", "Fog in a pine forest", "Reserve. Pinery". The artist also showed his paintings in the Association of Traveling Exhibitions. Shishkin was a member of the circle of aquafortists. In 1873, the artist received the title of professor at the Academy of Arts, and after some time he was the head of the training workshop.
Creativity of Ivan Ivanovich Shishkin
Early work
For the early works of the master (“View on the island of Valaam”, 1858, Kiev Museum of Russian Art; “Cutting a Forest”, 1867, Tretyakov Gallery), some fragmentation of forms is characteristic; adhering to the “stage” construction of the picture, traditional for romanticism, clearly marking out plans, he still does not achieve a convincing unity of the image.
In such paintings as “Noon. In the outskirts of Moscow” (1869, ibid.), this unity already appears as an obvious reality, primarily due to the subtle compositional and light-air-color coordination of the zones of heaven and earth, soil (Shishkin felt the latter especially penetratingly, in this respect not having himself equal in Russian landscape art).
Maturity
In the 1870s Ivan Shishkin entered the time of unconditional creative maturity, which is evidenced by the paintings “Pine Forest. Mast forest in the Vyatka province "(1872) and" Rye "(1878; both - Tretyakov Gallery).
Usually avoiding the unsteady, transitional states of nature, the artist Ivan Shishkin captures its highest summer flowering, achieving an impressive tonal unity precisely due to the bright, midday, summer light that determines the entire color scale. The monumental-romantic image of Nature with a capital letter is invariably present in the paintings. New, realistic trends appear in the penetrating attention with which the signs of a particular piece of land, a corner of a forest or field, a particular tree are written out.
Ivan Shishkin is a wonderful poet not only of the soil, but also of the tree, who subtly feels the nature of each species [in his most typical notes, he usually mentions not just a “forest”, but a forest of “special trees, elms and part of oaks” (diary of 1861) or “forest spruce, pine, aspen, birch, linden” (from a letter to I.V. Volkovsky, 1888)].
Rye Pine forest Among the flat valleys
With particular desire, the artist paints the most powerful and strong breeds such as oaks and pines - in the stage of maturity, old age and, finally, death in a windfall. Classical works of Ivan Ivanovich - such as “Rye” or “Among the Flat Valley ...” (the painting is named after the song by A. F. Merzlyakov; 1883, Kiev Museum of Russian Art), “Forest Dali” (1884, Tretyakov Gallery) - are perceived as generalized, epic images of Russia.
The artist Ivan Shishkin equally succeeds in both distant views and forest “interiors” (“Pine trees illuminated by the sun”, 1886; “Morning in a pine forest” where bears were painted by K. A. Savitsky, 1889; both are in the same place). Of independent value are his drawings and studies, which are a detailed diary of natural life.
Interesting facts from the life of Ivan Shishkin
Shishkin and the bears
Did you know that Ivan Shishkin did not write his masterpiece dedicated to bears in the forest alone.
An interesting fact is that for the image of bears, Shishkin attracted the famous animal painter Konstantin Savitsky, who coped with the task excellently. Shishkin quite fairly appreciated the contribution of the companion, so he asked him to put his signature under the picture next to his own. In this form, the painting “Morning in a Pine Forest” was brought to Pavel Tretyakov, who managed to buy a painting from the artist in the process of work.
Seeing the signatures, Tretyakov was indignant: they say that he ordered the painting to Shishkin, and not to a tandem of artists. Well, he ordered to wash off the second signature. So they put up a picture with the signature of one Shishkin.
Influenced by the priest
Another amazing person came from Yelabuga - Kapiton Ivanovich Nevostroev. He was a priest, served in Simbirsk. Noticing his craving for science, the rector of the Moscow Theological Academy suggested that Nevostroev move to Moscow and start describing the Slavic manuscripts stored in the synodal library. They started together, and then Kapiton Ivanovich continued alone and gave a scientific description of all historical documents.
So, it was Kapiton Ivanovich Nevostroev who had the strongest influence on Shishkin (as Elabuga residents, they also kept in touch in Moscow). He said: “The beauty that surrounds us is the beauty of the divine thought poured into nature, and the task of the artist is to convey this thought as accurately as possible on his canvas.” That is why Shishkin is so scrupulous in his landscapes. You can't confuse him with anyone.
Tell me as an artist to an artist...
- Forget the word "photographic" and never correlate it with the name of Shishkin! - Lev Mikhailovich was indignant at my question about the amazing accuracy of Shishkin's landscapes.
- A camera is a mechanical device that simply captures a forest or field at a given time in a given light. Photography is soulless. And in every stroke of the artist - the feeling that he has for the surrounding nature.
So what is the secret of the great painter? After all, looking at his “Stream in a birch forest”, we clearly hear the murmur and splash of water, and admiring the “Rye”, we literally feel the breath of the wind with our skin!
“Shishkin knew nature like no one else,” the writer shares. - He knew the life of plants very well, to some extent he was even a botanist. One day, Ivan Ivanovich came to Repin's studio and, looking at his new painting, which depicted rafting on the river, asked what kind of wood they were made of. "Who cares?!" Repin was surprised. And then Shishkin began to explain that the difference is great: if you build a raft from one tree, the logs can swell, if from another, they go to the bottom, but from the third, you get a good floating craft! His knowledge of nature was phenomenal!
You don't have to be hungry
"An artist must be hungry" - says a well-known aphorism.
“Indeed, the belief that an artist should be far from everything material and engage exclusively in creativity is firmly entrenched in our minds,” says Lev Anisov. - For example, Alexander Ivanov, who wrote The Appearance of Christ to the People, was so passionate about his work that he sometimes drew water from a fountain and was content with a crust of bread! But still, this condition is far from obligatory, and it certainly did not apply to Shishkin.
While creating his masterpieces, Ivan Ivanovich, nevertheless, lived a full life and did not experience great financial difficulties. He was married twice, loved and appreciated comfort. And he was loved and appreciated by beautiful women. And this despite the fact that the artist gave the impression of an extremely closed and even gloomy subject to people who did not know him well (in the school for this reason they even called him “monk”).
In fact, Shishkin was a bright, deep, versatile personality. But only in a narrow company of close people did his true essence manifest itself: the artist became himself and turned out to be talkative and playful.
Glory caught up very early
Russian - yes, however, not only Russian! - history knows many examples when great artists, writers, composers received recognition from the general public only after death. In the case of Shishkin, everything was different.
By the time he graduated from the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts, Shishkin was well known abroad, and when the young artist studied in Germany, his works were already well sold and bought! There is a case when the owner of a Munich shop did not agree to part with several drawings and etchings by Shishkin that adorned his shop for any money. Fame and recognition came to the landscape painter very early.
Artist of noon
Shishkin is an artist of noon. Usually artists love sunsets, sunrises, storms, fogs - all these phenomena are really interesting to write. But to write noon, when the sun is at its zenith, when you do not see the shadows and everything merges, is aerobatics, the pinnacle of artistic creativity! To do this, you need to feel nature so subtly! In all of Russia, perhaps, there were five artists who could convey the beauty of the midday landscape, and Shishkin was among them.
In any hut - a reproduction of Shishkin
Living not far from the native places of the painter, we, of course, believe (or hope!) that he reflected precisely them on his canvases. However, our interlocutor was quick to disappoint. The geography of Shishkin's works is extremely wide. While studying at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, he painted Moscow landscapes - visited the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, worked a lot in the Losinoostrovsky forest, Sokolniki. Living in St. Petersburg, he traveled to Valaam, to Sestroretsk. Having become a venerable artist, he visited Belarus - he painted in Belovezhskaya Pushcha. Shishkin also worked a lot abroad.
However, in the last years of his life, Ivan Ivanovich often traveled to Yelabuga and also wrote local motifs. By the way, one of his most famous textbook landscapes - "Rye" - was painted just somewhere not far from his native places.
“He saw nature through the eyes of his people and was loved by the people,” says Lev Mikhailovich. - In any village house, in a conspicuous place, one could find a reproduction of his works “Among the Flat Valley ...”, “In the Wild North ...”, “Morning in a Pine Forest”, torn from a magazine, torn from a magazine.
Bibliography
- F. Bulgakov, “Album of Russian painting. Paintings and drawings by I. I. Sh.” (St. Petersburg, 1892);
- A. Palchikov, "List of printed sheets of I. I. Sh." (St. Petersburg, 1885)
- D. Rovinsky, “Detailed Dictionary of Russian Engravers of the 16th-19th Centuries.” (vol. II, St. Petersburg, 1885).
- I. I. Shishkin. "Correspondence. Diary. Contemporaries about the artist. L., Art, 1984. - 478 p., 20 sheets. illustration, portrait. — 50,000 copies.
- V. Manin Ivan Shishkin. Moscow: White City, 2008, p.47 ISBN 5-7793-1060-2
- I. Shuvalova. Ivan Ivanovich Shishkin. SPb.: Artists of Russia, 1993
- F. Maltseva. Masters of the Russian landscape: the second half of the 19th century. M.: Art, 1999
When writing this article, materials from such sites were used:en.wikipedia.org ,
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Ivan Ivanovich Shishkin rightfully considered a great landscape painter. He, like no one else, managed to convey through his canvases the beauty of the pristine forest, the endless expanses of fields, the cold of a harsh land. When looking at his paintings, one often gets the impression that a breeze is about to blow or a crackling of boughs is heard. Painting so occupied all the thoughts of the artist that he even died with a brush in his hand, sitting at the easel.
Ivan Ivanovich Shishkin was born in the small provincial town of Yelabuga, located off the banks of the Kama. As a child, the future artist could wander through the forest for hours, admiring the beauty of pristine nature. In addition, the boy diligently painted the walls and doors of the house, surprising those around him. In the end, the future artist in 1852 enters the Moscow School of Painting and Sculpture. There, teachers help Shishkin to recognize exactly the direction in painting that he will follow all his life.
Landscapes became the basis of Ivan Shishkin's work. The artist skillfully conveyed tree species, grasses, moss-covered boulders, and uneven soil. His paintings looked so realistic that it seemed that the sound of a stream or the rustle of leaves was about to be heard somewhere.
Without a doubt, one of the most popular paintings by Ivan Shishkin is considered "Morning in a pine forest". The picture shows not just a pine forest. The presence of bears seems to indicate that somewhere far away, in the wilderness, there is a unique life of its own.
Unlike his other paintings, this artist did not write alone. The bears are painted by Konstantin Savitsky. Ivan Shishkin judged fairly, and both artists signed the painting. However, when the finished canvas was brought to the buyer, Pavel Tretyakov, he became angry and ordered Savitsky's name to be erased, explaining that he ordered the painting only to Shishkin, and not to two artists.
The first meetings with Shishkin caused mixed feelings among those around him. He seemed to them a gloomy and taciturn person. At the school, he was even called a monk behind his back. In fact, the artist revealed himself only in the company of his friends. There he could argue and joke.
Shishkin Ivan Ivanovich (1832-1898)
Kramskoy I.N. - Portrait of the artist Shishkin 1880, 115x188
Russian Museum
Ivan Ivanovich Shishkin is not only one of the largest, but also perhaps the most popular among Russian landscape painters. Shishkin knew Russian nature "scientifically" (I. N. Kramskoy) and loved her with all the strength of his mighty nature. From this knowledge and this love, images were born that have long become a kind of symbols of Russia. Already the figure of Shishkin personified Russian nature for his contemporaries. He was called “forest hero-artist”, “king of the forest”, “old man-forester”, he could be compared with “an old strong pine tree overgrown with moss”, but rather, he is like a lonely oak from his famous painting, despite the many admirers , students and imitators.
"In the midst of a flat valley..."
1883
Oil on canvas 136.5 x 203.5
Kyiv
Ivan Shishkin was born on January 25, 1832 in Yelabuga (Vyatka province, now Tatarstan). His father was a merchant of the second guild - Ivan Vasilyevich Shishkin.
The father quickly noticed his son's passion for art and sent him to study at the Moscow School of Painting and Sculpture. A. Mokritsky, a very sensitive and attentive teacher, became the mentor of the young artist. He helped Shishkin find himself in art.
In 1856, the young man entered the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts to S. Vorobyov.
The successes of the young artist, marked by gold and silver medals, confirm the opinion of his former mentor Mokritsky, in connection with Shishkin’s admission to the Academy: “We have lost an excellent and gifted student, but we hope to see him as an excellent artist over time, if he will be with the same love study at the Academy. Its development is proceeding rapidly. For his success, Shishkin consistently receives all possible awards. The firmness of his hand is astonishing: to many, his carefully made, intricate landscape drawings in pen and ink seem like engravings. He experiments in lithography, studies various methods of printing, looks closely at etching, which was not very common in Russia at that time. Strives for “fidelity, similarity, portraiture of the depicted nature” already in his early works.
In 1858 - 1859, Shishkin often visited Valaam, the severe, majestic nature of which the young man associated with the nature of his native Urals.
In 1860, for two Valaam landscapes, Shishkin received the Big Gold Medal and the right to travel abroad.
View on the island of Valaam1858
View on the island of Valaam. Cucco area1858-60
Landscape with a hunter. Valaam Island 1867
However, he is in no hurry to go abroad and in the spring of 1861 he goes to Yelabuga, where he writes a lot in nature, “from which there can only be significant benefits for the landscape painter”
"Hut"
1861
Oil on canvas 36.5 x 47.5
State Museum of Fine Arts of the Republic of Tatarstan
Kazan
Shishkin went abroad only in 1862. Berlin and Dresden did not make a special impression on him: homesickness also affected.
In 1865, Shishkin returned to Russia and received the title of academician for the painting “View in the vicinity of Dusseldorf” (1865).
"View around Düsseldorf"
1865
Oil on canvas 106 x 151
Saint Petersburg
Now he writes with pleasure “Russian expanse with golden rye, rivers, groves and Russian distance”, which he dreamed of in Europe. One of his first masterpieces can be called a song of joy - “Noon. In the vicinity of Moscow” (1869).
"Noon. Around Moscow"
1869
Oil on canvas 111.2 x 80.4
Moscow
"Pinery. Mast forest in the Vyatka province
1872
Oil on canvas 117 x 165
State Tretyakov Gallery
Moscow
For Shishkin, as well as for his contemporaries, Russian nature is inseparable from the idea of Russia, the people, their destiny. In the painting “Pine Forest”, the artist defines his main theme - a mighty, majestic Russian forest. The master creates a theatrical stage, offering a kind of "performance". It is no coincidence that the time of day was chosen - noon as an image of Russia, full of dormant internal forces. Art critic V.V. Stasov called Shishkin's paintings "landscapes for heroes." At the same time, the artist strives for the most reliable, "scientific" approach to the image. This was noted by his friend, the artist I.N. Kramskoy: “A deaf forest and a stream with ferruginous, dark yellow water, in which you can see the whole bottom, strewn with stones ...” They said about Shishkin: “He is a convinced realist, a realist to the marrow of his bones, deeply feeling and ardently loving nature ... "
Kramskoy, who highly appreciated the art of Shishkin, helped him, even to the extent that he provided his workshop for work on the competitive painting “Mast Forest in the Vyatka Province” (1872, this painting is now called “Pine Forest”), wrote about Shishkin’s merits: “Shishkin he simply amazes us with his knowledge ... And when he is in front of nature, he is exactly in his element, here he is bold and does not think about how, what and why ... here he knows everything, I think that this is the only one we have a man who knows nature in a scientific way ... Shishkin -: this is a man-school.
"Forest distance"
1884
Oil on canvas 112.8 x 164
State Tretyakov Gallery
Moscow
The picture is dedicated to the nature of the Urals. The artist chooses a high point of view, trying to depict not so much a specific place as to create an image of the country as a whole. Forests overflow and flow into each other, like sea waves. The forest for Shishkin is the same primary element of the universe, like the sea and the sky, but at the same time it is the national symbol of Russia. One of the critics wrote about the painting: “The distant perspective of forests covered with a light haze, the surface of water, the sky, the air, outstanding in the distance, in a word, the whole panorama of Russian nature, with its beauties that are not striking in the eyes, is depicted on canvas with amazing skill.” The picture was painted at a time when the artist began to be interested in the problems of the open air. While preserving the epic nature of the image of nature, Shishkin's painting becomes softer and freer.
These works outlined the direction that was subsequently developed by the Association of Traveling Art Exhibitions. Together with I. N. Kramskoy, V. G. Perov, G. G. Myasoedov, A. K. Savrasov, N. N. Ge and others, in 1870 he became a founding member of the Partnership.
In 1894-1895 he headed the landscape workshop of the Higher Art School at the Imperial Academy of Arts.
"Morning in a pine forest"
1889
Oil on canvas 139 x 213
State Tretyakov Gallery
Moscow
The motif of the coniferous forest, which Shishkin refers to in this picture, is typical of his work. Evergreen pines and spruces emphasize the sense of grandeur and eternity of the natural world. Often found in the artist's paintings and compositional technique, when the tops of the trees are cut off by the edge of the canvas, and huge powerful trees seem to not fit even in a fairly large canvas. There is a kind of landscape interior. The viewer gets the impression that he was inside an impenetrable thicket, where bears feel comfortable, located on a broken pine. They were portrayed by K.A. Savitsky, who told his relatives: "The painting was sold for 4 thousand, and I am a participant in the 4th share." Further, Savitsky reported that he had to put his signature under the picture, but then he removed it, thereby waiving copyright.
At the Second Exhibition of the Wanderers, Shishkin presented the painting “In the Wilderness”, for which in 1873 he received the title of professor. With the help of a shaded foreground and spatial construction of the composition (somewhere in the depths, among the stunted trees, a faint sunlight is visible), the artist makes it possible to feel the dampness of the air, the moisture of mosses and deadwood, to feel this atmosphere, as if leaving the viewer alone with the oppressive wilderness. And like a real forest, this landscape does not open to the viewer immediately. Full of details, it is designed for long viewing: suddenly you notice a fox and a duck flying away from it.
"Backwoods"
1872
Oil on canvas 209 x 161
State Russian Museum
Saint Petersburg
And, on the contrary, his famous painting “Rye” (1878) is full of freedom, sun, light, air. The picture is epic: it seems to synthesize the features of the national character of Russian nature, the native, significant that Shishkin saw in it: “Expanse. Space. Land, rye. God's grace. Russian wealth...”
"Rye"
1878
Oil on canvas 187 x 107
State Tretyakov Gallery
Moscow
The landscape combines two traditional motifs for the artist: fields with a road running into the distance and mighty pine trees. The inscription made by Shishkin on one of the sketches for the painting says: "Expansion, space, land, rye, God's grace, Russian wealth." Critic V.V. Stasov compared the pines on the canvas with the columns of ancient Russian temples. Before the viewer is a majestic panorama of Russian nature, presented as a theatrical spectacle. Shishkin understands nature as a universe correlated with man. Therefore, two tiny dots are so important - human figures that set the scale for the image. Shishkin wrote his sketches not far from his native Yelabuga, standing on the banks of the Kama River, but his paintings are always composed, there is nothing accidental in them.
Shishkin was often reproached for the illusory drawing out of details. Many artists found his painting non-pictorial, called his paintings a painted drawing. Nevertheless, his paintings, for all their detail, always give a holistic image. And this is an image of the world that Shishkin cannot “smear” with the arbitrary movements of his own soul. In this sense, it is far from the one that was born in the 1880s. in Russian painting "mood landscape". Even the smallest thing in the world carries a particle of the big, because its individual appearance is no less important than the image of a whole forest or field (“Grass”, 1892
That is why the small is never lost in his programmatic pictures. It comes to the fore, as if under our feet, with every blade of grass, flower, butterfly. Then we shift our gaze further, and it is lost among the vast expanses that have absorbed everything.
"Herbs"
Etude.
“Sleep-grass. Pargolovo"
Etude.
1884
Canvas on cardboard, oil. 35 x 58.5 cm
State Russian Museum
The etude "Drowsy-grass. Pargolovo" is one of the many "exercises" of the great landscape master. Before us is a neglected corner of the country garden, overgrown with goutweed-grass. The very name "snot-grass" can tell a lot. After all, the word "snyt" is nothing more than a modified Russian word "food" (food, food). This plant really served as food for our ancestors in ancient times ...
Sunlight, picturesque thickets of grass, a country fence - that's all the simple content of the picture. Why is it difficult to take your eyes off this work by Shishkin? The answer is simple: left by human attention, this small corner is beautiful in its simplicity and naturalness. There, behind the fence, there is another world, changed by man to suit his needs, but here nature is accidentally granted the right to be itself... This is the magic of work, its ingenious simplicity.
"In the midst of a flat valley..."
1883
Oil on canvas 136.5 x 203.5
State Museum of Russian Art
Kyiv
The canvas “Among the Flat Valley” (1883) is imbued with a poetic feeling, it combines grandeur and sincere lyrics. The title of the painting was a line from a poem by A. F. Merzlyakov, known as a folk song. But the picture is not an illustration of poetry. The feeling of Russian expanse gives rise to the figurative structure of the canvas itself. There is something joyful and at the same time thoughtful in the wide open steppe (this is the feeling that the free, open composition of the picture evokes), in the alternation of illuminated and darkened spaces, in the withered stems, as if creeping under the feet of a traveler, in the majestic oak towering among the plains. .
The painting "Among the Flat Valley ..." was written by Ivan Ivanovich Shishkin a year after the sudden death of his beloved wife. He suffered greatly from the loss. But the native nature, which always attracted the artist to itself, did not allow him to dissolve in his grief.
Once, walking along the valley, Shishkin accidentally came across this majestic oak, which towered alone above the surrounding expanses. This oak reminded the artist of himself, just as lonely, but not broken by storms and hardships. Thus this picture was born.
The central place in the picture is occupied by an oak tree. He rises above the valley like a giant, spreading his mighty branches. The background is the sky. It is covered with clouds, a thunderstorm has already gathered in the distance. But she is not afraid of the giant. No thunderstorms, no storms can break it. He firmly stands on the ground, serving as a shelter for the traveler and the heat, and in bad weather. The oak is so strong and strong, so powerful that the clouds rolling in the distance seem insignificant, not even capable of hurting the giant.
The well-trodden path runs straight to the giant oak, which is ready to cover you with its branches. The crown of the tree is so dense that it resembles a tent, a dark shadow spreads under the tree. The oak itself is brightly lit by the rays of the sun, which has not yet been covered by thunderclouds.
Standing by a mighty tree, Shishkin remembered the words of the old Russian song "Among the flat valley ...", which sings about a lonely oak tree, about the grief of a man who has lost a "tender friend." The artist seemed to come to life after this meeting. He began to create again, going through life alone, but firmly standing on his native land, like that oak tree in his picture.
Despite Shishkin's successes in landscape painting, close friends persistently advised him to pay attention to expressive means, in particular, to the transmission of light and air. And life itself demanded it. It is enough to recall the coloristic merits of the works of Repin and Surikov known by that time. Therefore, in Shishkin's paintings "Foggy Morning" (1885) and "Pine Trees Illuminated by the Sun" (1886), it is not so much the linear composition that attracts, but the harmony of chiaroscuro and color. This is both a magnificent image of nature in terms of beauty and fidelity in the transfer of the atmospheric state, and a clear illustration of such a balance between the object and the environment, between the general and the individual.
Foggy morning
1885. Oil on canvas, 108x144.5
The painting by I. I. Shishkin “Foggy Morning”, like many works of the great landscape master, conveys a surprisingly calm and peaceful atmosphere.
The focus of the artist is a quiet, foggy morning on the river bank. The gently sloping shore is in the foreground, the water surface of the river, in which movement is barely guessed, the opposite hilly shore in the mist of the morning fog.
The dawn seems to have awakened the river, and, sleepy, lazy, it is only gaining strength to run deep into the picture... Three elements - sky, earth and water - harmoniously complement each other, revealing, it seems, the very essence of each of them. They cannot exist without each other. The pale blue sky, saturated with color, passes into the tops of the hills covered with a hat of fog, then passes into the green of trees and grass. Water, reflecting all this splendor, without any distortion, emphasizes and refreshes the morning.
The presence of a person is hardly guessed in the picture: a narrow path in the grass, a sticking out post for tying a boat - these are all signs of a human presence. The artist thus only emphasizes the greatness of nature and the great harmony of God's world.
The light source in the picture is located directly in front of the viewer. Another second and the sunlight will cover this whole corner of Russian nature ... The morning will come into its own completely, the fog will dissipate ... Therefore, this moment before dawn is so attractive.
"Pine trees illuminated by the sun"
Etude.
1886
Canvas, oil. 102 x 70.2 cm
State Tretyakov Gallery
In the picture, the main component of the plot is sunlight. Everything else is just decoration, background...
Pine trees confidently standing on the edge of the forest resist the flow of sunlight, however, they lose to it, merge, are swept away by it ... Only indestructible shadows lying on the opposite side from the pines create the volume of the picture, give it depth. The light lost not only to the trunks, but also got entangled in the crowns of the trees, unable to cope with the winding thin branches dotted with needles.
The summer forest appears before us in all its fragrant splendor. Following the light, the viewer's gaze penetrates deep into the thicket of the forest, as if taking a leisurely walk. The forest, as it were, surrounds the viewer, hugs him and does not let go.
Endless combinations of yellow and green colors so realistically convey all the shades of the color of pine needles, pine layered and thin bark, sand and grass, convey the warmth of the sun, the coolness of the shadow, that the illusion of the presence, smells and sounds of the forest is easily born in the imagination. He is open, friendly and devoid of any mystery, mystery. The forest is ready to meet on this clear and warm day.
"Oak trees"
1887
Canvas, oil. 147 x 108 cm
State Russian Museum
"Golden Autumn" (1888),
"Mordvin oaks"
1891
Canvas, oil. 84 x 111 cm
State Russian Museum
"Autumn"
1892
Canvas, oil. 107 x 81 cm
State Russian Museum
"Rain in the Oak Forest"
1891
Oil on canvas 204 x 124
State Tretyakov Gallery
Moscow
In 1891, a personal exhibition of Shishkin (more than 600 sketches, drawings and engravings) was held at the Academy of Arts. The artist masterfully mastered the art of drawing and engraving. His drawing has undergone the same evolution as painting. The drawings of the 80s, which the artist made with charcoal and chalk, are much more picturesque than the pen drawings related to the 60s. In 1894, the album “60 etchings by I. I. Shishkin. 1870 - 1892". In this technique, he then knew no equal and also experimented in it. For a period he taught at the Academy of Arts. In the process of teaching, as in his work, he used photography to better study natural forms.
"Oak Grove"
1893
Etching. 51 x 40 cm
"Forest River"
1893
Etching. 50 x 40 cm
Regional Art Museum
"Oak Grove"
1887
Oil on canvas 125 x 193
State Museum of Russian Art
Kyiv
The painting "Oak Grove" depicts a bright sunny day in an oak forest. Powerful, spreading, mute witnesses of the change of centuries and generations amaze with their splendor. Carefully drawn details bring the picture so close to naturalness that sometimes you forget that this forest is painted in oil and you cannot enter it.
Mischievous sun spots on the grass, illuminated crowns and trunks of centuries-old oaks seem to radiate warmth, awakening memories of a cheerful summer in the soul. Despite the fact that the oaks depicted in the picture have already acquired shriveled branches, their trunks are bent, and the bark has peeled off in some places, their crowns are still green and lush. And you involuntarily think that these oaks will be able to stand for more than one hundred years.
It is noteworthy that Shishkin's journey from the idea of painting the Oak Grove to the first brush strokes in the landscape was three decades! That is how much time it took for the artist to form a vision of this monumental canvas, and this time was not spent in vain. The picture of an oak grove is often called the best work of a brilliant artist.
"Before the storm"
1884
Canvas, oil. 110 x 150 cm
State Russian Museum
The painting by I. I. Shishkin “Before the Thunderstorm” is one of the most colorful works of the master. The artist perfectly managed to convey the atmosphere of thick closeness before a thunderstorm. A moment of complete silence before the rampage of the elements ...
The horizon line divides the landscape exactly into two parts. The upper part is a pre-stormy leaden sky, full of life-giving moisture. The lower one is the earth yearning for this very moisture, a shallow river, trees.
The abundance of shades of blue and green, brilliant possession of perspective, complex, non-uniform light are striking.
The viewer feels the approach of a thunderstorm, but as if from the outside ... He is only a spectator, and not a participant in the natural mystery. This allows him to calmly enjoy the details of the pre-stormy landscape. Those details that always elude the human eye in nature. At the same time, there is absolutely nothing superfluous in the picture. Harmony.
It is strange, but looking at the picture, the question arises: did the artist himself get caught in the rain or did he manage to hide? The work itself is so realistic that the question of the authenticity of the landscape does not arise at all.
"Foggy morning"
1897
Canvas, oil. 82.5 x 110 cm
State Museum-Reserve "Rostov Kremlin"
"Amanita"
1880-1890s,
Tretyakov Gallery
Shishkin's etude "Amanita" is a vivid example of a talented sketch by the great Russian artist. The plot of the study is akin to a Russian fairy tale: fly agarics are an indispensable attribute of evil spirits, magical rituals, riddles and transformations.
Before the viewer appears a family of bright mushrooms in the thicket of a virgin forest. Each of the seven depicted fly agarics seems to have its own character, biography, and destiny. In the foreground, a pair of young strong handsome men guarding the elders of the family in the center of the composition. In the center, on the contrary, there are old mushrooms with traces of smoldering and withering... The artist schematically, blurry and indistinctly depicts the forest around the main "heroes" of the picture. Nothing should distract the viewer's attention from the picturesque group of fly agarics. On the other hand, it is the green forest and brown leaves that favorably emphasize the brightness of the mushroom caps, the whiteness of the spots on the caps.
The deliberate unfinished work creates a feeling of fabulousness and unreality of the image. As if we have a vision inspired by insidious and poisonous mushrooms in a magical forest.
"Pine forest", 1889
V. D. Polenov Museum-Reserve
In the picture we see a corner of a pine forest flooded with summer sun. Sandy paths bleached by sunlight indicate that the sea is most likely nearby. The whole picture is filled with a pine smell, a special coniferous cheerfulness and silence. Nothing disturbs the peace of the forest in the morning hours (shadows on the sand indicate that it is morning).
Apparently, we have before us one of the dacha suburbs of St. Petersburg, where the artist so often found subjects for his works. And now, walking through the forest on a summer morning, the crossroads of sandy paths attracted the attention of the master. Dozens of shades of green, bluish mosses, dazzling sand slightly covered with yellow ... All this palette of natural colors could not leave Shishkin indifferent. Looking at the picture, you begin to remember the pine spirit, the sound of the cool Baltic Sea is barely audible in your ears. Quiet, warm, fragrant. Summer serenity...
Like any other work of Shishkin, the painting "Pine Forest" impresses with its authenticity, pedantic attitude to the smallest details, the reality of the plot and unimagined beauty.
Guardhouse in the forest
1870s Canvas, oil. 73x56
Donetsk Regional Art Museum
"The gatehouse in the forest" is an amazing masterpiece by I. Shishkin, which amazes with its simplicity and originality. It would seem that the usual plot: trees, a road, a small house. However, something beckons us to contemplate this picture for a long time, as if hoping to find an encrypted message in it. Well, such a masterpiece cannot be just a picture painted according to the mood. What immediately catches your eye is the tall birch trees on both sides of the road. They stretch up - closer to the sun.
The picture is dominated by dark green tones, and only in the background we see the grass and foliage of trees illuminated by the rays of the sun. The ray of the sun also falls on the wooden gatehouse, thereby highlighting it in the picture. It is the main highlight of the masterpiece - the brightest detail. The picture is striking in its volume. When you look at it, you feel the depth - the viewer seems to be surrounded by trees from all sides and beckoning forward.
The forest depicted by Shishkin seems dense. It is not so easy for sunlight to break through it, but in the very center of the picture - where the gatehouse stands, we see a gap. The painting is saturated with the admiration of nature and at the same time expresses the contrast between nature and man. What is this gatehouse in comparison with the mighty trunks of pines and tall birches? Just a small speck in the middle of the forest.
"Swamp. Polissya"
1890
Oil on canvas 90 x 142
State Art Museum of the Republic of Belarus
Minsk
“In the forest of Countess Mordvinova. Peterhof
1891
Oil on canvas 81 x 108
State Tretyakov Gallery
Moscow
"Summer day"
1891
Canvas, oil. 88.5 x 145 cm
State Tretyakov Gallery
"Summer"
Canvas, oil. 112 x 86 cm
State Central Museum of Musical Culture. M.I. Glinka
"Bridge in the Forest"
1895
Canvas, oil. 108 x 81 cm
Nizhny Novgorod Art Museum
"Kama near Yelabuga"
1895
Oil on canvas 106 x 177
Nizhny Novgorod State Art Museum
Nizhny Novgorod
"Pinery"
1895
Canvas, oil. 128 x 195 cm
Far Eastern Art Museum
"In the park"
1897
Canvas, oil. 82.5 x 111 cm
State Tretyakov Gallery
"Birch Grove"
1896
Oil on canvas 105.8 x 69.8
Yaroslavl Art Museum
Yaroslavl
The world-famous painting "Birch Grove" was painted by Shishkin in 1896. At the moment, the picture is in the Yaroslavl Art Museum.
The picture is dominated by shades of green, brown and white. It would seem that the combination of colors is more than simple, but surprisingly successful: looking at the picture, you completely feel yourself among these trees, you feel the warmth of the sun's rays.
The sun-drenched birch grove seems to radiate some special light itself, felt by everyone who sees the picture. By the way, Shishkin, being a patriot of his country, knowingly chose the birch as the heroine of this picture, because it is she who has been considered the national symbol of Russia since ancient times.
The incredible clarity with which all the details are drawn is surprising: the grass seems amazingly silky, the birch bark is like a real one, and every birch leaf makes you remember the aroma of a birch grove.
This landscape is painted so naturally that it is difficult to even call it a painting. Rather, the name is a reflection of reality.
"Ship Grove"
1898
Canvas, oil. 165 x 252 cm
State Russian Museum
The painting "Ship Grove" is one of the last in the master's work. The composition of the work is characterized by a strict balance and a clear alignment of plans, but it does not have the composition of the landscape that is characteristic of the painting of the 18th - first half of the 19th century.
Subtle observation and an unmistakably found point of view make it possible to successfully capture a piece of nature, turning it into a scenic platform for living nature. The sensitivity of perception of nature, the loving comprehension of its features and the masterful transmission of its charm by the language of painting make Shishkin's canvases tactile, giving the viewer the opportunity to feel the resinous smell of the forest, its morning coolness and freshness of the air.
Shishkin's personal life developed tragically. Both his wives died quite early. Behind them - and both of his sons. The deaths did not stop there - after the people dear to the heart, perhaps the closest person, the father, died. Shishkin plunged headlong into work, which remained his only joy. Shishkin died at work. This happened on March 20, according to the new style, in 1898. The artist died suddenly. In the morning he painted in the workshop, then visited his relatives and returned to the workshop again. At some point, the master just fell off his chair. The assistant immediately noticed this, but, running up, saw that he was no longer breathing.
"Self-portrait"
1886
Etching. 24.2x17.5 cm.
State Russian Museum
Saint Petersburg
