The second half of the 19th century was the dawn of Russian painting. Isaac Levitan, a native of the Lithuanian town of Kybartai, became a prominent representative of outstanding masters. After himself, the master, who was friends with Fyodor Chaliapin and Anton Chekhov, left an invaluable cultural heritage. They said about him: "Levitan is the Pushkin of the Russian landscape."
the site recalled five famous paintings by an outstanding artist.
"Birch Grove" (1889)
In the summer of 1885, Levitan, who was repeatedly sent away from the capital because of his Jewish origin, was in the Babkino estate on Istra near Moscow, and the canvas, which became one of the main landscapes in Russian painting, was conceived there. The artist finished his work four years later in Plyos, a small town on the banks of the Volga, where the painter came from 1888 to 1890. Several of his famous paintings were also created here.
Plesskaya birch grove is located on the outskirts of the city, not far from the cemetery church Pustynka. The artist came there with a canvas, begun in the Moscow region, and completed it.
Levitan built his work on the play of light and shadow on tree trunks, fresh green grass and leaves. The artist used the techniques of impressionist painting on the canvas.
One of the main Russian landscapes, executed by Levitan. Photo: commons.wikimedia.org
"After the rain. Plyos (1889)
State Tretyakov Gallery
On this canvas, Levitan tried to summarize his impressions of his trip to the Volga. In the painting, Levitan showed the daily life of the river.
The painter managed to depict puddles, air saturated with moisture and the rays of the sun breaking through the clouds. Levitan reflects on the fact that the spiritual life of people is connected with the river, with the pier and steamboats. Three ship masts in the center of the picture are like the three domes of a church.
In this work, the artist managed to show the Russian life of a small Volga town with barges and steamers. Painting “After the rain. Ples” was acquired by Pavel Tretyakov for his collection in 1890, along with another famous painting by Levitan “Evening. Golden Ples.
This saw the Volga master. Photo: commons.wikimedia.org
"Evening Bells" (1892)
State Tretyakov Gallery
In his work, Levitan repeatedly addressed the theme of the harmony of Orthodox values and the amazing Russian nature.
The artist approached the "Evening Bells" in detail. The embodiment of the idea required a careful choice of nature. Levitan made several dozen sketches until he saw the Savino-Storozhevsky Monastery near Zvenigorod, which made a strong impression on him.
Two years later, when the artist lived in Plyos, in search of new motives for paintings, he went to Yuryevets, where he saw a small church. That monastery was called Krivozersky - in the mid-1950s it fell into the flood zone of the Gorky reservoir. These two buildings served as the basis for the creation of a masterpiece of Russian culture.
Two monasteries at once inspired Levitan when writing this canvas. Photo: commons.wikimedia.org
"Over Eternal Rest" (1894)
State Tretyakov Gallery
The next canvas is considered one of the most philosophically filled with Levitan. The master worked on it in the Tver province. The church migrated to this picture from a previously created sketch on Plyos. There is also evidence that Levitan, when creating this picture, asked his girlfriend Sofya Kuvshinnikova to play Beethoven for him.
Levitan wrote to the collector Tretyakov that he was happy to hand over “Above Eternal Peace” to him. “Eternity, formidable eternity, in which generations have drowned and more will drown ... What horror, what fear!” The artist said.
Indeed, the water and sky in the picture capture the viewer, as well as thoughts about the transience of life. On the canvas, you can see a church standing next to a cemetery with rickety crosses and abandoned graves.
Isaac Levitan recalled that he was scared when creating this picture. Photo: commons.wikimedia.org
"Golden Autumn" (1895)
State Tretyakov Gallery
Of course, a special place in the work of Isaac Levitan is occupied by the bewitching beauty of Russian nature. In 1895, the artist, who at that time lived in the Gorka estate in the Tver province, quite often visited the Syezha River. It is believed that it was on it that he saw the amazing beauty of autumn, which he decided to capture on the canvas. It is known that at that time Levitan was also inspired by a stormy romance with Anna Nikolaevna Turchaninova, the wife of the senator and assistant to the mayor of St. Petersburg Ivan Nikolaevich Turchaninov. She often rested in the Gorka estate owned by the family, where she met the artist.
Work on the canvas fascinated the master. In 1895, he wrote to Vasily Palenov: “I was about to go to you, kind Vasily Dmitrievich, when suddenly, just suddenly, I was passionately drawn to work; I got carried away, and for a week now, as I have not come off the canvas day after day ... At the same time, as I began to work, my nerves became calmer, and the world became not so terrible.
The picture shows a green hilly slope, which ends with a wide river. The water in it is so clear and clean that coastal plants and grasses are easily reflected. The master tried to depict in all its glory the Russian autumn landscape in the midst of the golden season.
Together with nine other works by Levitan, among which were “March”, “Fresh Wind. Volga”, “Twilight”, “Ferns in the forest”, “Nenyufary” and others, the painting “Golden Autumn” was exhibited at the 24th exhibition of the Association of Travelers art exhibitions("Wanderers"), which opened in February 1896 in St. Petersburg, and in March moved to Moscow. Bought by Pavel Tretyakov, the painting was donated to them in the same 1896 Tretyakov Gallery.
Autumn inspired both Levitan and Pushkin. Photo: commons.wikimedia.org
Four years later, Levitan died. In 1901, posthumous exhibitions of the artist were held in St. Petersburg and Moscow, where his unfinished painting “Lake” was shown for the first time.
The largest representative of the Russian lyric landscape painting 2nd half of the 19th century. In the paintings of Levitan, elegiac moods, sad thoughts about the meaning of life. He also has pictures full of tragic sorrow and hopelessness, and pictures full of vivacity and life-affirmation; there are pictures full of melancholy and pictures full of ringing joy!
Levitan was born in 1860, in the family of a small railway employee. They lived in poverty. In addition, his parents died early, and little Isaac was left in the care of his sister, who herself lived off day labor and only occasionally fed her brother and darned old clothes. The little Jewish boy spent the night wherever he could. Since childhood, he passionately loved to draw and at the age of 12 he entered the School of Painting and Sculpture. His teachers were Savrasov and Polenov. The young man was immediately noticed by the teachers as a very talented student. Savrasov immediately singled out Levitan, but the School did not like Savrasov himself for his unrestrained character, so this dislike was transferred to the boy. Having brilliantly graduated from the School, however, he did not receive a well-deserved medal at the end. The young artist lived as before in poverty, did not see a reason for joy and was always gloomy and depressed. Mental sullenness held his hands during work. Levitan could not write lightly and transparently for a long time. A dim light lay on the canvases, the colors frowned. He couldn't make them smile.
In 1886, Levitan first came to the Crimea and his mood changed. Here he first understood what pure colors are. He felt with complete clarity that only the sun rules over the colors. And the sun and black color are incompatible. Thus began a new period in the life and work of a talented Jewish artist.
Creativity Levitan - this is a whole era in the development of Russian landscape painting. Continuing the line of Savrasov's lyrical landscape, Levitan reached great heights in the art of depicting national nature. Levitan was rightly called "the poet of Russian nature" by his contemporaries. He subtly felt the discreet beauty and sincerity of the Central Russian landscape. "Levitan showed us the modest and secret that is hidden in every Russian landscape - his soul, his charm," wrote M.V. Nesterov.
Somehow at the end of summer, at dusk, at the gate of his house, Levitan met a young woman. Her narrow arms were white from under black lace. The sleeves of the dress were trimmed with lace. A soft cloud covered the sky. It was raining infrequently. The flowers in the front gardens smelled bittersweet like autumn.
The stranger stood at the gate and tried to open a small umbrella. Finally, it opened up and the rain rustled against its silk top. The stranger walked slowly away. Levitan did not see her face - it was covered with an umbrella. In the wrong light, he only noticed that she was pale.
Returning home, he remembered the stranger for a long time, and in the same autumn he wrote "Autumn Day in Sokolniki". It was his first picture, where a gray and golden autumn, sad as the life of Levitan himself, breathed cautious warmth from the canvas and pinched the heart of the viewer ...
A young woman in black walked along the path of Sokolniki Park, along heaps of fallen leaves - that stranger. She was alone in the autumn grove, and this loneliness surrounded her with a feeling of sadness and thoughtfulness.
This the only scenery Levitan, where a man is present, and then the figure of a woman was painted by Nikolai Chekhov.
Autumn - favorite time years for Levitan, he painted many autumn landscapes, but this one stands out in that it does not have a tragic sound, a dull mood; this is a very lyrical canvas, gives a feeling of peace, peace, quiet joy and light sadness.
Before us is a corner of nature with a running river and a birch grove on the shore. And in the distance are fields, forests and a bottomless sky with light white clouds. The day is sunny, not warm in autumn. The air is clear and fresh.
Solemn peace reigns in nature: the clarity of the distance is transparent, the foliage on the trees is motionless, the water in the river is calm in autumn.
A bright, joyful mood is created by a diverse range of colors rich in shades: the copper-gold decoration of the grove, the sparkle of already falling leaves, the reddish branches of the bush against the background of blue-cold water, the bright green of winter in the distance and the faded blue of the sky. However, all this splendor of the palette is not catchy, not defiantly bright, but very modest, creating a feeling of tender dreaminess, expectation of happiness. Truly, no one said better than Pushkin about this period of autumn:
Oh charm! Your farewell beauty is pleasant to me!
I love the lush nature of withering, in crimson and gold dressed forest
The painting was painted on the shores of Lake Udomlya in the Tver province. Tragic, full of boundless melancholy and sorrow canvas. Severe, indifferent to man and majestic nature causes a feeling of anxiety and tension.
Lying lonely on the steep bank of a cold lake is a small, almost rotten, wooden church, behind which the crosses of the old cemetery are barely visible. From the slope, where dark birch trees bend under the gusty wind, the distance of a deaf river, meadows darkened by bad weather, a huge cloudy sky opens up. Heavy clouds, saturated with cold moisture, hang above the ground. Slanting canvases of rain cover the open spaces.
A small grain of sand, lost in the universe, feels like a person here. The feeling of loneliness, the insignificance of man in front of the infinitely great and eternal nature gives the picture a truly tragic sound. Here, Levitan's deep philosophical reflections on the meaning of life and death, the existence of man in nature - and all this takes on a dull and hopeless coloring. It is no coincidence that while writing the picture, Levitan liked to listen funeral march Beethoven.
Modest, fanned by subtle lyricism poetic work. Thin, white trunks of birches, a thick carpet of emerald grass, young fluffy greenery of newly blossomed foliage. This is an image of a young, just awakened after the winter stupor of nature, touching and sincere. The picture is imbued with a sense of the bright joy of being, warmed by the warmth of the dim northern sun.
The study for this painting was written by Levitan in the estate of Baroness Wulff "Bernovo", with a collapsed mill, with an old dam across the river, with a deep dark pool. Somehow Levitan was interested in the landscape near the pool and he began to write it. The mistress of the estate approached him and asked: "Do you know what interesting place you write? The peasants call it a "dead place" and bypass it. And it also inspired Pushkin to his "Mermaid". And she told a legend connected with this mill: her great-grandfather, a man of a very tough disposition, had a young servant. He fell in love with the miller's daughter. When the great-grandfather found out about this, he angrily ordered his serf to be shaved into soldiers, and the beloved girl drowned herself here.
Levitan was excited by the story, and he painted a picture.
Deep black hole. Above the whirlpool there is a forest, deaf, dark, and somewhere in the depths of the forest a barely noticeable path goes. An old dam, logs, footbridges... The night is approaching. On the water sparks of the setting sun; at the shore of the dam, a reflection of an overturned forest; in the sky gray, torn clouds. The whole picture, as it were, is permeated with a feeling of hidden, anxious sadness, that feeling that seized Levitan when he listened to the story of the death of a young girl, and which owned him when he worked on the picture.
This painting has been hanging in the Tretyakov Gallery for many, many years, and all the same as in the first years, spellbound spectators stand before it for a long time.
Outskirts in the rays of the setting sun, a field with haystacks, silhouetted in the twilight light of the passing day, the backyards of the village, barely lit by the trembling light of the moon ... Such familiar pictures full of deep truth. Silence again enters Levitan's painting, and with it the wise reconciliation with life, farewell to it. A poignantly sad note sounds distinctly in all these works. Their ultimate simplicity and truthfulness are the result of the artist's desire to write only about the most intimate. No picturesqueness, no writing, no catchy tricks.
Feelings of loneliness and loss of a person in the universe, a tragic sense of the meaninglessness of human existence before eternity are replaced by an understanding of the naturalness of the laws of life, the perception of a person in harmonious fusion with nature. The simple and unpretentious life of man in nature now turns out to be full of great meaning for Levitan.
One of the most remarkable paintings by Levitan. That summer he lived not far from Boldin. His student and friend Sofya Petrovna Kuvshinnikova tells how one day they were returning from hunting and went out to the old Vladimir highway. The picture was full of amazing quiet charm. A long whitening strip of road ran through the copse into the blue distance. In the distance, figures of two praying mantises could be seen on it, and an old lopsided cabbage roll (wooden grave monument with a roof and a cross) with an icon erased by rain spoke of a long-forgotten antiquity. Everything looked so sweet and cozy. And suddenly Levitan remembered what kind of road this was ... "Why, this is Vladimirka, that same Vladimirka, the Vladimirsky tract, along which so many unfortunate people once, clinking with shackles, passed into Siberia!"
The sun descends over the steppes, feather grass is golden in the distance,
Kolodnikov's ringing chains kick up road dust...
And the landscape has already ceased to seem gentle, cozy ... Levitan saw the real Vladimirka - the road of sorrow, he saw chained, hungry, exhausted people, heard the ringing of shackles, sad songs, groans. And the picture was born.
The road, trodden by thousands of feet, goes into the blue distance. By the road - a lopsided dove. A wanderer with a knapsack is walking along a side path. And above the road - a huge gloomy sky ... And although high road, in Vladimirka, there is only one old woman with a knapsack and no prisoners in shackles are visible, we seem to feel their presence, we hear the ringing of shackles ....
Levitan did not want to sell this painting and simply presented it to Tretyakov.
Extremely simple and modest in its color picture. On a combination of gray and greenish-pale tones, the artist depicts a dark coastal strip, a steel-gray expanse of water, a dark gray, deaf stripe of thickened clouds and a whitish-silvery gap in the sky at the edge of the picture. The presence of a person is felt: boats pulled ashore, lights on the opposite bank of the river.
The state of calm in which nature is immersed, detachment from the daily bustle and human affairs helps the artist to show the Volga in all its majesty.
One of the most expressive and beautiful paintings by Levitan. Before us appears a wide panorama of the Volga landscape. Levitan captures the transitional moment when the ash-golden colors of the sky, the golden fog of the hour before sunset, enveloping the mirror-like surface of the Volga and hiding the outlines of the distant shore, are still struggling with the dusk of the coming evening, but are about to be swallowed up by the thickening haze. Silence descends to the ground. With a light silhouette - like a guardian of this silence - the church is drawn in the wide expanses of the Volga landscape. The trees and bushes of the near shore begin to look like dark, generalized silhouettes, just like the second church in the distance, almost drowning in a greyish-hazy veil of fog.
The picture reflects a joyful perception of the world. The artist depicts the very beginning of spring, when noisy streams are not yet running, the hubbub of birds is not heard. But already the warm rays of the spring sun begin to warm the earth. And this soft, sunlight poured into the picture evokes a feeling of the onset of spring. Everything seemed to freeze, warmed by the warmth of the sun. The trees do not move, casting deep shadows on the snow, the smooth wall of the house is flooded with sunlight, the horse stands quietly, immersed in slumber, by the porch. Under the influence of sunlight, the snow on the roof of the porch began to thaw, deep snowdrifts settled, lost their whiteness. In the transparent air, the blue color of the bottomless sky, blue shadows on the snow sound loudly.
The clear and bright mood of the picture is full of jubilant, thoughtless joy, consonant with the feeling of spring. The complete desertion of the landscape helps to feel the silence poured around, to immerse yourself in contemplation inner life nature.
But the presence of a person is invisibly felt in the picture: a horse standing in anticipation at the porch, an ajar door, a birdhouse on a birch. This makes the picture even more intimate, lyrical and sincere.
Isaac Ilyich Levitan is an outstanding founder of landscape painting of the 19th century. Among many of his fellow landscape painters, Levitan stands out as a spiritual master creating a poetic image of nature, with its deep emotionality of color shades, which makes the viewer feel in the artist’s picture the wonderful state of Russian nature, in all its splendor and tranquility. His works were very enthusiastically appreciated by his contemporaries, who considered the artist's paintings mood landscapes with surprisingly truthful authenticity. During all this time creative biography Levitan created thousands of paintings and sketches, and his work can be considered with full confidence the standard in landscape painting.
Artist Levitan biography and creativity, description of paintings Levitan was born in Lithuania, Kovno province) August 30, 1860 in a small town called Kibarty, in a poor, one might even say poor and large Jewish family, nevertheless, Isaac's parents were educated and decent people. Due to the difficult financial situation, the family decided to move to Moscow.
Isaac's older brother also had artistic inclinations and in Moscow he first entered the school of painting, sculpture and architecture in 1871, at the same time helping to develop Isaac's painting skills, who goes to sketches with him and gains some knowledge of working with paints and understanding beauty nature.
2 years after his brother entered the school, Isaac Levitan also entered the school, who was very lucky, his teachers were famous masters painting is Savrasov, Perov and the artist Polenov, from whom the young artist received the necessary knowledge of painting techniques. But in 1875, unpleasant events occurred in Levitan's family, his mother dies, with difficulty bearing the loss of his wife, his father falls ill, who was no longer able to fully provide for his family financially, so looking at this situation at the school, they decided to partially help Levitan's family, freeing academically capable brothers from tuition fees.
But life's failures continued in 1877, his father dies from an illness, left without parents, he and his brother and sisters find themselves in a very difficult financial situation. Looking at the plight in which Levitan found himself with his family, the artist Savrasov offers him study in his landscape class and, under the supervision of Savrasov, the young artist works hard.
In the late 70s, Levitan makes friends with the writer Anton Pavlovich Chekhov, with whom they were friends in life and comradely helped each other, of course, as happens with friends, things could not do without rubbish.
Thanks to his studies with Savrasov, Levitan creates several wonderful paintings, 2 of which are exhibited at the exhibition, for which the young artist is awarded a small silver medal and a cash prize of 220 rubles, which, accordingly, was very useful. But the difficulties with this ended, as we remember, Isaac Levitan was a Jew and it would seem that everything was fine.
In 1879, a certain A. Solovyov made an attempt on the tsar himself, someone started a rumor. that he was a Jew, as it turned out later, this was not so, nevertheless, the tsar issued a formidable decree: All Jews are prohibited from permanent residence in Moscow. The Levitan family was forced to move to the Balashikha district of the Moscow region, where they settled in a small house in Saltykovka. In the same place, the artist is engaged in creativity and paints a picture Evening after the rain.
Later, a year later, with the money earned from the sale of paintings, the artist rents an apartment in Lubyanka. Inspired by some successes, he continues to work, paints a lot from nature, creates a picture in 1880 Oak Grove. Autumn, Oak, Half-station, Pines, Last snow. Savvinskaya Sloboda and others. In 1885, Isaac Levitan graduated from college, but either due to Jewish affairs of that time, he was denied the title of artist, instead he was awarded a teacher's diploma in calligraphy.
From all these troubles in life, the artist's health is shaken, he travels to the Crimea and creates a series of his works there, and upon his return arranges an exhibition.
In 1887, the artist visited the Volga, but the cloudy weather in the vicinity of the Volga at that time did not suit him. And only a year later he decided to visit the Volga again, together with his colleagues they chose a wonderful place for sketches, in the vicinity of the city of Ples.
Here they lingered for a long time from 1888 to 1890, during which time Levitan created a huge number of paintings that shocked the Russian public.
At this period of biography, Levitan becomes famous landscape painter correcting his financial situation, he travels abroad, visiting such European countries as France and Italy, where he gets acquainted with art European artists, visiting the galleries of the Impressionists, he is convinced of the correctness of the direction of painting he had chosen earlier.
In 1891, in the month of March, Isaac Levitan joins the ranks of the Wanderers, where he often demonstrates his work and meets the philanthropist Sergei Morozov. who had a passion for painting.
Morozov arranges for Levitan a good workshop in Trekhsvyatitelsky Lane, which, accordingly, was the dream of any artist.
In 1892, he paints paintings: Autumn, At the pool, Summer, October, Evening ringing, which were exhibited at the 20th traveling exhibition.
But again troubled times came for the artist, in 1892 there was an order to evict all Jews from Moscow within 24 hours. Levitan moves to the provinces and lives either in the Tver or Vladimir volosts.
Levitan's return to Moscow was facilitated by his many friends and patrons.
Returning again to Moscow with him from a temporary "exile" the artist brings a picture of Vladimirka.
In 1893, it was painted by his colleague, the portrait painter Serov.
In 1894, in the Tver province, Levitan painted a picture Above Eternal Peace. Despite the fact that Levitan was a Jew, the painting Over Eternal Peace was recognized as a truly Russian work among the works of other artists.
In 1895, at Turchanova's estate in Gorka, Levitan created the now-famous painting March and several works: Nenyufary, another masterpiece was the famous painting Golden Autumn and the painting Fresh Wind. Volga.
The artist often moves from one city to another in 1896 in Odessa, he arranges an exhibition with fellow artists, then visits Finland, where he paints a number of his works, paintings of the Fortress. Finland, Rocks, Finland, Remains of the past. Twilight. Finland and others
For all these times, Levitan has accumulated a lot of experience, he created a great number of works and in 1898 he was awarded the honorary title of academician for his services in landscape painting.
In 1899, there were health problems and Levitan was offered treatment in the city of Yalta, where he met his friend Chekhov.
But he did not stay in Yalta for long, as there was no improvement in his health and the artist walked with a stick and was choking with a cough.
Having never recovered in the Crimea, Levitan returned to Moscow in 1900, where the writer Chekhov again visited his patient. on August 3, 1900, the artist Levitan died.
On August 18, 1860, a second son was born in an intelligent Jewish family living on the western outskirts of Russia, near the border checkpoint Verzhbolovo, whose parents named Isaac. The father of the future artist had an education in a rabbinical school, but he could not succeed in this field and served in various minor positions in the Russian railway. Trying to get a better job, the family wandered around the railway stations all the time, which did not bring any positive result.
Poverty and loss
As the artist himself recalled, every year, with every new place, life became harder and harder. In an attempt to improve the plight of the family, the father was engaged in self-education and in the time remaining from work he studied French and German languages. In such conditions, retraining took years of painstaking work.
Ilya Levitan found the application of his new knowledge when, by order of the Russian government, the French construction company began laying the foundation stone in the town of Kovio of the railway bridge across the Neman River. The father of the Levitan family got a job as a translator at this construction site. However, this did not bring him much money. Even trying to give private foreign language lessons to the children of wealthy parents, Ilya did not have the funds to send his two children to primary school. He had to train them on his own.
The Levitan family had two eldest sons and two daughters. The constant semi-beggarly existence and the father's attempts to bring his sons into people forced them to move to Moscow in the late 1860s.
However, even here Ilya Levitan failed to find any permanent position. He survived with private lessons in foreign languages, while the whole family huddled in a cramped little apartment on the edge of the city.
The cold and squalid housing, located under the very roof of the building on the fourth floor, had one advantage - from its high windows a stunning view of the city opened. Here the sunrise was earlier, and the sunset burned longer. This was the only outlet for the poetic and contemplative nature of the future artist in his dull and half-starved life.
The ability to draw early manifested itself in both sons of Levitan. The boys always drew and sculpted together with great joy and excitement. The father of the family treated their joint hobby with condescension and in 1870 sent his eldest son Abel to the Moscow School of Painting and Architecture. From that moment on, Isaac became his brother's constant companion, he always accompanied him to the open air.
When the age approached, Isaac Levitan himself entered the same educational institution.
At that time, children of the poor, peasants and artisans prevailed among students at MUZHVIZ. But even here, where it was difficult to surprise someone with poverty, the Levitan family became a separate topic of ridicule. This was facilitated by the shyness and secrecy of the young men, which further provoked the students. Moreover, the situation of the boys only worsened, after the death of their mother in 1875, it seemed that it became almost impossible to live.
In his memoirs, the artist said that often he simply had nowhere to go after classes. He tried to hide in the classroom from the night watchman behind easels or curtains in order to spend the night warm. But much more often Levitan was put out on the street, and he had to freeze on a bench or wandered around a deserted city all night.
After two years of such a homeless life, the young man, along with his father, ended up in the hospital. Both had a terrible diagnosis - typhoid fever. Youth helped Isaac survive and even return to school, but Ilya Levitan died in a hospital bed. After the death of the father, the children will finally lose any means of subsistence. They no longer had any opportunity to pay even the meager fee that was established in the school.
And here, for the first time in his life, Isaac was lucky - he came across excellent teachers. From the very beginning of his studies, the boy ended up in a full-scale class, in which Vasily Grigorievich Perov taught. The well-known "wanderer" openly declared himself the voice of all the destitute, offended and suffering. And when he practically headed the school, all talented Moscow youth burst into this building on Myasnitskaya, famous for its Masonic past.
young talent
But, it must be admitted that the young Levitan took his teachers not only with pity. The Board of Trustees saved him from having to pay tuition fees and even recommended him to receive a scholarship from Prince Dolgorukov, Governor-General of Moscow, not at all out of philanthropy, but because the industriousness, observation and poetry of the nature of the young artist interested the head of the landscape workshop, artist Alexei Kondratievich Savrasov. Impressed by the young man's landscapes, he practically lured him into his class.
Having survived all the pain and suffering in the niche of a hungry life and the death of his parents, Isaac was able to maintain spiritual purity and sensitivity. Once in Savrasov's class, he wholeheartedly accepted the most important instruction of his beloved teacher: "... write, study, but most importantly - feel!".
This rare ability to feel nature brought the first fruits to the painter quite early. At the student exhibition, his work “Autumn Day. Sokolniki ”(1879, State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow) was not only noticed and appreciated by the audience, but also interested Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov himself, famous connoisseur art and a collector who considered the main thing in painting not so much beauty as poetry, the truth of the soul.
The alley of a deserted park strewn with fallen leaves and a female figure dressed in black evoke a sad feeling. autumn wilt, regrets about the past and loneliness. Bright yellow young trees dotted along the gently curving alley contrast sharply with the gloomy coniferous forest. The clouds floating across the overcast sky are beautifully painted, which create an atmosphere of damp cold weather, and the multi-colored autumn foliage is written out perfectly.
Written in 1880, the painting “Autumn. Hunter ”(Tver Regional Art Gallery), similar in mood to the previous one. Thanks to a similar compositional construction with a sharp perspective cut, both works have depth and space. Only the path chaotically strewn with fallen yellow leaves, along which a hunter walks in the distance, accompanied by a dog, gives this picture a slightly more major sound.
Levitan's paintings, which are characterized by a calm narrative character, are read as literary works. Two of his student works were able to express this rare trait, which has become distinctive feature all subsequent landscapes of the painter.
Soon, Levitan began a period of new difficulties. His more or less stabilized position was again violated. The college's council of professors unexpectedly dismissed Isaac's favorite teacher, Savrasov, and the young landscape painters were left without a master.
It was in 1882 when young artist has already finished one of his best works - "Spring in the Forest" (State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow). The canvas with surprising ease conveys the state of timid awakening of nature from hibernation. The first green grass near a calm stream and the leaves that have just appeared on the branches of trees create a poetic and peaceful atmosphere. Thin stems and branches of trees, leaning on both sides above the water, form a shady space, surprisingly accurately betraying the breath of the forest.
A little time passed and the students were introduced to their new teacher. A talented artist Vasily Dmitrievich Polenov came to MUZHVIZ, who not only brought his vision of nature here, but also inspired enthusiasm and optimism in students. Polenov's wife was a relative of a wealthy industrialist and well-known philanthropist Savva Ivanovich Mamontov. Sometimes Vasily Dmitrievich, heading to his estate Abramtsevo, where the entire artistic elite of Moscow dreamed of visiting, took his most talented students with him.
Once, they turned out to be Konstantin Korovin and Isaac Levitan. The cheerful creative atmosphere of the rich estate and the benevolent attitude towards talents amazed the young artists. Mamontov, who was a great singer and a passionate admirer of opera, staged grandiose home performances. His dream was to create his own musical theatre.
It was friendly relations with Savva the Magnificent that later gave Levitan the opportunity to try himself in the field of a theater decorator. The acquaintances acquired by the young artist in the patron's house strengthened his position in artistic environment. Unfortunately, a wonderful period of relative financial and emotional freedom ended very quickly. Vasily Perov died, and squabbles and intrigues began in the democratically minded MUZHVIZ.
period of disappointment
Already at the beginning of 1884, despite the successful passing of exams, Isaac Levitan was expelled from the school for systematic non-attendance at classes. The board of trustees offered the young artist a "not cool" diploma, which gives the only opportunity - to become a drawing teacher. Levitan was in despair. In a fit of feelings, he leaves Moscow and leaves for Savvinskaya Sloboda near Zvenigorod, the magnificent nature of which was praised by his school comrades. In this wonderful place, he creates beautiful landscapes “Savvinskaya Sloboda near Zvenigorod” and “Bridge. Savvinskaya Sloboda "(both - 1884, State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow).
The canvases are completely different in condition, but possessing a breath of freshness and surprisingly poetic. Under a cold, almost transparent sky, from under the snow that has just fallen, the first sprouts of greenery make their way here and there, and in the background, still bare trees are visible, beginning to be covered with delicate leaves. Under the bright sun, a narrow river gleams cheerfully, with a wooden bridge thrown over it. The state of waiting for spring gives rise to hope for a better future.
In the life of Levitan, as almost always, a difficult time has come. The artist suffered from loneliness, having neither housing nor permanent work. Relations with his brother Abel already in his student years were built on the principle of "every man for himself." As a result, closed, feeling like a loser, against the background of his classmates, Isaac maintained warm relations only with Nikolai Chekhov, who was also expelled from MUZHVIZ and had the same unbalanced character as Levitan himself. The young artist settled not far from the Chekhovs' dacha. True, now, he got along with the brother of his fellow student - Anton and his sister Maria.
Maria Chekhova became Levitan's first love, but he failed to earn her reciprocity. In addition, Anton himself did not advise his sister to connect her life with a person whose future is unclear. Isaac suffered greatly and was in a state of depression. Probably only a frequent stay in the Chekhovs' house, in which he could see his beloved girl and be distracted from his own thoughts, saved the artist from suicide attempts. It's good that Anton helped the artist cope with gloomy moods and fight serious illnesses that haunted Levitan.
After two years of his stay in Savvinskaya Sloboda, in the spring of 1886, having recovered from his illnesses and received good money for creating the scenery for Mamontov's Private Opera, Isaac decides to leave for the Crimea. The artist spent more than two months on the peninsula, and when he returned, he amazed his friends with the number of works created there.
First success
All Crimean canvases by Levitan presented at Moscow exhibitions were sold out very quickly. Pavel Tretyakov acquired two paintings, including “Saklya in Alupka” (State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow), for his collection.
For the first time in the entire work of the artist, instead of cold translucent clouds, a bright blue sky appeared on his works, under which stands an unusual dilapidated adobe Tatar dwelling, contrasting with the grayish-white rock in the background. Despite the fact that the whole composition seems to be penetrated by the sun's rays, filled with ringing color spots, so characteristic of southern landscapes, Levitan perfectly managed to convey the feeling of heat and hot sand. In such works of the painter, the main quality of his creations is manifested: they have a rare emotional sensitivity to all movements of color and light. Even the most unpretentious landscape motif Levitan was able to convey with a special mood, creating a feeling of some kind of hidden nerve.
These canvases include "Overgrown Pond" (1887, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg). Here the artist managed to convey the subtle state of hidden sadness, appearing through the state of thoughtfulness. Black tree trunks reflected in the water mysteriously disappear under a layer of duckweed, giving the impression of hopelessness.
The color scheme of the canvas, built on countless shades of green, is impressive. This technique allowed the painter to achieve absolute realism in depicting branches of trees and shrubs leaning towards the grass, the dark surface of a pond covered with duckweed and the prospect of a distant meadow against a cloudy sky, which is also solved in a transparent greenish-bluish palette. Obviously, the artist was captivated by such an opportunity, first with the eye, and then with the brush, to trace and convey the tonality of the summer greenery, which the sun had time to dry, and the pond filled with moisture.
The success of the Crimean landscapes allowed Levitan to slightly improve his life. Now he could rent housing in Moscow and afford to be in the homes of various interesting people. Many noble Moscow houses of that time arranged lavish evenings, where famous writers, artists and musicians were invited. At one of these dinner parties, Isaac was introduced to Sofya Petrovna Kuvshinnikova and her wife.
Artists of the Maly Theater Lensky and Yermolova, the poet and writer Gilyarovsky, and Anton Chekhov liked to visit the Kuvshinnikovs' house. Sofya Petrovna, who was very interested in painting, asked Levitan to give her a few lessons, after which, their friendly relations became something more. An extravagant woman who was much older than the painter, in addition to art, highly valued personal freedom and had a penchant for shocking. Sofya Petrovna obviously fell in love with this sad and unbalanced person. She surrounded her young lover with attention and care, supporting him in every possible way. This period of creativity includes the work of Levitan " Birch Grove"(1885, State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow).
In this canvas, the painter managed to wonderfully convey the play of light and shadow in a dense green grove flooded with sun. This painting is often called a model of Russian impressionism. Levitan vividly and reliably reproduced the momentary mood of the summer changeable nature of our homeland, permeated with warmth and light.
The work traces the influence of the work of Levitan's favorite artist - Camille Corot, who called the "landscape a state of mind" of the author.
"Volga" works
Soon, Isaac made a journey along the great Russian river - the Volga. This was in 1887 and 1888. On the trip, the artist was accompanied by Kuvshinnikova. In the work of many Russian artists, the Volga has traditionally been an important milestone; it inspired Alexei Savrasov, Ilya Repin, Fyodor Vasiliev.
True, the first impressions of the great river disappointed the artist, but on the second trip from the steamer he managed to make out a small picturesque town on the shore, which stretched between two bends of the river. It was Plyos, the surroundings of which the painter subsequently captured in his paintings.
Canvas "Evening. Golden Reach” (1889, State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow) breathes with a feeling of quiet happiness, appearing through the vibrating humid evening air. The view of the church with a chapel, next to which stands a small house with a red roof, in which the artist rented a floor together with Sofya Petrovna, was captured from the Peter and Paul Mountain.
A gentle, golden-pinkish fog in the setting sun envelops Plyos, the bluish-white walls of the bell tower against the background of a soft pinkish sky, the lush greenery of a gentle slope - the whole canvas is filled with a sense of the harmony of nature and human being. Considering the scale of the work, the painter depicted the great river not at all solemnly and pretentiously, as can be seen in the works of most Russian masters, but surprisingly warm and peaceful.
It is the feeling of spiritual warmth that fills all the details of the picture, even the white dog, barely visible among the tall grass in the foreground, and it looks extraordinarily touching.
In 1889, Levitan painted another canvas dedicated to the Volga impressions - “After the Rain. Plyos (State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow). The picture, as if saturated with moisture, strikes with a masterful transfer of atmosphere and amazing expressiveness. Looking at it, you immediately feel this unusually calm state of nature after a storm. The grass is still shining from the rain, the wind drives soft silvery ripples across the surface of the Volga, the atmosphere of cold does not drown out the timid hope for warmth, conveyed by the artist through the slanting rays of the sun, peeping through torn clouds.
As a result, the Volga open spaces fell in love with the painter. Subsequently, he often returned to them. But even the same motives, with Levitan, were always conveyed in a new way, filled with different emotions and sensations. Trying to bring something more into his paintings, Levitan gradually moves from lyricism to philosophy, more and more reflecting on human destinies.
The work "Golden Autumn. Slobodka” (1889, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg) is still filled with a more lyrical, contemplative mood. autumn trees dazzling "burn" under the still warm autumn sun. This bonfire of natural beauty is the only decoration of dull, rickety grey-brown village houses. Nevertheless, even here one can feel the harmony of rural life, born of its inseparable connection with nature.
The indefatigable Sofia Petrovna once persuaded Levitan, who was brought up in the traditions of Judaism, to visit an Orthodox church on the day of the Holy Trinity. There the artist was struck by the simplicity and sincerity of the festive prayer. He even shed a tear, explaining that this was not “Orthodox, but some kind of world prayer”!
These impressions resulted in a landscape of amazing beauty and sound " Quiet abode"(1890, State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow). The work hides the deep philosophical reasoning of the painter about life. In the picture we see a church, partly hidden in a dense forest, which is illuminated by the rays of the evening sun. Golden domes gently shine against the background of a soft golden-blue sky reflected in the clear water of the river. A light sandy path leads to an old, in some places destroyed and roughly patched up wooden bridge, thrown across the river. The composition of the canvas seems to invite the viewer to go and plunge into the purity and tranquility of being a holy monastery. The picture gives rise to hope for the possibility of a person finding quiet happiness and harmony with himself.
A few years later, the painter repeated this motif in his other canvas “Evening Ringing” (1892, State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow). The painting depicts an Orthodox monastery, standing out against a lavender sky, and illuminated by the rays of the setting sun. Its white stone walls are reflected in the water with a light haze. The soft bend of the river goes around the monastery, smoothly leaving into the distance, and it seems as if the crimson chime of the bells of the bell tower towering over the autumn forest is flying over the water. In the foreground, a slightly overgrown path leads to the water, but there is no wooden bridge leading to the monastery on this canvas. All that remains of it is an old rickety pier, next to which are dark fishing boats, and a boat full of idle people floats along the walls of the monastery itself. For all the poetry of the image and a certain solemnity of sound, the picture does not give us hope for the possibility of achieving a cathartic sensation, suggesting only to dream about it with sadness, being, as it were, aloof from what is happening.
At first, all the works of Levitan, dedicated to his "Volga" impressions, which he presented at various Moscow exhibitions, were surrounded by some downright conspiratorial silence. Only Pavel Tretyakov, who for many years followed the work of the former student of the Moscow school in the most attentive way, acquired several of his paintings. But at some point a turning point came, and Levitan's work began to be heatedly discussed, the artist's works received the widest response, they constantly argued about him in all the art salons of the capital.
The painter himself, stayed for a long time in the estates of the Tver province, together with Sofya Petrovna Kuvshinnikova. Tirelessly looking for new images, the artist wandered endlessly through the swampy forests. At first, the gloomy nature of the region and its inclement weather suppressed Levitan, but soon he pulled himself together and created his next work, which all of Moscow immediately started talking about.
Life ups and downs
The painting “At the Pool” (1892, State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow), which has a very impressive size, evokes an indescribable mystical feeling when viewed. This is the first work of the artist, where he not only admires nature, but emphasizes and seems to state the fact of its original hidden power.
In the foreground of the canvas, the viewer sees a narrow, dark and seemingly calm river. On the site of a dam washed out by the waters of the river, several old boards and slippery-looking logs are thrown over. The opposite bank of the river, as it were, calls to itself a bright path, but when you look where it leads, a feeling of vague fear is born, but is it worth going into the thickening gloomy deciduous-coniferous forest, standing under a gloomy and restless evening sky. Levitan masterfully conveyed the sensations of the ominous twilight of nature, giving rise to uncertainty and doubts, do we really need to look into the abyss, go to this mysterious and dead place?
The picture caused conflicting opinions in the Moscow artistic environment, someone admired her, someone did not consider her worthy of the master's brush. But a faithful admirer of Levitan's work and a very perspicacious person, Pavel Tretyakov, immediately bought it for his collection.
In the same period, subject to a sharp change of mood, the artist paints another canvas, distinguished by extraordinary lyricism, which has nothing to do with the ghost of mortal anguish cast by the previous picture. The canvas “Autumn” (1890s, State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow) again shows us the artist’s favorite melancholy, but bright motif of nature, purifying itself in a bright celebration of colors.
Nevertheless, according to the surviving evidence, in the 1990s, the master's depression became more and more intensified. A new deterioration in Levitan's state of mind was facilitated by Anton Chekhov's story "The Jumper", published in 1892. Immediately, the entire Moscow intelligentsia, including those who were not personally acquainted with Sofya Petrovna Kuvshinnikova, identified her in the image of the main character of the writer's ironic work. And although the artist at first did not attach importance to the fact that he himself was the victim of his friend's biting humor, soon, under the influence of his Sofya Petrovna, he quarreled with Chekhov. The break with a friend was not easy for the painter, especially since he still treated his sister Maria, who never married, with kindness and attentiveness.
Resting with Kuvshinnikova in the Vladimir province in the summer of that year, Levitan once, during one of his long walks through the forest, accidentally came across the old Vladimir road. The route was notorious for the fact that it was along it that convicts were sent to Siberia. This place made such a strong impression on the already depressed artist that he began to actively create sketches for his new work.
The work with political overtones “Vladimirka” (1892, State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow) shows us a deserted dirt road that goes into the distance, which is driven by the wheels of carriages in the center, and along the edges is trampled by a million bare feet shackled. A gloomy picture leaves a persistent feeling of hopelessness.
Levitan, for whom this painting had a special civil meaning, did not wait for public discussions, but immediately presented the painting to Tretyakov. Still at odds with Anton Chekhov, the artist sent one of the sketches for "Vladimirka" to his older brother Alexander, who was graduating from law faculty Moscow State University. The gift had an inscription on reverse side, which read: "To the future prosecutor." This gesture deeply offended the young man.
But the painter had the right not to like officials and authorities. Immediately after finishing work on the painting, Levitan was among the Jews subject to forcible expulsion from Moscow.
This is not the first time the artist has experienced acts of such anti-Semitic persecution regularly organized by the tsarist authorities. Even a close acquaintance with many representatives of the capital's nobility did not save him from them.
Thus, in 1893, Isaac Levitan again leaves for the Tver province, where, in spite of everything, he creates a surprisingly optimistic and bright in his mood canvas “On the Lake (Tver Province)” (Saratov Art Museum them. A. N. Radishchev). The landscape tells about the unpretentious life of a small village, located on the shores of a huge lake. The bright pre-sunset sun illuminates its strong wooden huts, standing against the backdrop of a spruce forest and overturned fishing boats with nets hung nearby on a palisade. The prosaic view of the village creates, however, the impression of joy and even some fabulousness of being.
A year later, in 1893, the artist began work on one of his largest paintings, Above Eternal Peace (1894, State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow). In this work, as in no other, in addition to the poetic beauty of eternal nature, the master's philosophical attitude to the frailty of human existence is felt.
In the picture we see a dilapidated wooden church, standing on a steep and deserted bank of a wide river that stretches to the horizon. Lead-purple clouds swirl over the church, and behind it a few trees cover the dreary churchyard with their branches bending under the sharp gusts of wind. Around the church it is completely deserted, only a dim light in its window gives an illusory hope for salvation. We observe the whole composition as if from behind and from above, this technique enhances the impression of loneliness, deep melancholy and impotence. The artist, as it were, directs the viewer into the distance and up, directly towards the cold sky. The painting was immediately bought by Pavel Tretyakov, which greatly pleased the painter.
The whole life of the artist was filled with sharp turns, both his mood and his fate. In the mid-1890s, one such turn of both occurred. Levitan, who still lived with Kuvshinnikova, rested on one of the provincial manor estates, located in a picturesque corner. Here he met Anna Nikolaevna Turchaninova, who was vacationing at a dacha in the neighborhood, and immediately fell in love with her. Sofya Petrovna, in despair, even tried to commit suicide, but this did not stop the artist. He began a passionate and stormy romance with this woman, which was filled with great happiness and pain and various problems, such as falling in love with a painter eldest daughter Turchaninova Varvara.
After some time, Levitan again converges with his friend and becomes a frequent guest at the Chekhovs' dacha in Melikhovo. This did not stop the fact that both Anton Pavlovich and his sister Maria were in no hurry to share the joy of their friend's new passionate passion. The writer was extremely skeptical about the appearance of "bravura" in the new works of Isaac.
The painting "Golden Autumn" (1895, State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow), for example, is very far from those melancholic and sad images autumn nature, so characteristic of early creativity Levitan. In a very bright, emphatically decorative work of the artist, one feels a tense and exciting feeling of happiness, which, it would seem, does not at all fit with the author's worldview.
In the same 1895, Levitan painted another “Volga” painting “Fresh Wind. Volga (State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow). The picture is also solved in an unusual color palette for the artist, it seems to be pierced by the sun. Under dazzling white clouds, hovering in a bright blue sky, arguing with its purity with the waters of the river, painted sailing yachts sway, and behind them in the distance one can see a white steamer heading for the shore. The whole plot is permeated with a very cheerful major mood. Seagulls hovering low over the river add even more white spots to this timbre scale of upbeat emotions.
The picture, more than ever, does not reflect any internal conflicts or philosophical reflections the author, only love of life and delight. Even despite the fact that the optimistic mood of the painter was sometimes replaced by bouts of severe depression and a desire to commit suicide, it is obvious that during this period of his life Levitan was full of hope and believed that he still had a lot of good ahead of him.
The atmosphere of the painting "March" (1895, State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow) is saturated with faith in the good. Soft loose snow is just beginning to melt under the rays of the spring sun, there is still no hint of the first foliage on the grayish tree trunks, thanks to which the birdhouse is clearly visible.
The canvas is filled with the expectation of summer, which portends long walks through the forest and meetings with loved ones. And now, they came to visit only for a couple of hours, and near the entrance, a horse excited by running, harnessed to a modest sleigh, dutifully awaits them. In this landscape there is so much joy of life and hope for the best, as there will never be in any other painting by the artist. Levitan continued to visit the Chekhovs with great pleasure. In their house in Melikhovo, he creates a wonderfully moody landscape "Blossoming Apple Trees" (1896, State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow). The picture also refers to those few of his works that leave the viewer with a bright, major impression.
Resounding success
Around 1896, real recognition finally came to Levitan. His works were successfully exhibited at the international exhibition in Zurich. The Europeans were shocked by the amazing state of the landscapes of the Russian master.
Many friends advised the artist to visit the Russian North in order to capture its harsh cold images. The painter had the opportunity to go on such a long journey thanks to the funds he received from the sale of his recent works Tretyakov. Levitan decides to go. But then, at the very last moment, unexpectedly for everyone, he leaves not for Siberia but for Finland.
Despite the fact that Finland is also a northern country with its exceptional nature, this journey did not please the artist. True, he brought home a few paintings.
For example, the canvas “In the North” (1896, State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow), which depicts a cold and sad landscape. Centuries-old fir trees stand alone under the arch of the autumn cloudy sky. The picture gives the impression of alienation and coldness, which the artist probably experienced in a foreign country.
At this time, the artist shows the first signs of his illness. Chekhov, having examined his friend in 1896, writes in his diary that Levitan has a clear enlargement of the aorta.
However, the artist did not stop his work. In his canvases, as never before, there was a thirst for life. Painting «Spring. Big Water ”(1897, State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow) became the pinnacle of Levitan’s spring lyrics. The thin trunks of young trees, immersed in clear water, stretch towards the light blue sky, as if washed by rain and reflected together with the trees in the waters of the overflowing river.
The onset of spring entails the awakening of nature, but now in its manifestations there is not so much hope for joy and warmth as hidden sadness and thoughts about the transience of life: before you have time to look back, summer will fly by, autumn will come, and after it winter.
Poor health forced the painter to take up his treatment. On the advice of Chekhov, he decides to go abroad again for treatment. The artist was attracted by the views of Mont Blanc, the peaks of the Apennines, but the doctors strictly forbade the painter to climb even the stairs. Trips to sketches in the mountains were under the strictest ban, but this did not stop Levitan. Unfortunately, violation of the recommendations of doctors led to another complication of his condition.
The artist soon returned to Russia, as he could not live long away from his native places. Ordinary, but infinitely native forests and rivers were more to the liking of the painter than beautiful and unprecedented European landscapes. The work "The last rays of the sun. Aspen Forest” (1897, private collection) became the master’s most amazing landscape in terms of color. The blue sky still peeps through the green foliage, but the sunset is already playing on the tree trunks with crimson flashes. A thick and damp grassy carpet gently covers the ground. The rays of the setting sun illuminated the forest in an unusually whimsical way, creating a light and upbeat mood, conveying the joy of being and fresh air, coupled with a pleasant evening fatigue. True, if the viewer carefully looks at the central part of the picture, then it suddenly seems that the reflections of the sunset are burning with painful burns on the bark of tired trees. Perhaps it was during this period that Levitan clearly began to realize the irreversibility of his state of health, which, in the end, led him to death.
Another blow was the death of a teacher beloved from the time of the school. In 1897, Savrasov was buried in Moscow. Of the last strength, Levitan nevertheless came to the memorial service to pay tribute to the memory of a person who meant so much to him.
Meanwhile, the fame and public recognition of the artist reached its zenith. The following year, in 1898, the Academy of Arts awarded Isaac Levitan the honorary title of academician. Almost a quarter of a century has passed since he was expelled from MUZHVIZ, offering only an insulting diploma of a “not cool” artist. And so, he again entered the building on Myasnitskaya, where he was now offered to lead a landscape workshop. Polenov still worked here, highly appreciating the work of his former student, and for a year his good friend Valentin Serov had been teaching.
Levitan accepted the offer and, with his characteristic ingenuity and emotionality, took up a new business. The artist has transformed the workshop. By his order, several dozen trees were brought there, transplanted from the forest into tubs, shrubs, many spruce branches, grass and moss. Many eminent painters came to see the forest glade built by the painter inside the school. At first, the students of the master were perplexed, but gradually their new teacher passed on to them an amazing ability to see something subtly beautiful in an unremarkable routine.
Waiting for the end
Levitan continues to work, amazing landscapes come out from under his brush, but neither hope nor joy is felt in their atmosphere anymore. Many of the artist's latest works are filled with motives for leaving, the end of human life.
Among them, one can note the painting “Silence” (1898, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg), which produces a painful and dreary impression. In the dark firmament, through the heavy lead clouds, the waning moon barely peeps out, under them arable lands and meadows stretch out, on which a quiet river glistens. The landscape seems not just sleeping, but dead, and only a large bird in the distance makes its night flight. What caused such a painful mood of the author? It would seem, finally, in the life of Levitan there were no more worries, no resentment, no financial problems. He was loved and respected at the school by his colleagues and students. The Board of Trustees of MUZHVIZ was sympathetic to all his requirements. In his workshop, he set up not only a forest clearing, but also a chic greenhouse, which he himself created from dozens of flowers in pots.
The students of his class made great strides, the artist attracted all the talented youth who traveled with him to sketches. But the inconsolable sadness that haunted the painter almost all his life, although seasoned with an external touch of efficiency and purposefulness, found its way out in his works. For example, in the landscape "Twilight" (1899, State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow), the viewer sees a summer day that has finally ended, the haystacks standing in the field speak of the intensity of hard work. After sunset, almost nothing is visible around, the whole plot is saturated with deadly fatigue.
After the death of Pavel Tretyakov, Levitan was included by the teaching staff of MUZHVIZ in a commission that perpetuated the memory of the great collector and philanthropist, some of whose acquisitions in a strange way began to disappear and appear in completely strangers. Perhaps at that time the painter felt the end of a great era, when Russian painters had real connoisseurs of their work, for whom money was by no means important.
During his life, the artist suffered so much from poverty and humiliation that he always tried to help his students. He found simple painting orders for them or simply helped them with money from his own salary. Levitan did not get tired of working for young artists in front of the artistic council of exhibitions and was always worried about their work no less than for his own paintings.
Outwardly, Levatin continued an active life, he taught, met with friends, even visited the Chekhovs in Yalta in 1899, but it seems that subconsciously the artist had already separated himself from this world. He already felt the approach own death, even spoke about this to Maria Pavlovna Chekhova, during their long walks along the Crimean coast.
The canvas "Summer Evening" (1900, State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow) conveys the mood of detachment with unusual sharpness. Here, over the outskirts, hung a piebald shadow. Before sunlight, which illuminates the autumn forest in the background of the picture, is almost within reach, but the dirt road under the very outskirts will not lead there, it suddenly breaks off.
Despite premonitions, Levitan made plans. He agreed with Serov to spend the next summer with his relatives. He promised his students frequent trips to sketches in the spring. But neither one nor the other, he failed to carry out.
At the end of May 1900, the artist was bedridden by illness. Anna Nikolaevna Turchaninova immediately came to him, determined to put her beloved on his feet. She often sent letters to Chekhov, in which she described in detail the state of the artist's health, asked for advice, but she herself understood more and more clearly that all her efforts were powerless.
Isaac Ilyich Levitan died on July 22, 1900, just a few days before reaching the age of forty. According to an unconfirmed diagnosis, the cause of death was rheumatic myocarditis.
And at the World Exhibition in Paris at that time his works were successfully exhibited.
Isaac Ilyich Levitan left after his death about forty unfinished landscapes found by relatives in his workshop. Levitan's older brother Abel Ilyich, according to the will of the deceased, destroyed many of his sketches, sketches, almost all letters, notes and diaries.
Painting “Lake. Rus'” (State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg) was among the works that were considered unfinished by the master and were not shown to the public. Obviously, this landscape was conceived by Levitan back in the mid-1890s. This is evidenced by the coloring of the work - the bright blue sky, the lake shining in the sun, the red roofs of the settlements, the cultivated arable land on the other side and the church whitening in the distance - everything is filled with a spiritualized high spirits. And only small shadows from the clouds falling on the clear water and the hilly shore bring a bit of sad reflections into the joyful state of admiration for the native land.
The talented artist did not have time to complete this work, but even in its unfinished version it belongs to the most significant works of the master. With his work, Isaac Levitan had a huge impact not only on domestic, but also on European art of the 20th century. Having practically become the ancestor of the mood landscape genre, the painter enriched national culture, and his high spiritual authority is invaluable for Russian landscape painting.
Tatiana Zhuravleva
"A great worker, a great master, he improved every day - it always seemed to him that he could do better, he was worried and tormented ... great poet nature, having fully felt the inexplicable charm of the word "motherland", in his paintings he managed to convey love for her, not embellished by anything, beautiful in its spontaneity" Yuon K.F.
Photo from 1890
Isaac Levitan- an outstanding Russian artist, his talent was recognized by his contemporaries unconditionally. Levitan created a mood landscape in which the image of nature is inspired by human feelings and thoughts. A student and successor of the traditions of A. K. Savrasov and V. A. Polenov, Levitan enriched landscape painting with a variety of themes, emotional depth and poetic perception. Born in Lithuania in the town of Kybarty, Kovno province, in the family of an employee, he graduated from the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, where he already declared himself as a talented lyric artist (“Autumn Day. Sokolniki”, 1879). After graduating from college, Levitan participated in traveling exhibitions, painted scenery for the Private Opera of S. I. Mamontov, and taught. In a series of works made in Zvenigorod in the early 1980s, Levitan acts as a master of chamber studies. Levitan's landscapes amaze with their subtlety and depth, the utmost conciseness of the image. The artist sought to convey all the colorful richness of Russian nature: it is young and joyful ("Spring. Big Water", 1897), sad and full of mystery ("At the Whirlpool", 1892), sparkles with the gold of falling leaves ("Golden Autumn", 1895) and the brilliance of melting snow (“March”, 1895). Levitan's landscape is often referred to as the "mood landscape". Nature is depicted in it as it is seen by the absent-minded gaze of a person wholly absorbed in some state of mind and noticing around only what sounds in harmony with this state. Everything visible turns into an echo of moods - anxiety, peace, melancholy, sorrow. Moods are mobile phenomena, prone to variability, and therefore in Levitan's landscapes we will not find a careful decoration of the three-dimensional form of objects. The transfer of the shape of objects, their color "timbre" is given in a generalized way - picturesque color spots. This is how the paintings "March" and "Golden Autumn" (both - 1895), marking the highest point in the development of the Russian lyrical landscape, were written. This picture is one of Levitan's subtle and penetrating landscapes, with whose work the concept of "mood landscape" entered Russian painting. "Golden Autumn" is a kind of hymn of farewell to blooming nature, filled with bright burning colors and picturesque multicolor. Painted with brilliant skill, the landscape, characterized by a complex color scheme, conveys the beauty of nature in all its autumn splendor.
In Levitan's landscapes, nature is spiritualized by the invisible presence of man, his moods and thoughts, the existence of which is reminded by churches, bridges, huts, graves. Among the landscapes of Levitan, a group of works stands out, where the mood is translated into a plane of reflection on the fate of man, the fate of Russia. Such is the famous "Vladimirka" (1892) - a picture depicting the road along which the exiles were driven to Siberia for a long time. The sad poetry of Russian roads, sung many times in folk songs and poetry, found in Levitan a deep pictorial realization. Landscapes with a "philosophical program" include the painting "Above Eternal Peace" (1894). It is like the edge of the earth, the kingdom of silence, evoking thoughts of eternity and death. Numerous searches of the artist, reflections on life and death, on the eternity of the world and the frailty of human life are reflected in this large-scale canvas. Levitan painted a picture in the Tver province, on Lake Udomlya near Vyshny Volochok. However, this is not an image of a specific area, but rather an expression of a monumental epic image nature, timeless. Solving the picture in a style close to Art Nouveau, Levitan remained true to ovality. An island of land with an abandoned cemetery and a chapel, surrounded on all sides by water and sky, expresses not only the mood, but the feelings and thoughts of the artist, who wrote about the painting “I am all in it, with all my psychology, with all the content.” A striking contrast to it is the unfinished painting “Lake. Rus'" (1900) - collective image Russian nature, a jubilant hymn to the beauty of the native land, a poem about Russia, its beauty and greatness. He didn't have time to finish the job. July 22, 1900 Levitan died. A. P. Chekhov, close friend artist, wrote about him: “To such amazing simplicity and clarity of motive, which he reached in Lately Levitan, no one reached, and I don’t know if anyone will reach after.” Creativity Levitan had a huge impact on the next generation of landscape painters.
After the rain. Ples, 1889
Birch Grove, 1885
Autumn landscape. 1898
Fresh breeze. Volga, 1895
March, 1895
Evening chimes, 1892
Autumn. Fog, 1898
Quiet Convent, 1891
Above eternal rest, 1897
Golden Autumn, 1895
Autumn. River, 1897
At the pool, 1892
Silence, 1897
Lake. Rus', 1900
Twilight. Moon, 1898
Nenyufary, 1895
Evening. Golden Ples, 1889
Vladimirka, 1892
On the Volga, 1888
Spring. Big water, 1897
V. Sklyarenko about the work of Isaac Levitan
An outstanding Russian landscape painter, the creator of the "mood landscape", an excellent draftsman and colorist. Academician of painting (1897), member of the Association of Traveling Exhibitions (since 1887), full member of the Munich Art Society "Secession" (1897). Participant of international exhibitions in Munich (1896, 1898, 1899), World Paris Exhibition (1900). Head of the landscape class at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture (since 1898).
The concepts of "Levitan's landscape", "Levitan's autumn" have long entered our lives, becoming synonymous with the beauty of Russian nature. Not every painter managed to perpetuate his name in the memory of his descendants so poetically and sublimely as Levitan. Meanwhile, to the complex art of comprehending nature, this genius of landscape followed a difficult, and sometimes painful, path. And even being already a recognized master, he often felt dissatisfaction with his work, suffered from the inability to convey on canvas all the divine beauty of the universe. In a letter to A.P. Chekhov in 1887, the artist wrote: “Could it be something more tragic than feeling the infinite beauty of the environment, noticing the innermost secret, seeing God in everything and not being able, conscious of one’s impotence, to express these great feelings ...". Contemporaries often called Levitan "a lucky loser." This paradoxical definition expressed both the sweetness of the artist's creative victories and the bitterness of his unhappy life. human destiny. For his incomplete forty years, he fully experienced need and humiliation, often lived at odds with himself and others, experienced creative crises and again revived to life through art. And therefore, speaking about himself, Levitan argued: “... I can’t be at least a little happy, calm, well, in a word, I don’t understand myself outside of painting.”
The future artist was born in the town of Kybarty, the former Kovno province, into a poor Jewish family. His father graduated from the rabbinic school, but then, addicted to foreign languages, began to earn a living by teaching. Knowledge French it was especially useful to him when the construction of the Kovno railway began, in which engineers from France participated. Levitan Sr. began to serve at the railway station, first as a translator and then as a cashier. In 1869 the family moved to Moscow. In 1873, Isaac was admitted to the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, where his older brother Adolf had already studied. The family lived in poverty, and after the death of their parents (mother - in 1875 and father - in 1877), four orphaned children fell into extreme need. The famous artist M. V. Nesterov, who was Isaac’s schoolmate, recalled: “Levitan was in great need, there were many semi-fantastic stories about him at school. They talked about his great talent and great need. It was said that sometimes he did not even have an overnight stay. There were times when Isaac Levitan, after evening classes, quietly disappeared, hid in the top floor of Yushkov’s huge old house ... night so that in the morning, on an empty stomach, start the day with dreams of dearly beloved nature.
But, despite the hunger and homelessness, the talented young man studied much better than many wealthy classmates. Already in 1875, Levitan, as having received "the first numbers in artistic pursuits”, are awarded with a box of paints and a dozen brushes (for a poor artist it was a fortune), and in 1876-1879. exempted from tuition fees "due to extreme poverty" and as "showing great success in the arts." And at the same time, Isaac had to feel the brunt of the humiliation of human dignity. In 1879, after an attempt on the life of Alexander II by Narodnaya Volya, he, like other Jews, was expelled from Moscow together with his brother and sister Anna (the second time Levitan, already a well-known painter, was expelled in 1892). The Outcasts settled in a dacha in the village of Saltykovka near Moscow. They lived from hand to mouth, and in order to earn a livelihood, the novice artist creates his first painting, "Evening after the rain." It was difficult to write it: Isaac, dressed in an old red shirt, holey trousers and props on his bare feet, had to hide behind the bushes so as not to attract the attention of an elegant walking public with his miserable appearance. Having asked his brother-in-law for clothes, he went to Moscow, where he sold this painting on Pokrovka for 40 rubles and was incredibly happy.
In October 1879, Levitan was enrolled by the Council of Teachers of the School for a scholarship to them. V. A. Dolgoruky. Then he painted the painting “Autumn Day. Sokolniki, immediately acquired by P. M. Tretyakov. Already in it the main feature of Levitan's creativity was manifested - the inseparability of nature from the world of human feelings. Everything in this picture - both low gray clouds, and trees standing along a deserted alley, burning with their last, fading beauty, and fallen autumn leaves - is in tune with the sadness of a lonely wandering female figure (it was painted by the artist Nikolai Chekhov). This perception of nature was taught to the young painter by his wonderful teachers - A. K. Savrasov and V. D. Polenov, who in every possible way developed and supported Levitan's talent. For example, Polenov attracted him to work on the scenery for the Private Opera of S. I. Mamontov, often invited him to his estate "to live and work." But even these venerable masters could not change the decision of the School Council that graduate work their student is not worthy of a big silver medal. And, having finished his studies in 1883, Levitan received not the title of an artist, but a diploma of a calligraphy teacher. Already his first landscapes, painted in 1883-1884, fascinated by the extraordinary freshness of painting. Paintings “Bridge. Savvinskaya Sloboda”, “Savvinskaya Sloboda near Zvenigorod” and the sketch “First Greenery. May” (the canvas of the same name was painted in 1888) are filled with dazzling sun, juicy and openwork greenery of grasses and trees, a sense of joy from the riot of colors and vitality of awakening nature. Meanwhile, the creative mood of the artist himself at that time was by no means joyful. The collapse of hopes, persistent need, the feeling of being an outcast of society often plunged him into a state of depression. During such periods, he left people, from a soft and delicate person turned into a silent or rude and unpredictable person. In the spring of 1885, he even attempted suicide, the first and not the last.
But the summer spent by Levitan with the Chekhov family at the dacha in Babkino restored his cheerfulness and strength for work. It was a rare period for an artist of a carefree life, full of youthful fun, tomfoolery and practical jokes. Here Levitan became especially close friends with A.P. Chekhov, and this friendship, subsequently overshadowed by a single three-year break, lasted until the end of the artist's life. Despite the delights of summer cottage life, he managed to work hard and fruitfully. The wing in which Levitan lived was hung from top to bottom with sketches, which later became the basis of many of his famous paintings.
An important role in the artist's work was played by his trips to the Volga in 1887-1890. Thanks to them, he created unusual landscape canvases, in which epic scope and subtle lyricism, sincerity and contemplation, deep reflections on the enduring beauty of the world and light sadness were organically combined (“Evening on the Volga”, “Evening. Golden Reach”, “After the Rain. Reach ", "Birch Grove", "Golden Autumn. Slobodka", "Quiet Abode"). Trips to the Volga excited Levitan. He stopped moping, cheered up, and this joyful mood was reflected in his canvases. A.P. Chekhov praised them very much: “You know,” he remarked to a friend, “even a smile appeared on your canvases.” In the Volga works of Levitan, the national character of the Russian landscape was especially pronounced. They brought the artist fame and recognition. One of them - the painting "On the Volga", presented at the competition of the Moscow Society of Art Lovers, was awarded the first prize. Since that time, Levitan has become a welcome guest in the homes of the Moscow artistic intelligentsia. Especially often he attends evenings organized by the artist S.P. Kuvshinnikova, who accompanied him on all his trips along the Volga. According to M. P. Chekhova, the writer's sister, "Sofya Petrovna was not a particularly beautiful woman, but she was interesting in her talents." She drew well, and some of her works were even presented in the Tretyakov Gallery. It is not surprising that the ardent and temperamental Levitan was seriously carried away by her. Their relationship formed the basis of Chekhov's story "The Jumper", which for a long time quarreled between the artist and Anton Pavlovich.
This hobby was not the only one in Levitan's life. For a long time he was in love with Lika Mizinova, proposed to Maria Pavlovna Chekhova. Subsequently, she recalled: “Levitan had a delightful noble face and very expressive eyes. Women found him beautiful, he knew this and flirted strongly in front of them ... Levitan was irresistible to women, and he himself was unusually amorous. His hobbies proceeded rapidly, in front of everyone, with various stupidities, up to and including shots. The story of the shot, which Maria Pavlovna recalls, was described by Chekhov in the play The Seagull. It took place in July 1895 at the Turchaninov estate, where the artist had come to paint sketches. The reason why Levitan wanted to shoot himself was the rivalry between Anna Nikolaevna Turchaninova and her daughter Varya, who were carried away by him. Fortunately, this time death passed him. But the shock experienced still tormented the soul of the artist for a long time. In a letter to V. D. Polenov, he wrote: “... there is no strength to live, to die also; where to put yourself?! Levitan, as always, found healing power in art.
Since 1891, the artist has been working in a workshop kindly provided to him by S. T. Morozov. Here he creates his best works: "At the whirlpool", "Vladimirka" (both in 1892), "Above Eternal Peace" (1893-1894), "Golden Autumn", "March", "Fresh Wind. Volga "(all in 1895)," Spring - big water "(1897), etc. These canvases amaze with their color, well-thought-out composition, new, unprecedented for Russian landscape painting plot motives, and most importantly - philosophical sounding. The artist's thoughts about the world and the person in it are especially strongly expressed in the painting "Above Eternal Peace". It clearly sounds the theme of the frailty of human existence and the boundless power of nature. Levitan himself wrote about this picture: "... I am all in it, with all my psyche, with all my content ...". No less monumental landscape image was created by the artist in "Vladimirka", which, according to M. V. Nesterov, "can be safely called Russian historical landscape, of which there are few in our art."
In the last decade of his life, Isaac Ilyich often travels abroad: in France, Italy, Switzerland, Finland. There he got acquainted with the art of old and modern European masters, looking for new pictorial forms, painted landscapes (“Near Bordi Ghera. In the North of Italy”, “Mediterranean Coast”, 1890; “Lake Como”, 1894). But the foreign paintings of the artist in Russia were not successful. Criticism wrote venomously that Levitan "already sang his song and died for the Russian landscape." Acquainted with such statements, a very vulnerable and sensitive artist could not find a place for himself. In addition, more and more symptoms of severe heart disease made themselves felt. In 1897, doctors told Isaac Ilyich that he had a heart defect and an enlarged aorta. He was very sad that the disease did not give him the opportunity to work, and said: "It hurts to lay down arms so early." But, despite the prohibitions of doctors, Levitan continues to write a lot. He creates the finest lyric poems in colors - "Twilight", "Hacks. Twilight”, “Summer Evening”, “Late Autumn” and a large, long-conceived canvas “Lake. Rus”, which contemporaries called “a song without words”. It was about these works of the artist that A.P. Chekhov wrote: “... Such amazing simplicity and clarity of motive, which Levitan has recently reached, no one has reached him, and I don’t know if anyone will come after.”
The ingenious landscape painter died on July 22, 1900, at the time of flowering of his favorite phloxes. They were laid on his grave by young artists - those whom he taught to comprehend nature deeply and penetratingly, so as to hear the "vegetation of grass."
