Painting: The Rooks Have Arrived
Date of creation: 1971
Exhibit place: Tretyakov Gallery (Lavrushinsky lane, 10, room 18)
Description of the picture
The painting by the itinerant artist Alexei Savrasov has become one of the key paintings in Russian painting. This picture is quiet hymn to Russian nature, spring, which is just beginning, spring mood, which is just awakening in us. This picture speaks of spring not directly, but with a hint, a feeling that spring began literally at that moment when we looked at the picture.
Painting variant. A. Savrasov. "Spring. The Rooks Have Arrived". 1872, private collection
The picture is a rather ordinary landscape. We see nature that has not at all departed from its winter sleep, has not been transformed, but is only awakening. At first glance, it seems that the artist painted winter. And, just looking at the details, you understand: this is spring.
A lot of gray and dark paint in the picture emphasizes the mediocrity of the landscape. But this mediocrity is apparent. Firstly, because of the birches, a church with a bell tower is visible, typical of a Russian village in the middle lane.
Secondly, it is worth taking a closer look and we see signs of spring - a huge thaw patch with water on the right side, a ray of sun illuminating the picture from somewhere outside. And we also see something that is impossible to draw, but can be depicted - air. Alexei Savrasov was a great master precisely in the depiction of air, which gave his paintings a feeling, breath, fullness. The picture is filled with air - spring, fresh, warm.
The main detail that confirms the onset of spring is the rooks. They stuck around the birch branches, returned to their old nests, which they left in the autumn. Rooks are migratory birds, since they have flown in, it means that spring has definitely begun, there is no doubt about it.
Church in the village of Susanino in the Kostroma region
Featured location
The sketches for this painting were written in the village of Molvitino, Kostroma province (now the village of Susanino, Kostroma region). It depicts the Resurrection Church, which has survived to this day (now the church houses the Ivan Susanin Museum). The finalization of the painting took place in Moscow, in the artist's studio.
The work was immediately bought by Pavel Tretyakov for his collection. In 1872, Savrasov was first ordered to repeat the painting "The Rooks Have Arrived". Later, Savrasov made several more replicas of the painting.
History of painting
At the end of 1870, inspired by the impressions of a summer trip to the Volga and having received (apparently from Pavel Tretyakov) an order for the execution of “drawings and paintings of a winter landscape on the Volga”, Savrasov took a vacation until May 1 and left for Yaroslavl with his family for a long time. Having rented a large apartment, for some time they led a happy, “quiet and concentrated” life in an old picturesque city along the Volga.
A.K. Savrasov. Early spring. Thaw 1880s. Astrakhan Art Gallery. Astrakhan
The elated state of mind in which the artist was (he wrote to Hertz and Tretyakov about this) was suddenly broken by tragic events: in February, a newborn daughter died (already the third deceased child of the Savrasovs), his wife became seriously ill. The depth of the painter's sorrowful experiences is evidenced by the images of his daughter's grave executed by him at that time at the Yaroslavl cemetery.
And still precisely in the early spring of 1871, under the influence of the “healing expanse”, the beauty of the eternally renewing, resurrecting nature, helping to overcome the suffering, under the brush of Savrasov next to the etudes filled with mental pain there are preparatory works for the painting “The Rooks Have Arrived”. The first biographer of the artist A. Solmonov, apparently, according to Savrasov himself, wrote in 1894 about the creative ecstasy that gripped the master that spring. This spring inspiration (generally inherent in the artist's soul) was also reflected in the drawings and sketches made in Yaroslavl for the conceived picture.
The final version of the picture. "The Rooks Have Arrived". A.K.Savrasov. Tretyakov GalleryThe scale of the idea, the need for natural impressions led to the continuation of work in the "outback" and Savrasov's trip to the sixty versts from Kostroma the village of Molvitino, where, apparently, one could observe a later, delayed arrival of spring and where new sketches and sketches were made. Then, upon his return to Moscow, the artist introduced new details and finalized the composition already in the studio.
Painting variant. A. Savrasov. "The Rooks Have Arrived". 1879, Nizhny Novgorod State Art Museum. Nizhny Novgorod
The unity of drawing and painting, the state of nature and the structure of feelings, sought by the artist, and at the same time the amazing naturalness and immediacy of expression were achieved in the picture to the fullest. It is no coincidence that the image of a simple, familiar the most typical landscape for Russia and from year to year the repeating state of nature was perceived by sensitive contemporaries as something completely new, as a revelation.
At the end of 1871, the painting "The Rooks Have Arrived" first appeared before the public at the first exhibition of the Association of Traveling Art Exhibitions. "Rooks" became a discovery in painting.
A. Savrasov. Sketch for a painting. "Landscape with Church and Bell Tower". Early 1870s. Tretyakov Gallery
Indeed, Savrasov's worldview, his works were characterized by a very special musicality. In order to feel it and understand the secret of the charm of his “Rooks ..”, one should take a closer look, for example, at least at the images of tree branches, either joyfully stretching towards the blue spring sky, or sadly frozen and drooping. Sometimes his paintings give us the opportunity to hear the spring hubbub of rooks, the singing of a lark fluttering over the field, the murmur of the first March streams, the murmur of branches under the gusts of wind.
Alexei Savrasov's painting "The Rooks Have Arrived" is probably familiar to almost everyone. Although besides her, the artist wrote many more talented paintings. However, despite his obvious talent, at the end of his life, Savrasov drank himself to such an extent that he begged for alms at the porch of the art school, where he himself once taught.
Against the will of the father
The future artist was born in 1830 in Moscow. Alexei's father Kondraty Sovrasov (until the 1850s this surname was spelled with an "o") was a merchant, so it is not surprising that his son's artistic abilities only annoyed him. Kondraty dreamed that Alexei would continue his work. But the boy was stubborn. Against the wishes of Savrasov Sr., the young man entered the School of Painting and Sculpture. He paid for his own education. Alexei earned money from the sale of his own paintings.
Many venerable artists and critics in those years praised Savrasov's works. He was awarded the high title of academician and offered a teaching position at the school he graduated from. Alexei Kondratievich was even given a service apartment, for which he was not charged.
Trouble begins
Life went on. Savrasov taught a class at the school, painted pictures, traveled. In 1857 he married. His chosen one was already middle-aged by the standards of that time, 31-year-old Sophia Hertz, who was the sister of the artist's classmate. The wife gave birth to Savrasov five children. However, three of them died in childhood. Only two girls survived. But the troubles didn't end there.
In 1870, Savrasov and his wife were asked to leave the service apartment, citing the fact that there were too few students in the painter's class. However, Aleksey Kondratievich is not able to pay for another living space: he cannot afford it. Then the family temporarily moved to Yaroslavl. There he continues to paint. However, money is never enough. In addition, the artist's work is getting lower and lower marks from art experts.
Death in a hospital for the poor
Savrasov falls into depression. Fuel is added to the fire by the wife, who regularly reproaches her husband for the lack of livelihood. In the end, Sofya Karlovna cannot stand it, takes her daughters and leaves for her sister in St. Petersburg. Alexei Kondratievich is left alone and begins to abuse alcohol.
Savrasov is sinking lower and lower every day. It comes to the point that he allows himself not to be at the service at the school. It is clear that no one is going to endure such antics, and in the early 1880s he was fired.
Since then, the artist has been doing odd jobs, drawing copies, including his own paintings, and selling them for next to nothing. Sometimes he appears near the school and asks his former colleagues for help.
At some point, Savrasov managed to pull himself together. He became involved with a woman who bore him two children. However, neither health nor honor was ever restored to him. In the last years of his life, Alexei Kondratievich lost his sight. He died at the age of 67 in a hospital for the poor.
Alexei Kondratievich Savrasov. Before you start talking about it, you should mention its author.
Childhood and youth of the artist
A. K. Savrasov was born in the family of a man who was engaged in trade, a merchant of the third guild.
Alyosha from an early age began to be interested in painting and drawing. As a teenager, he earned money by selling his paintings. Later, he entered the Moscow School of Painting and Sculpture, deciding to become a landscape painter. But no one could have imagined then that one day Savrasov's "Rooks Have Arrived" would glorify him throughout the world.
Creativity, orders of famous people
In 1850, after graduating, Alexei's life developed in the best way possible. He put his whole soul into his work, often famous people commissioned paintings from him. And once, Princess Maria Nikolaevna asked him to depict a picturesque area near her dacha, located not far from the northern capital. Many liked Savrasov's paintings, thanks to them the artist became famous in certain circles, many treated him as a real talent, a master of his craft. Soon Alexey married a good girl. This is how Savrasov lived and worked. “The Rooks Have Arrived” is a picture that will soon perpetuate his name, while it was only in his thoughts.
Work and passion for travel
Four years later, Savrasov became an academician, and in 1857 he was honored to teach painting at his native educational institution. He was never strict with students and often shared his own experience with them, talked a lot about nature.
It should be noted that Korovin and Levitan were students of Savrasov, they admired their teacher and were grateful to him all their lives. In his free time, the artist liked to travel, he was, for example, in Western Europe. Travel left a deep imprint on his soul. But most of all Savrasov liked Central Russia with its modest nature, which he liked to draw.
A new milestone in the visual arts, the creation of the painting "Country Road"
The year 1871 became fateful for Alexei, it was then that the exposition of the Association of Traveling Art Exhibitions was held, to the organization of which he made a feasible contribution. Demonstrated, in particular, his canvas "The Rooks Have Arrived", which was based on a simple and uncomplicated motif (the painting was created in the village of Molvitino, located in the Yaroslavl province). But Savrasov was able to tell with amazing love and awe about spring, when nature recovers from the winter cold. “The Rooks Have Arrived”, as well as “The Thaw”, written by F. A. Vasiliev (shown at the same exposition), opened the way for the lyrical style in Russian painting, marked a new milestone in the visual arts.
Thanks to the magnificent and amazing canvas, Savrasov immortalized his name. Two years later, the artist created another amazing painting called "Country Road", but it so happened that no one knew anything about it for a long time: immediately after finishing the work, Alexey gave it as a gift to his friend, who did not show it to anyone. The world saw her in 1893, and she immediately received laudatory reviews, but she could no longer arouse genuine admiration - much has changed during this time.
Alcoholism and dismissal from work
If you ask any person about what picture of Savrasov he knows, then he will undoubtedly name “The Rooks Have Arrived”. The artist really could not write anything else that could compare with her, with the possible exception of "Country Road", which he most likely did not particularly like.
However, Savrasov continued to create, and the work definitely brought him pleasure. But acquaintances noted that he was often sad and gloomy: he probably thought about his strange creative fate. Most likely, it was precisely such bitter reflections that caused the artist's alcoholism. In 1870, Savrasova left her husband with two adored children. It was a real tragedy for him. Then in 1882 he was fired from his job. Relatives tried to help him cope with addiction, but to no avail.
"The rooks have arrived": a description of the painting
Let's look at the famous painting that made Savrasov famous. It depicts the Russian spring: at this time the air is already getting warm, and the sky is bright and unusually attractive. The snow turns black and then completely disappears. And the rooks are coming. Soon they become accustomed and begin to build nests.
Savrasov was a tall and stout man, but this body contained a child's soul. Only a child could so vividly feel the approach of spring after prolonged frosts and snowstorms. This is how Savrasov felt it. “The Rooks Have Arrived” is a picture that surprisingly accurately conveys his worldview.
Take a close look at the canvas. The skies are covered with clouds, the horizon line is dark, and only a bright blue area is visible at the top. And below, already melted and grayed snowdrifts shine under bright rays, and uneven shadows from trees can be seen on the snow.
In the pond, which has already got rid of the ice, blue-gray skies are reflected. Bare trees are also visible in it. In the area where a juniper bush is visible in the water, Savrasov added a little pale green color. Everything is in perfect harmony. The picture is amazingly accurate conveys the feeling of spring, perhaps a little naive, but sincere.
In the painting “The Rooks Have Arrived”, the skies are cut with birch branches, still without leaves. They also have bird nests. Rooks fly near them, busy with their own chores. Very soon, when the sun warms even stronger, their chicks will hatch. You need to be thoroughly prepared for this. In the foreground, you can see two large females who busily sit on the eggs and warm them with the heat of their bodies. They protect their future chicks from the spring wind, although warm, but sharp. The picture is written with feeling and love, and you probably understand this when reading the description. “The Rooks Have Arrived” is a canvas that opens the soul of the artist to us.
But in the spring sometimes pours fine snow.
The sky will be covered with clouds, the wind will blow ... After that, snow can also be expected. Then the birds will be alert, they will calm down, they will sit on a tree near the nests. They do not know that spring bad weather can not be afraid - it does not last long. The wind will soon peek out the sun, and the birds will rejoice at its appearance. Then they will start screaming loudly and scatter in all directions. Only females will not budge: they will protect their nests, from time to time turning their heads to the right, then to the left. All this can be vividly imagined by looking at the canvas “The Rooks Have Arrived”. therefore includes not only the obvious details, but also what the observer can think of.
Foreground
If we talk about the composition, then the canvas has several plans. Pay attention to the front: there are snowdrifts, over which light is spilled and gray shadows are scattered. There are also trees here. Some of them are far from ideal, especially those that have bent under the influence of bad weather and wind. But there are also even and graceful birch trees. But the most important thing here is the birds. A whole flock of screaming, sitting and flying rooks.
Background
Let's continue looking at the picture. In the background, you can see the heavens, which are depicted in the style characteristic of the artist. No one else could write them so beautifully. They are motionless, but it seems to the observer that the clouds are floating in the sky, driven by the wind. What sensations appear when you look at them? It is impossible to answer unambiguously. There is something mixed here: both peace and anxiety at the same time. To this is added a feeling of children's happiness and excitement. In the middle ground we see a gray spot. The only bright detail here is a beautiful bell tower and a low building under the shining dome of one of the capital's churches. There is no doubt that Savrasov's Rooks Have Arrived is a real masterpiece for all time.
Plot
Somewhere in the Russian hinterland stands the bell tower of an old church. The house slumped. The river is flooding, the snow is melting, the rooks who have returned from the warm lands are building nests. “Nature is always breathing. She always sings, and her song is solemn. The earth is a paradise, and life is a mystery, a beautiful mystery,” said Savrasov.
Rooks make the picture “sound”. Their croaking and crackling of branches, together with the calmness spilled in the air, hurts, in the words of Ivan Kramskoy, "mental nerves." And here, with all the optimism of the canvas, with all the light and air, sometimes no, no, and you will cry from longing. With all the promising atmosphere of spring, there is a sense of hopelessness, in which one wants to bang a glass and sing a song.
Mykola Gnisyuk "The Rooks Have Arrived", 1964
Context
“Go write - it’s spring, puddles, sparrows are chirping - it’s good. Go write, write sketches, study, the main thing is to feel. So the artist instructed his students and sent them to the open air in Sokolniki. Savrasov himself liked to write in the suburbs.
But in the early 1870s, against the backdrop of a flare-up conflict with the School of Painting (due to the allegedly insufficient number of students, Savrasov was deprived of a state-owned apartment), he went with his family to the Volga at the height of the school year. He visited Yaroslavl, near Kostroma, Nizhny Novgorod, Yuryevets. The sketches made during the trip were enough for the next 5 years of work.
One of these Volga works was the painting "The Rooks Have Arrived". Savrasov began work on it in Yaroslavl, then in the Kostroma village of Molvitino (now Susanino) he found the dominant - the Church of the Ascension of Christ, and finished in Moscow.
Church of the Ascension of Christ in Susanin
The public saw the canvas in 1871 - at the first exhibition of the Wanderers (Savrasov was one of the founders of the partnership). It is believed that a new direction in painting began with the painting "The Rooks Have Arrived" - a lyrical landscape. Ivan Kramskoy, looking at the canvas, said that in all landscapes there is water, trees, even air, and only in Rooks there is a soul.
Regrettably, but the fate of Savrasov was sad. The artist drank, and with age more and more, which in the end led to alcoholism, poverty, wandering in the corners.
Savrasov, 1870s
Savrasov was extremely impractical. I did not use the period of success, I did not really earn money. Wandering around the apartments, criticizing paintings, the death of children, the reproaches of his wife ... Savrasov began to drink. The wife, having taken the children, went to her sister in Petersburg. For alcohol abuse and absenteeism, the artist was fired from the school, where he worked for 25 years. In relation to his works of the 1880s - 1890s, art historians and collectors use the term "drunk Savrasov".
For a bottle of vodka, the artist hastily made drawings that sold for 2-3 rubles on the Sukharevsky market. “A very old man drank himself ... It’s a pity for the poor fellow,” Vladimir Gilyarovsky wrote. - If you dress him, he will drink everything again. I offered him to rent an apartment - and he his: “None!” gets angry and leaves. Last year I became friends with some drunken company in the Balkans. I looked for him, but did not find him ... Sometimes he comes tattered, drunk or hungover. But always sweet, affectionate, shy. I’ll get him drunk, sometimes I’ll keep him at home for two days, dress him up and write something. I will ask you to repeat “Rooks have arrived” or “Rainbow”. And then he still runs away. You offer him to stay, and he says his: “No one!” ... I saw Savrasov again, during Lent, when he was driving along Myasnitskaya from Lubyanka Square, completely drunk, together with his friend Kuzmich, who held him tightly so that he would not fall out of sleigh."
By the end of his life, Savrasov miraculously managed to defeat alcohol. He has a new wife and children. But health was already undermined. The artist was almost blind, and a brush fell out of his trembling hands. He died in absolute poverty.
The story of the artist A. Savrasov is one of many that confirm the idea that a person must find his true calling. As a teenager, he sold his watercolors to merchants from Moscow, and after that, he entered the school of painting, sculpture and architecture. The work of Venetsianov had a strong influence on the worldview of the painter - the harmony of his canvases touched the soul of Savrasov.
The Moscow Society of Art Lovers provided the talented young man with funds to study in Europe. Upon returning home, he turned to the motives of village life. Before Savrasov, the discreet beauty of nature was considered unworthy of attention - the society of that time idolized Italian views, the ruins of Ancient Rome, foreign sunsets and sunrises full of romance. So the painting "The Rooks Have Arrived" made a real revolution in the art of that time.
The history of the birth of this canvas is interesting. The village of Molvitino near Kostroma was a large living center with a beautiful church built at the beginning of the 18th century. Its bell tower with kokoshniks, which adorned the pointed tent, small domes of the white temple were one of the thousands in the expanses of tsarist Russia. The legends of the village told that Ivan Susanin was from here.
Savrasov ended up in Molvitino in the spring of 1871 and almost immediately began working on sketches of the outback. The artist loved spring, and on his pencil sketches, birches illuminated by the sun came to life, and music was heard dripping from the roofs of houses, the murmur of the first spring streams.
The painter wanted to depict the Church for a long time. He was looking for a point from which it would be best viewed and one day he stayed there until the evening. Something happened that had to happen sooner or later - the nature of the outskirts, the heady aroma of the March air gave him inspiration. The sketch of the future picture was drawn surprisingly quickly.
"The Rooks Have Arrived". The name itself gives each of us a feeling of spring, the time of the dawn of nature, vitality and a whole range of incomprehensible, but beautiful and exciting feelings. The picture does not present symbolic images to the essence of the viewer, it is simple and understandable, and therefore, close to every person.
A typical spring day, a bit greyish. The clumsily curved birches on the hill were simply covered with rooks. They roar and busily make new nests or renovate old ones. Spring freshness is in the air, and thawed patches of snow reflect the blue sky hidden behind gray clouds. The wooden fences of the houses cannot hide a small church with peeling walls. Its dome only emphasizes the typicality of the Russian village and the breadth of the Russian soul. A little further on, fields are visible, which will soon be plowed, but so far there is still snow on them. Pale purple copses complete the horizon. Somewhere out there, in the distance, the daily course of life flows as usual, and only a light breeze unites it and nature into a single whole.
In the foreground of the canvas is snow. It is dirty and dull, without glare, on it there are only gray shadows of birches, dull and broken. Clouds float across the hazy ash sky. Due to the abundance of gray colors, the rural landscape at first glance is rather ordinary. However, this is only at the beginning. Bright vibrant colors are brought into it by a bright church, a thawed patch of water and a ray of light miraculously breaking through. In addition, Savrasov is one of the few artists who knew how to depict the air. The canvas breathes, it is filled with the freshness of spring and its warm breath, this emphasizes the unusual lighting. The foreground of the picture is written in such a way that birch trees, snow and noisy rooks are depicted against the light. Thus, the picture seems to be filled with muted colors, which only emphasizes the inevitability of the coming spring.
The morning of the year is the main character here, it is harmonious in the whole picture. The painter managed to depict not just a static landscape, but to capture the elusive phenomena of nature, creating an amazing feeling of life. Energy unites everything - birds, melted snow, smoke from chimneys in huts, their invisible inhabitants, church domes. There is movement in the picture, which is already evident in its title - “The Rooks Have Arrived”, the birds fly over the nests, the birch trees seem to be alive, they reach for the sky. The author achieves incredible sound effects - you already hear how the restless messengers of spring are roaring, how water murmurs and drops fall from the roofs of the huts, that is, you feel this charm of spring mood.
Now the paintings on the spring theme are so replicated that they dazzle in the eyes. Some artists earn their living by painting a series of canvases of the spring cycle once a year. However, in 1871, when this picture appeared before the eyes of the public at an exhibition in St. Petersburg, she had no equal. It was a revolution, a new vision of the world that could fit on a small canvas (the catalogs call it "oil on canvas, 62 cm high and 48.5 wide"). The majestic landscapes of Shishkin, Kuindzhi, Kramskoy and Perov were no longer relevant. The modest rustic look has surpassed the classics, and today this picture is wildly popular. Pyotr Tretyakov immediately purchased the painting, and a year later Savrasov received an order to repeat the work. Since then, the artist has made more than 10 replicas of the painting - everyone wanted to have a piece of spring in their home.
Interestingly, in 1997 the Central Bank of Russia issued a two-ruble coin, which depicts a portrait of the artist and a fragment from his Rooks. This banknote was dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the death of the author of this picture. Another no less striking fact is that the same Molvitin church from Savrasov’s canvas now houses the Ivan Susanin Museum.
No one, even the artist himself, was able to repeat the success and style of the painting “The Rooks Have Arrived”. The canvas is the product of his momentary impulse, inspiration, backed up by true talent, and inspiration, as you know, is a special feeling.
In Russian folklore, there is a saying that a rook can peck at winter - this is how the meeting of spring begins. Savrasovsky canvas is striking in that the author conveyed not only the transformation of all living things, but also the renewal of the inner world of a person who lives in unity with nature.
