Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky is a famous Russian marine painter, the author of more than six thousand canvases. Professor, academician, philanthropist, honorary member of the Academies of Arts in St. Petersburg, Amsterdam, Rome, Stuttgart, Paris and Florence.
The future artist was born in Feodosia, in 1817, in the family of Gevork and Hripsime Gaivazovsky. Hovhannes' mother (the Armenian version of the name Ivan) was a full-blooded Armenian, and his father came from Armenians who migrated from Western Armenia, which was under the rule of the Turks, to Galicia. In Feodosia, Gevork settled under the name Gaivazovsky, writing it down in the Polish manner.
Hovhannes' father was amazing person, enterprising, savvy. Dad knew Turkish, Hungarian, Polish, Ukrainian, Russian and even gypsy languages. In the Crimea, Gevork Ayvazyan, who became Konstantin Grigoryevich Gaivazovsky, very successfully engaged in trade. In those days, Feodosia was growing rapidly, acquiring the status of an international port, but all the successes of an enterprising merchant were nullified by a plague epidemic that broke out after the war with.
By the time Ivan was born, the Gaivazovskys already had a son, Sargis, who took the name Gabriel as a monk, then three more daughters were born, but the family lived in great need. Mother Repsime helped her husband by selling her skillful embroideries. Ivan grew up as a smart and dreamy child. In the morning he woke up and ran to the seashore, where he could spend hours watching ships entering the port, small fishing boats, admiring the extraordinary beauty of landscapes, sunsets, storms and calm.
Painting by Ivan Aivazovsky "Black Sea" The boy painted his first pictures on the sand, and after a few minutes they were washed away by the surf. Then he armed himself with a piece of coal and decorated the white walls of the house where the Gaivazovskys lived with drawings. The father looked, frowning at the masterpieces of his son, but did not scold him, but thought hard. From the age of ten, Ivan worked in a coffee shop, helping his family, which did not prevent him from growing up as an intelligent and talented child.
As a child, Aivazovsky himself learned to play the violin, and, of course, he constantly painted. Fate brought him together with the Feodosia architect Yakov Koch, and this moment is considered to be a turning point, defining in the biography of the future brilliant marine painter. Noticing the artistic abilities of the boy, Koch supplied the young artist with pencils, paints and paper, and gave the first drawing lessons. The second patron of Ivan was the mayor of Feodosia Alexander Kaznacheev. The governor appreciated Vanya's skillful playing on the violin, because he himself often played music.
In 1830 Kaznacheev sent Aivazovsky to the Simferopol gymnasium. In Simferopol, the wife of the Taurida governor, Natalya Naryshkina, drew attention to a talented child. Ivan began to visit her house often, and the secular lady put at his disposal her library, a collection of engravings, books on painting and art. The boy incessantly worked, copied famous works, drew sketches, sketches.
With the assistance of the portrait painter Salvator Tonchi, Naryshkina turned to Olenin, president of the Imperial Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg, with a request to place the boy in the academy with full board. In the letter, she described in detail Aivazovsky's talents, his life situation and attached drawings. Olenin appreciated the talent of the young man, and soon Ivan was enrolled in the Academy of Arts with the personal permission of the emperor, who also saw the drawings sent.
At the age of 13, Ivan Aivazovsky became the youngest student of the Academy in Vorobyov's landscape class. Experienced teacher immediately appreciated the full size and power of Aivazovsky's talent and, to the best of his ability and ability, gave the young man a classical art education, a kind of theoretical and practical basis for a virtuoso painter, which Ivan Konstantinovich soon became.
Very quickly, the student surpassed the teacher, and Vorobyov recommended Aivazovsky to Philip Tanner, a French marine painter who arrived in St. Petersburg. Tanner and Aivazovsky did not get along. The Frenchman dumped all the rough work on the student, but Ivan still found time for his own paintings.
Painting
In 1836, an exhibition was held, where the works of Tanner and the young Aivazovsky were presented. One of the works of Ivan Konstantinovich was awarded a silver medal, he was also praised by one metropolitan newspaper, while the Frenchman was reproached for mannerisms. Philip, burning with anger and envy, complained to the emperor about a disobedient student who did not have the right to exhibit his work at an exhibition without the knowledge of the teacher.
Painting by Ivan Aivazovsky "The Ninth Wave" Formally, the Frenchman was right, and Nikolai ordered the paintings to be removed from the exhibition, and Aivazovsky himself fell out of favor at court. talented artist supported the best minds of the capital, with whom he managed to make acquaintance: the president of the Academy Olenin. As a result, the case was decided in favor of Ivan, for whom Alexander Sauerweid, who taught painting to the imperial offspring, stood up.
Nicholas awarded Aivazovsky and even sent him along with his son Konstantin to the Baltic Fleet. The Tsarevich studied the basics of maritime affairs and fleet management, and Aivazovsky specialized in the artistic side of the issue (it is difficult to write battle scenes and ships without knowing their structure).
Painting by Ivan Aivazovsky "Rainbow" Sauerweid became Aivazovsky's class teacher battle painting. A few months later, in September 1837, a talented student received gold medal for the painting "Calm", after which the leadership of the Academy decided to release the artist from educational institution because it could not give him anything.
Painting by Ivan Aivazovsky "Moonlit night on the Bosphorus" At the age of 20, Ivan Aivazovsky became the youngest graduate of the Academy of Arts (according to the rules, he was supposed to study for another three years) and went on a paid trip: first to his native Crimea for two years, and then to Europe for six years. Happy artist returned to his native Feodosia, then traveled around the Crimea, participated in the amphibious landing in Circassia. During this time, he painted many works, including peaceful seascapes and battle scenes.
Painting by Ivan Aivazovsky "Moonlit night on Capri" After a short stay in St. Petersburg in 1840, Aivazovsky left for Venice, from there to Florence and Rome. During this trip, Ivan Konstantinovich met with his elder brother Gabriel, a monk on the island of St. Lazarus, met with. In Italy, the artist studied the works of great masters and wrote a lot himself. Everywhere he exhibited his paintings, many sold out immediately.
Painting by Ivan Aivazovsky "Chaos" His masterpiece "Chaos" wished to buy the Pope himself. Hearing about this, Ivan Konstantinovich personally presented the painting to the pontiff. Touched by Gregory XVI, he presented the painter with a gold medal, and the fame of a talented marine painter thundered throughout Europe. Then the artist visited Switzerland, Holland, England, Portugal and Spain. On the way home, the ship on which Aivazovsky sailed fell into a storm, a terrible storm broke out. For some time there were rumors that the marine painter died, but, fortunately, he managed to return home safe and sound.
Painting by Ivan Aivazovsky "The Storm" Aivazovsky had the happy fate of making acquaintance and even friendship with many prominent people of that era. The artist was closely acquainted with Nikolai Raevsky, Kiprensky, Bryullov, Zhukovsky, not to mention friendship with the imperial family. And yet, connections, wealth, fame did not appeal to the artist. The main things in his life have always been family, ordinary people, favorite work.
painting by Ivan Aivazovsky Chesme battle" Having become rich and famous, Aivazovsky did a lot for his native Feodosia: he founded an art school and an art gallery, a museum of antiquities, sponsored the construction of a railway, a city water supply, fed from his personal source. Towards the end of his life, Ivan Konstantinovich remained as active and active as in his youth: he visited America with his wife, worked hard, helped people, was engaged in charity work, beautification of his native city and teaching.
Personal life
The personal life of the great painter is full of ups and downs. In his destiny there were three loves, three women. Aivazovsky's first love, a dancer from Venice, world celebrity Maria Taglioni, was 13 years older than him. The artist in love went to Venice for his muse, but the relationship was short-lived: the dancer preferred ballet to the love of the young man.
In 1848 Ivan Konstantinovich Great love married Julia Grevs, daughter of an Englishman who was the court physician of Nicholas I. The young people left for Feodosia, where they played magnificent wedding. In this marriage, Aivazovsky had four daughters: Alexandra, Maria, Elena and Zhanna.
In the photo, the family looks happy, but the idyll was short-lived. After the birth of her daughters, the wife changed in character, having suffered a nervous illness. Julia wanted to live in the capital, go to balls, give parties, lead a secular life, and the heart of the artist belonged to Feodosia and ordinary people. As a result, the marriage ended in divorce, which at that time happened infrequently. With difficulty, the artist managed to maintain relations with his daughters and their families: a grumpy wife turned the girls against their father.
The artist met his last love already at an advanced age: in 1881 he was 65 years old, and his chosen one was only 25 years old. Anna Nikitichna Sarkizova became Aivazovsky's wife in 1882 and was with him until the very end. Her beauty is immortalized by her husband in the painting "Portrait of the Artist's Wife".
Death
The great marine painter, who became a world celebrity at the age of 20, died at his home in Feodosia at the age of 82, in 1900. The unfinished painting "Explosion of the Ship" remained on the easel.
The best paintings
- "The Ninth Wave";
- "Shipwreck";
- "Night in Venice";
- "Brig Mercury attacked by two Turkish ships";
- “Moonlit night in the Crimea. Gurzuf";
- "Moonlit night on Capri";
- "Moonlit night on the Bosphorus";
- "Walking on the waters";
- "Chesme battle";
- "Moon Path"
- "Bosphorus on a moonlit night";
- “A.S. Pushkin on the Black Sea";
- "Rainbow";
- "Sunrise in the harbor";
- "Ship in the middle of a storm";
- "Chaos. World creation;
- "Calm";
- "Venetian night";
- "Global flood".
Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky (Arm. Հովհաննես Այվազյան, Hovhannes Ayvazyan; July 17, 1817, Feodosia - April 19, 1900, ibid.) - Russian marine painter, battle painter, collector, philanthropist. Painter of the Main Naval Staff, academician and honorary member of the Imperial Academy of Arts, honorary member of the Academies of Arts in Amsterdam, Rome, Paris, Florence and Stuttgart.
The most outstanding artist of Armenian origin of the XIX century.
Brother of the Armenian historian and Archbishop of the Armenian Apostolic Church Gabriel Aivazovsky.
Hovhannes (Ivan) Konstantinovich Aivazovsky was born into an Armenian family of a merchant Gevork (Konstantin) and Hripsime Ayvazyan. On July 17 (29), 1817, the priest of the Armenian church in the city of Feodosia made a record that Konstantin (Gevorg) Aivazovsky and his wife Hripsime were born "Hovhannes, the son of Gevork Ayvazyan." Aivazovsky's ancestors were from Armenians who moved to Galicia from Western Armenia in the 18th century. The artist's grandfather's name was Grigor Ayvazyan, and his grandmother was Ashkhen. It is known that his relatives owned large landed property in the Lvov region, but no documents more accurately describing the origin of Aivazovsky have been preserved. His father Konstantin (Gevorg) and after moving to Feodosia wrote a surname in the Polish manner: "Gaivazovsky" (surname - Polonized form Armenian surname Ayvazyan). Aivazovsky himself in his autobiography says about his father, that due to a quarrel with his brothers in his youth, he moved from Galicia to the Danubian principalities (Moldavia, Wallachia), where he engaged in trade, and from there to Feodosia.
Some lifetime publications dedicated to Aivazovsky are transmitted from his words family tradition that among his ancestors were Turks. According to these publications, the artist’s late father told him that the artist’s great-grandfather (according to Bludova, on the female line) was the son of a Turkish military leader and, as a child, during the capture of Azov by Russian troops (1696), was saved from death by a certain Armenian who baptized and adopted (option - a soldier).
After the death of the artist (in 1901), his biographer N. N. Kuzmin told the same story in his book, but about the artist’s father, referring to an unnamed document in Aivazovsky’s archive; however, no evidence exists for the veracity of this legend.
The artist's father, Konstantin Grigoryevich Aivazovsky (1771-1841), after moving to Feodosia, married a local Armenian woman Hripsima (1784-1860), and from this marriage three daughters and two sons were born - Hovhannes (Ivan) and Sargis (later in monasticism - Gabriel) . Initially, Aivazovsky's business was successful, but during the plague of 1812 he went bankrupt.
Ivan Aivazovsky from childhood discovered in himself artistic and musical ability; in particular, he taught himself to play the violin. Theodosian architect Yakov Khristianovich Kokh, who was the first to pay attention to the artistic abilities of the boy, gave him the first lessons in craftsmanship. Yakov Khristianovich also helped the young Aivazovsky in every possible way, periodically giving him pencils, paper, and paints. He also recommended paying attention to the young talent of the Feodosia mayor Alexander Ivanovich Kaznacheev. After graduating from the Feodosia district school, Aivazovsky was enrolled in the Simferopol gymnasium with the help of Kaznacheev, who at that time was already an admirer of the talent of the future artist. Then Aivazovsky was admitted at public expense to the Imperial Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg.
Aivazovsky arrived in Petersburg on August 28, 1833. Initially, he studied in the landscape class with Maxim Vorobyov. In 1835, for the landscapes "View of the seaside in the vicinity of St. Petersburg" and "Study of air over the sea" he received a silver medal and was assigned as an assistant to the fashionable French marine painter Philip Tanner. Studying with Tanner, Aivazovsky, despite the latter's prohibition to work independently, continued to paint landscapes and presented five paintings at the autumn exhibition of the Academy of Arts in 1836. Aivazovsky's works received favorable reviews from critics. Tanner complained about Aivazovsky to Nicholas I, and by order of the Tsar, all of Aivazovsky's paintings were removed from the exhibition. The artist was forgiven only six months later and assigned to the class of battle painting to Professor Alexander Ivanovich Sauerweid for marine lessons. military painting. After studying in Sauerweid's class for only a few months, in September 1837 Aivazovsky received the Big Gold Medal for the painting Calm. In view of Aivazovsky's special success in teaching, an unusual decision was made for the academy - to release Aivazovsky from the academy two years ahead of schedule and send him for these two years to the Crimea for independent work, and after that - on a business trip abroad for six years.
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Ivan Aivazovsky. Aul Gunib in Dagestan.
View from the east side.
1867. Oil on canvas.
In 1868 Aivazovsky undertook a journey to the Caucasus. He painted the foothills of the Caucasus with a pearl chain of snowy mountains on the horizon, panoramas of mountain ranges stretching into the distance like petrified waves, the Darial Gorge and the village of Gunib, lost among the rocky mountains, the last nest of Shamil. In Armenia, he painted Lake Sevan and the Ararat Valley. They have created several beautiful pictures depicting Caucasian mountains from the eastern coast of the Black Sea.
Ivan Aivazovsky and Ilya Repin. Pushkin by the sea
(Pushkin's farewell to the Black Sea).
1887. Oil on canvas.
Central Pushkin Museum. Pushkin, Russia.
From a series of great masters of the brush, a master appeared who devoted his entire talent to the "free element", as Pushkin dubbed the sea, and became its devoted singer. This master was Ivan Aivazovsky.
At one of the academic exhibitions in St. Petersburg (1836), two artists met - a pen artist and a brush artist. Acquaintance with Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin made an indelible impression on the young Aivazovsky. “Since then, the poet I already loved has become the subject of my thoughts, inspiration and long conversations and stories about him,” the artist recalled. Pushkin spoke with great approval of the work of a talented student of the Academy of Arts.
Aivazovsky worshiped the talent of the greatest Russian poet all his life, dedicating a whole cycle of paintings to him later (around 1880). In them, he combined the poetry of the sea with the image of the poet.
The painting Farewell to the Black Sea by A.S. Pushkin was created in the year of the fiftieth anniversary of the death of A.S. Pushkin. Aivazovsky worked on this picture in collaboration with Ilya Efimovich Repin. Repin painted the figure of Pushkin in this picture, Aivazovsky painted the landscape background. This is one of the best paintings on the Pushkin theme.
In the same year, another painting by Pushkin was painted on the Black Sea coast. Later, in 1899, Aivazovsky painted a picture of Pushkin in the Crimea near the Gurzuf rocks.
Ivan Aivazovsky. Pushkin on the Black Sea coast.
1887. Oil on canvas.
Nikolaevsky Art Museum
them. V. Vereshchagin, Russia.
At one of the academic exhibitions in St. Petersburg (1836), two artists met - a pen artist and a brush artist. Acquaintance with Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin made an indelible impression on the young Aivazovsky. “Since then, the poet I already loved has become the subject of my thoughts, inspiration and long conversations and stories about him,” the artist recalled. Pushkin spoke with great approval of the work of a talented student of the Academy of Arts.
Aivazovsky worshiped the talent of the greatest Russian poet all his life, dedicating a whole cycle of paintings to him later (around 1880). In them, he combined the poetry of the sea with the image of the poet. The painting Pushkin on the Black Sea was created in the year of the fiftieth anniversary of the death of A.S. Pushkin. In the same year, another was written - one of the best paintings on the Pushkin theme - A.S. Pushkin's Farewell to the Black Sea, on which I.K. Aivazovsky worked in collaboration with I.E. Repin. (Repin painted the figure of Pushkin in this picture, Aivazovsky painted the landscape background).
Later, in 1899, Aivazovsky painted a picture of Pushkin in the Crimea near the Gurzuf rocks.
Ivan Aivazovsky. Pushkin in the Crimea near the Gurzuf rocks.
1899. Oil on canvas.
Odessa Art Museum, Odessa, Ukraine.
Aivazovsky had his own established system of creative work. “A painter who only copies nature,” he said, “becomes her slave ... The movements of the living elements are elusive for the brush: writing lightning, a gust of wind, a splash of a wave is unthinkable from nature ... An artist must memorize them ... The plot of the paintings is formed in my memory, as at the poet; having made a sketch on a piece of paper, I get to work and until then I do not leave the canvas until I express myself on it with a brush ... "
The comparison of the methods of work of the artist and the poet is not accidental here. The poetry of A.S. Pushkin had a great influence on the formation of Aivazovsky’s work, therefore Pushkin’s stanzas often appear in our memory before Aivazovsky’s paintings. creative imagination Aivazovsky in the process of work was not constrained by anything. Creating his works, he relied only on his own, truly extraordinary, visual memory and poetic imagination.
Aivazovsky worshiped the talent of the greatest Russian poet all his life, dedicating a whole cycle of paintings to him later (around 1880). The picture of Pushkin in the Crimea at the Gurzuf rocks was painted in 1899, and before that, in 1887, in the year of the fiftieth anniversary of the death of A. S. Pushkin, two wonderful paintings of Pushkin on the Black Sea and A. S. Pushkin's Farewell were created with the Black Sea.
Ivan Aivazovsky. Rainbow.
1873. Oil on canvas.
In 1873, Aivazovsky created the outstanding painting Rainbow. In the plot of this picture - a storm at sea and a ship dying near a rocky shore - there is nothing unusual for Aivazovsky's work. But its colorful range, pictorial execution were a completely new phenomenon in Russian painting of the seventies. Depicting this storm, Aivazovsky showed it as if he himself was among the raging waves. A hurricane blows the mist off their crests. As if through a rushing whirlwind, the silhouette of a sinking ship and the indistinct outlines of a rocky shore are barely visible.
The clouds in the sky dissolved into a transparent wet shroud. A stream has broken through this chaos sunlight, lay like a rainbow on the water, giving the color of the picture a multi-colored coloring. The whole picture is written in the finest shades of blue, green, pink and purple colors. The same tones, slightly enhanced in color, convey the rainbow itself. It flickers with a barely perceptible mirage. From this, the rainbow acquired that transparency, softness and purity of color, which always delights and enchants us in nature. The painting "Rainbow" was a new, higher level in the work of Aivazovsky.
Regarding one of these paintings by Aivazovsky F.M. Dostoevsky wrote: "The storm ... of Mr. Aivazovsky ... is amazingly good, like all his storms, and here he is a master - without rivals ... There is rapture in his storm, there is that eternal beauty that amazes the viewer in a living, real storm ..."
Ivan Aivazovsky. Fishermen on the seashore.
1852. Oil on canvas.
"The sea is my life," said the artist. He had the ability to convey the movement and breath of the sea.
Aivazovsky loved the sea since childhood and managed to create a truthful and poetic image of the boundless elements, the romantic perception of which he always remained true to.
The master was distinguished by unusual pictorial thinking. On the canvas, the artist creates bright combinations that amaze with their magnificent decorative sound. You perceive such works as a symphony of colors, as a song to beauty. "If I lived another three hundred years," the artist said, "I would always find something new in the sea."
Often in the paintings of Aivazovsky you can see people admiring the majestic beauty of nature. The artist sees in man an integral part of the universe. His "fictional" romantic characters are self-portraits in their own way.
The artist discovered his method of drawing from memory, even without sketches, limiting himself to only cursory pencil sketches. Justifying this method, the artist said: "The movements of the living elements are elusive for the brush: writing lightning, a gust of wind, a splash of a wave is unthinkable from nature."
As a child, he played on the shores of his native Feodosia, and from childhood, the emerald game of the Black Sea surf sunk into his soul. Subsequently, no matter how much he painted any seas, he still got clear green water with purple laces of foam, characteristic of his native Euxine Pontus. The most vivid impressions were connected with the sea; probably that's why he devoted all his work to the image of the sea. With equal force could convey the brilliance of the sun's rays sparkling on the water, the transparency sea depth and snow-white foam of waves.
The works of Aivazovsky stood out among the works of contemporary painters for their coloristic qualities. In the 1840s, during an exhibition in Berlin, a reviewer of a local newspaper explained the increased sound of color in the works of the Russian artist by the fact that he was deaf and mute, and this shortcoming was compensated by heightened vision.
Strict critic I.N. Kramskoy wrote to P. M. Tretyakov: "Aivazovsky probably has the secret of composing paints, and even the paints themselves are secret; I have not seen such bright and pure tones even on the shelves of Muscat shops."
Aivazovsky was influenced by the Dutch marine painters of the 17th century, came to the "watercolor" technique of painting, when the color is superimposed on the canvas in thin overlapping layers. This made it possible to transmit the most insignificant color tonal gradations.
Aivazovsky began to paint a picture, depicting the sky, or as he called it after his teacher at the Academy of Arts M. N. Vorobyov - air. Whatever the size of the canvas, Aivazovsky wrote "air" in one session, even if it stretched up to 12 hours in a row. It was with such a titanic effort that the transmission of the airiness and integrity of the color scheme of the sky was achieved. The desire to complete the picture as quickly as possible was dictated by the desire not to lose the unity of the mood of the motive, to convey to the viewer a stopped moment from the life of a moving sea element. The water in his paintings is an endless ocean, not stormy, but swaying, harsh, endless. And the sky, if possible, even more infinite.
“The plot of the picture,” the artist said, “is formed in my memory, like the plot of a poem by a poet; having made a sketch on a piece of paper, I get to work and do not leave the canvas until I express myself on it with my brush.”
Speaking about his paintings, Aivazovsky remarked: "Those paintings in which the main force is the light of the sun ... must be considered the best."
Azure sea:
1843.
Canvas, oil.
Fishermen on the seashore.
1852. Oil on canvas.
National Gallery Armenia, Yerevan, Armenia.
Calm sea
1863. Oil on canvas.
National Gallery of Armenia, Yerevan, Armenia.
Ivan Aivazovsky. Sinop battle. The night after the battle.
1853. Oil on canvas.
Central Naval Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia.
A special place in the legacy of Aivazovsky is occupied by works dedicated to the exploits of the Russian fleet, which constituted his original historical record, starting from the battles of the time of Peter I and ending contemporary artist the events of the Crimean War of 1853-1856 and the Russian-Turkish War of 1877-1878 for the liberation of the Balkans. Since 1844, Aivazovsky was a painter of the Main Naval Staff.
November 18, 1853, during the Crimean War of 1853-1856, a naval battle took place between the Russian and Turkish squadrons in the Sinop Bay. The Turkish squadron of Osman Pasha left Constantinople for a landing operation in the Sukhum-Kale region and made a stop in the Sinop Bay. The Russian Black Sea Fleet had the task of preventing the active actions of the enemy. A squadron under the command of Vice-Admiral P.S. Nakhimov (3 battleships) during cruising duty discovered the Turkish squadron and blocked it in the bay. Help was requested from Sevastopol. By the time of the battle, the Russian squadron had 6 battleships and 2 frigates, and the Turkish squadron had 7 frigates, 3 corvettes, 2 steam frigates, 2 brigs, 2 transports. The Russians had 720 guns, and the Turks - 510. As a result of the battle, which lasted 4 hours, the entire Turkish fleet (with the exception of the Taif steamer) was destroyed. The Turks lost more than 3 thousand people killed and drowned, about 200 people. were captured (including the commander of the fleet). The Russians lost 37 people. killed and 235 wounded. With the victory in the Sinop Bay, the Russian fleet gained complete dominance in the Black Sea and thwarted the plans for the landing of the Turks in the Caucasus.
As soon as the rumor about the Battle of Sinop reached Aivazovsky, he immediately went to Sevastopol, asked the participants in the battle about all the circumstances of the case. Soon, two paintings by Aivazovsky were exhibited in Sevastopol, depicting the Sinop battle at night and during the day. These were the paintings of the Naval Battle of Sinop on November 18, 1853 and the Battle of Sinop. The night after the battle.
The exhibition was visited by Admiral Nakhimov; highly appreciating the work of Aivazovsky, especially the picture of the Battle of Sinop. The night after the battle. He said: "The picture is extremely well done."
Having visited the besieged Sevastopol, Aivazovsky also painted a number of paintings dedicated to the heroic defense of the city.
Ivan Aivazovsky. Calm sea.
1863. Oil on canvas.
National Gallery of Armenia, Yerevan, Armenia.
The sea was his element. Only he was opened the soul of the artist. Each time standing at the easel, Aivazovsky gave free rein to his imagination. And the canvas embodied exactly what he saw in advance with his inner eye.
Thus, Aivazovsky entered contemporary art, guided by his own laws of artistic worldview. artistic thinking decorative masters; it is due to his childhood, his blood, his lineage. Decorativeness does not interfere at all, but contributes to Aivazovsky in his precise emotional characteristics of the depicted. The perfection of the result is achieved by the virtuosity of the most extraordinary tonal nuances. Here he has no equal, which is why he was compared with Paganini. Aivazovsky - maestro of tone. The canons of the European school assimilated by him are superimposed on his natural, purely national decorative flair. This unity of the two principles allows the artist to achieve such a convincing saturation of the light-air atmosphere, and a melodious color harmony. Perhaps it is precisely in the uniqueness of such a merger that the magical appeal of his paintings lies.
Ivan Aivazovsky. Among the waves.
1898. Oil on canvas.
Aivazovsky Art Gallery, Feodosiya, Ukraine.
In continuous communication with the sea - a symbol of freedom, space - a long and glorious life of the master passed. And the sea, sometimes calm, sometimes turbulent or stormy, generously gave him an inexhaustible wealth of impressions. Aivazovsky painted the picture Among the Waves, which was the pinnacle of his work, when he was 80 years old.
“Above the abyss, gray furious waves rush about. They are immense, they rush upward in anger, but black, lead clouds, driven by a storm wind, hang over the abyss, and here, as in an ominous hellish cauldron, the elements rule. The sea is bubbling, bubbling, foaming. Shaft crests sparkle. None alive soul, even a free bird, does not dare to see the rampant storm ... Deserted ...
Only great artist I could see and remember this truly planetary moment when you believe in the primordial existence of our Earth. And through the roar and roar of the storm, a ray of sunshine breaks through with a quiet melody of joy, and somewhere in the distance a narrow strip of light glimmers ”(I.V. Dolgopolov).
The artist depicted a raging element - a stormy sky and a stormy sea covered with waves, as if boiling in collision with one another. He abandoned the usual details in his paintings in the form of fragments of masts and dying ships, lost in the boundless sea. He knew many ways to dramatize the plots of his paintings, but did not resort to any of them while working on this work. Among the waves, as it were, the Black Sea continues to reveal in time the content of the picture: if in one case an agitated sea is depicted, in the other it is already raging, at the moment of the highest formidable state of the sea element. The mastery of the painting Among the waves is the fruit of a long and hard work of the artist's entire life. Work on it proceeded quickly and easily. Obedient to the hand of the artist, the brush sculpted exactly the shape that the artist wanted, and laid the paint on the canvas in the way that his experience of skill and flair prompted him. great artist, which did not correct the once laid smear.
Apparently, Aivazovsky himself was aware that the painting Among the Waves is much higher in terms of the execution of all previous works. recent years. Despite the fact that after its creation he worked for another two years, arranged exhibitions of his works in Moscow, London and St. Petersburg, he did not take this picture out of Feodosia, he bequeathed it, along with other works that were in his art gallery, to his native city of Feodosia.
Until old age, until the last days of his life, Aivazovsky was full of new ideas that excited him as if he were not an eighty-year-old highly experienced master who painted six thousand paintings, but a young, novice artist who had just embarked on the path of art. For the lively active nature of the artist and the preserved unblunted feelings, his answer to the question of one of his friends is characteristic: which of all the paintings painted by the master himself considers the best. “The one,” Aivazovsky answered without hesitation, “that stands on the easel in the workshop, which I began to paint today ...”
In his correspondence of recent years there are lines that speak of the deep excitement that accompanied his work. At the end of one big business letter in 1894 there are these words: "Forgive me for writing on pieces (of paper). I am painting a big picture and I am terribly preoccupied." In another letter (1899): "I have written a lot this year. 82 years make me hurry ..." He was at the age when he was clearly aware that his time was running out, but he continued to work with ever-increasing energy.
Ivan Aivazovsky. Sinking ship.
1854. Papier pellet, graphite pencil, colored pencil, scratched.
State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia.
Speaking about the work of Aivazovsky, one cannot help but dwell on the great graphic heritage left by the master.
One of the best graphic works The artist is painting a sinking ship.
During his long life, Aivazovsky made a number of trips: he visited Italy, Paris and other European cities several times, worked in the Caucasus, sailed to the shores of Asia Minor, was in Egypt, and at the end of his life, in 1898, made a long journey to America . During sea voyages, he enriched his observations, and drawings accumulated in his folders.
Aivazovsky always painted a lot and willingly. His drawings are of great interest both in terms of their artistic execution and for understanding the artist's creative method. Among pencil drawings distinguished by their mature craftsmanship are works dating back to the forties, by the time of his academic trip of 1840-1844 and sailing off the coast of Asia Minor and the Archipelago in the summer of 1845.
In the 1840s, Aivazovsky worked extensively in southern Russia, mainly in the Crimea. There he created a graphic series of sea views in sepia technique. The artist made a light sketch of the landscape with a graphite pencil and then painted in sepia, the brownish color of which varied subtly from saturated to light, completely transparent. To convey the brilliance of the water surface or sea foam, the artist often used whitewash or scratched the top layer of specially primed paper, which created an additional light effect. One of these works View of the city of Nikolaev is in the State Russian Museum in St. Petersburg.
The drawings of this pore are harmonious in terms of the compositional distribution of masses and are distinguished by a strict elaboration of details. Large sizes sheet and graphic completeness speak of great importance, which Aivazovsky attached to drawings made from nature. These were mostly images of coastal cities. With sharp hard graphite, Aivazovsky painted city buildings clinging to the ledges of mountains, receding into the distance, or individual buildings he liked, arranging them into landscapes. Using the simplest graphic means - a line, almost without using chiaroscuro, he achieved the finest effects and an accurate transfer of volume and space. The drawings he made during his travels always helped him in creative work. In his youth, he often used drawings to compose paintings without any changes. Later, he freely processed them, and often they served him only as the first impetus for the implementation of creative ideas. The second half of Aivazovsky's life is a large number of drawings made in a free broad manner. In the last period of his creative work, when Aivazovsky made sketches of his travels, he began to draw freely, reproducing with a line all the curves of the form, often barely touching the paper with a soft pencil. His drawings, having lost their former graphic rigor and distinctness, acquired new pictorial qualities.
As Aivazovsky's creative method crystallized and vast creative experience and skill accumulated, a noticeable shift took place in the process of the artist's work, which affected his preparatory drawings. Now he creates a sketch of the future work from his imagination, and not from a natural drawing, as he did in the early period of creativity. Not always, of course, Aivazovsky was immediately satisfied with the solution found in the sketch. There are three versions of the sketch for his latest painting "Explosion of the ship". He strove for the best composition solution even in the drawing format: two drawings were made in a horizontal rectangle and one in a vertical one. All three are made with a cursory stroke, conveying the scheme of the composition. Such drawings, as it were, illustrate the words of Aivazovsky related to the method of his work: "Having sketched a plan of the picture I conceived with a pencil on a piece of paper, I set to work and, so to speak, give myself to it with all my heart." Aivazovsky's graphics enrich and expand our familiar understanding of his work and his peculiar method of work. For graphic works, Aivazovsky used a variety of materials and techniques.
The sixties include a number of finely painted watercolors, made in one color - sepia. Using usually a light filling of the sky with highly diluted paint, barely outlining the clouds, slightly touching the water, Aivazovsky laid out the foreground widely, in a dark tone, painted the mountains of the background and painted a boat or ship on the water in a deep sepia tone. With such simple means, he sometimes conveyed all the charm of a bright sunny day on the sea, the rolling of a transparent wave on the shore, the radiance of light clouds over the deep sea distance. In terms of the height of skill and subtlety of the transmitted state of nature, such sepia by Aivazovsky go far beyond the usual idea of watercolor sketches.
In 1860, Aivazovsky painted this kind of beautiful sepia "The Sea after the Storm." Aivazovsky was apparently satisfied with this watercolor, as he sent it as a gift to P.M. Tretyakov. Aivazovsky widely used coated paper, drawing on which he achieved virtuoso skill. These drawings include "The Tempest", created in 1855. The drawing was made on paper, tinted in the upper part with warm pink, and in the lower part with steel gray. With various methods of scratching the tinted chalk layer, Aivazovsky well conveyed the foam on the crests of the wave and the glare on the water. Aivazovsky also masterfully drew with pen and ink.
Ivan Aivazovsky. Chaos. World creation.
1841. Oil on paper.
Museum of the Armenian Congregation of Mkhitarists.
Island of St. Lazarus, Venice.
After graduating with a gold medal of the first degree, Aivazovsky received the right to travel abroad as a pensioner of the academy. And in 1840 he left for Italy.
The artist worked in Italy with great enthusiasm and created about fifty large paintings here. Exhibited in Naples and Rome, they called real hype and glorified the young painter. Critics wrote that no one had ever portrayed light, air and water so vividly and authentically.
Painting Chaos. World creation. Aivazovsky was honored to enter the permanent exhibition of the Vatican Museum. Pope Gregory XVI awarded the artist a gold medal. On this occasion, Gogol jokingly said to the artist: "Your" Chaos "raised chaos in the Vatican."
The battle of Chesme is one of the most glorious and heroic pages in history Russian fleet. Aivazovsky was not, and could not be, a witness to the event that took place on the night of June 26, 1770. But how convincingly and authentically he reproduced on his canvas the picture of a naval battle. Ships explode and burn, fragments of masts fly up to the sky, flames rise, and scarlet-gray smokes mix with clouds through which the moon looks at what is happening. Its cold and calm light only emphasizes the hellish mixture of fire and water in the sea. It seems that the artist himself, when creating a picture, experienced the rapture of the battle, where the Russian sailors won a brilliant victory.
1848. Oil on canvas.
Aivazovsky Art Gallery, Feodosiya, Ukraine.
Therefore, despite the fierceness of the battle, the picture leaves a major impression and resembles a grandiose fireworks display. The plot for this work was an episode of the Russian-Turkish war of 1768-1774. For decades, Russia has waged wars with Turkey for possession of the Black and Mediterranean Seas. Two Russian squadrons that left Kronstadt, after a long transition across the Baltic, passed the English Channel, rounded the shores of France and Portugal, passed Gibraltar and entered the Mediterranean Sea. Here they met with the Turkish fleet, which was then considered the strongest in the world. After several military skirmishes, the Turkish raft took refuge in the Chesme Bay in a panic. Russian ships closed the exit from the bay and during the night battle almost completely burned and destroyed the Turkish fleet. On the Russian side, 11 sailors died, on the Turkish side, 10,000 people.
It was an unprecedented victory in the history of naval battles. In memory of her, a medal was knocked out, Count Alexei Orlov, who commanded the squadrons, received the title of Chesmensky, and in Tsarskoye Selo Catherine II ordered that a monument to this battle be erected - the Chesme Column. It still stands proudly in the middle of the Big Pond. Its marble trunk is completed by an allegorical sculpture - a double-headed eagle breaking a marble crescent.
A painter of the Main Naval Staff (since 1844), Aivazovsky takes part in a number of military campaigns (including Crimean War 1853-1856), creating a lot of pathetic battle paintings.
Aivazovsky's painting of the forties and fifties was marked by a strong influence of the romantic traditions of K.P. Bryullov, which affected not only the skill of painting, but also the very understanding of art and the worldview of Aivazovsky. Like Bryullov, he strives to create grandiose colorful paintings that can glorify Russian art. With Bryullov, Aivazovsky is related by brilliant painting skills, virtuoso technique, speed and courage of performance. This was very clearly reflected in one of the early battle paintings Chesma battle, written by him in 1848, dedicated to the outstanding naval battle. Aivazovsky in the same 1848 painted a picture of the Battle in the Strait of Chios, which, with the Battle of Chesme, made up a kind of pair-diptych, glorifying the victories of the Russian fleet.
After the Chesme battle took place in 1770, Orlov wrote in his report to the Admiralty College: "... Honor to the All-Russian fleet. From June 25 to June 26, the enemy fleet (we) attacked, defeated, broke, burned, let it go to heaven, into ashes turned ... and they themselves began to be dominant in the entire archipelago ... "The pathos of this report, pride in the outstanding feat of Russian sailors, the joy of the victory achieved was beautifully conveyed by Aivazovsky in his picture. At the first glance at the picture, we are seized by a feeling of joyful excitement as from a festive spectacle - a brilliant firework. And only with a detailed examination of the picture becomes clear the plot side of it. The fight is depicted at night. In the depths of the bay, burning ships of the Turkish fleet are visible, one of them at the time of the explosion. Enveloped in fire and smoke, the wreckage of the ship is flying into the air, which has turned into a huge blazing bonfire. And on the side, in the foreground, the flagship of the Russian fleet rises in a dark silhouette, to which, saluting, a boat approaches with the team of Lieutenant Ilyin, who blew up his firewall among the Turkish flotilla. And if we get closer to the picture, we will distinguish on the water the wreckage of Turkish ships with groups of sailors calling for help, and other details.
Aivazovsky was the last and most prominent representative the romantic trend in Russian painting, and these features of his art were especially evident when he painted sea battles full of heroic pathos; in them that "battle music" was heard, without which battle picture devoid of emotional impact.
Ivan Aivazovsky. Black Sea
(A storm begins to play out on the Black Sea).
1881. Oil on canvas.
Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, Russia.
The artist worked tirelessly until the last days of his life. Aivazovsky's sublime, elevated emotional perception of nature was preserved until the end of his career. But in the 1870s-1880s, external showiness, increased brightness of color give way to calmer, softer ratios of colors. Storms and storms are replaced by the image of the sea in its usual state. The most successful landscapes of this time acquire psychological coloring and the inner significance of the image.
Aivazovsky was close to many Wanderers. The humanistic content of his art and brilliant craftsmanship were highly valued by Kramskoy, Repin, Stasov and Tretyakov. In terms of public importance art, Aivazovsky and the Wanderers had much in common. Long before organization traveling exhibitions Aivazovsky began to arrange exhibitions of his paintings in St. Petersburg, Moscow, as well as in many other big cities Russia. In 1880, Aivazovsky opened the first peripheral art gallery in Russia in Feodosia.
Under the influence of the advanced Russian art of the Wanderers, realistic features appeared with special force in the work of Aivazovsky, which made his works even more expressive and meaningful. Apparently, therefore, it has become customary to consider Aivazovsky's paintings of the seventies the highest achievement in his work. Now for us it is quite clear the process of continuous growth of his skill and deepening of the content of the picturesque images of his works, which took place throughout his life.
In 1881, Aivazovsky created one of the most significant works - the picture of the Black Sea. Restrained tension and epic power excited the artist when creating such landscapes.
The painting depicts the sea on an overcast day; waves, arising at the horizon, move towards the viewer, creating by their alternation a majestic rhythm and sublime structure of the picture. It is written in a stingy, restrained color scheme that enhances its emotional impact. The picture testifies that Aivazovsky was able to see and feel the beauty of the sea element close to him, not only in external pictorial effects, but also in the barely perceptible strict rhythm of her breathing, in her clearly perceptible potential power. And, of course, in this picture he demonstrates his main gift: the ability to show the eternally moving water element permeated with light.
I. Kramskoy said about Aivazovsky's painting "The Black Sea": "This is an endless ocean, not stormy, but swaying, severe, endless. This is one of the most grandiose paintings that I know."
Wave and sky - two elements fill the entire space of the picture, somewhere far away is a small silhouette of a ship. Barely outlined with a brush, it already brings a human element to the landscape, sets the scale of the work and makes us, the viewers, accomplices of the image, empathizing not only with the elements of nature, but also with the person inside it. Moreover, the Black Sea itself is not calm. Aivazovsky called the picture "The Black Sea. A storm begins to play out on the Black Sea." Behind these words, some viewers saw in the picture the emerging revolutionary element, while others saw an emotional image that conveys emotional experiences, showing inseparable bond of man and nature: the sea is agitated, the rhythm of its waves is so accurately captured by the artist that the viewer begins to feel restlessness, the “breadth of breathing” of nature.
Sea waves, like precious stones, absorb many shades of green and blue, they can no longer be called in words. Transparent matter turns glassy before our eyes, it has frozen forever under the brush of the master. Foggy in the depths, luminous from within, it hides the underwater realm of mermaids and tritons, mysterious pearls and bizarre plants with a magical fabric.
"The Black Sea" is not the largest canvas in the artist's work, but it is the result of experiences, understanding of the beloved image of the elements and the pinnacle of Aivazovsky's skill.
(Armenian Hovhannes Ayvazyan; July 17 (29), 1817, Feodosia - April 19 (May 2), 1900, Feodosia) - the most famous Russian marine painter. The main characters of his paintings are seascapes. Aivazovsky went from a Feodosia boy drawing on the walls of houses, because there were no pencils or albums in the house, to one of the most famous and successful masters of his time. It was recognized both on the territory of the Russian Empire and abroad. In the heyday of his fame, the artist returned to Feodosia and made great efforts to change his beloved city for the better.Features of the artist Ivan Aivazovsky: the main theme and hero of Aivazovsky's paintings is the sea, the main genre is the marina. Aivazovsky actively used the glazing technique, thanks to which the “Aivazovsky wave” entered the history of art (this is a translucent foamy wave, often found in his paintings). He almost never painted from nature on principle, believing that the elements cannot be depicted, since in the next moment it is already different. Aivazovsky wrote easily, quickly and was very fruitful, his legacy is about six thousand paintings.
famous paintings Ivan Aivazovsky:"The Ninth Wave", "The Chesme Battle", "The Black Sea", "Among the Waves", "Moonlight Night on the Bosphorus". The artist also has a large number of unknowns for a wide range works, which include various sketches and sketches seascapes.
Artist Ivan Aivazovsky was the first in Russia to start organizing his own solo exhibitions. In his lifetime, 120 of them have passed - few people today can boast of such. He loved society and women, but most of all he loved the sea. His life is an example of a successful hit in his destiny. It seems that at every crossroads in life he made the right choice. Or maybe another one...
About the origin of the artist Aivazovsky and his first paintings
Aivazovsky's ancestors fled during Turkish genocide Armenians to Poland, and then moved to the Crimea. The artist's father in Feodosia already signed the name Gaivazovsky. Hovhannes was also born there. The family had three daughters and two sons. Parents barely made ends meet, so Hovhannes joined the work early. The boy drew very well and played the violin. Paints and paper fell into his hands infrequently, so he mainly had to use improvised means - coal and walls of houses. The mayor Alexander Kaznacheev once became interested in a “wall painting” depicting a soldier in full ammunition, and wished to get acquainted with the author. All his life, Ivan Aivazovsky gratefully remembered his benefactor and said that it was from him that he received "the best and most memorable gift - a box of water colors and a whole ream of drawing paper". Treasurers assigned him to the Simferopol gymnasium, and settled him at home for the duration of his studies. Then he contributed to the enrollment of the boy at public expense in the Imperial Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg. The young student was recorded as Ivan Gaivazovsky. Only in 1840 did the letter G disappear from his surname - so he wants to pay tribute to his Armenian roots.At the Academy of Arts
Aivazovsky got into the class of the well-known landscape painter at that time, a wonderful teacher Maxim Vorobyov. Ivan learned academic wisdom from him, and from him he adopted a love for the romantic direction, then still innovative. Aivazovsky was a frequent visitor to the teacher's house, and he himself made progress, his paintings were noticed and praised, and amazing prospects opened up before him. Moreover, at the age of 18, Ivan Konstantinovich received a silver medal from the Academy. This medal almost put an end to his future.In Russia at that time, the French marine painter Philip Tanner was received at court and extremely loved. He was invited to write the most important Russian ports. Aivazovsky was sent to the Frenchman as an assistant. He quickly appreciated the student's talent and instructed him not only to stretch canvases, grind paints, wash brushes, but also sketch views. There was a lot of work, and Aivazovsky was completely exhausted in the process of preparing Tanner for the exhibition. Once he was met by the President of the Academy Olenin. Alarmed by the haggard appearance of the young man, Olenin invited him to his estate. There Aivazovsky regained his strength and ... painted a couple of marinas. The president, on his own initiative, presented them at the academic exhibition of 1836.
For the artist Aivazovsky, this exhibition is also memorable for the fact that he was immediately highly appreciated by Karl Bryullov: “I saw your paintings at the exhibition and suddenly felt the salty taste of the sea on my lips ... It is clear that you are gifted with an exceptional memory that preserves the impressions of nature itself. This is important for a true artist". At the same exhibition, Aivazovsky met Pushkin. The following year, the poet was killed, but this meeting deeply sunk into the soul of the artist, and he then painted many paintings dedicated to Pushkin.
Reviews are positive! Moreover, there was a review in which the picture of Aivazovsky was opposed to the mannered canvases of Tanner. Such a comparison extremely offended Tanner, and he, taking advantage of the position of a master of painting close to the emperor, complained that Aivazovsky "stole his secrets" and through his head exhibited his paintings at the exhibition. Nicholas I did not like violations of subordination, therefore he ordered the work of the obstinate student to be removed. But confusion arose, Aivazovsky's paintings hung until the end of the exhibition and were awarded a silver medal. When it turned out that these were the same works, the emperor did not want to hear more about the impudent one.
And here the amazing luck of Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky manifested itself in the people taking part in his fate. Zhukovsky, Glinka, Olenin, Puppeteer - who just did not intercede for him. Everything is in vain! As a "heavy artillery" to protect the young talent, the drawing teacher of the royal daughters, professor of the academy Alexander Sauerweid stood up. He managed to soften the anger of Nicholas I. Aivazovsky was transferred to the class of battle painting, in which Sauerweid taught. Soon the young man, having received the gold medal of the Academy, was sent for an internship to the Crimea, and then to Europe.
Aivazovsky's paintings conquer Europe
In Europe, the artist Aivazovsky first appeared at the age of 23. "I like a bee I collect honey from a flower garden", - he reported about his trip to Italy, in which he eagerly absorbed new species and wrote. At that time, work from nature was considered acutely relevant. Ivan Konstantinovich tried hard to follow these calls. In Sorrento, he painted views from nature for three weeks, examining all the surrounding beaches. And after that, Aivazovsky painted two paintings from memory in the workshop. What was the astonishment of the artist when at the exhibition the audience indifferently passed by his "nature" and for a long time froze at the "invented" dawn and sunset. From that moment on, he stopped trying to fit himself into a box that was clearly too tight for him. The artist always carried a notebook with a pencil with him to make sketches, sketches, but from now on he painted only in the studio.And again falling into his own rut - Aivazovsky found his own way, his own way of painting, even though he went against what painters were then taught. And fame found him. The years spent abroad seem to represent an unending series of successes. The great Turner, who created an incomparable song of the sea, sun and air, was delighted with the works of the Russian artist. A poem dedicated to the then young Aivazovsky by the British master is widely known: “Forgive me , great artist, if I was mistaken in taking the picture for reality, but your work fascinated me, and delight took possession of me. Your art is high and powerful, because you are inspired by the Genius".
The formation of Aivazovsky's brush was influenced, first of all, by Claude Lorrain (Turner also considered him his teacher), Sylvester Shchedrin (Ivan Konstantinovich's talent grew, perhaps, in opposition to the principles of Shchedrin, a great admirer of plein air painting) and Karl Bryullov - the ability to combine academic rigor with romantic excitement.
Wherever he came, soon hundreds of paintings “under Aivazovsky” appeared in all the art shops, and a queue of those wishing to purchase the originals lined up to him. He no longer had to weigh his travels against the modest boarding house provided by the Academy. Switzerland, Holland, England, France, Portugal and Spain - success everywhere.
A series of right choices
In 1844, Ivan Aivazovsky turned 27 years old. Some at this age are just finding their way, and some are not yet. He managed to conquer Europe, and upon his return he became an academician and official artist of the navy. He was instructed to paint views of Russian ports and coastal cities on the Baltic Sea, which Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky does with great pleasure. He carried his love for the fleet and ships through his whole life, and enjoyed a well-deserved reciprocal love.Aivazovsky was repeatedly blamed for the ease with which sea waves. And, perhaps, the ease with which he was given success. He is favored by the emperor, he is loved by the world, he is friendly with famous writers, composers, and artists. He writes joyfully and freely. Acquaintance with Vissarion Belinsky brought dissonance to this harmony. Severe morals critic was not a lover of sentiment. He recognized Aivazovsky's enormous talent as a peace painter and pointed out to him the danger that awaited him. “Get out of here, Ivan Konstantinovich. St. Petersburg will destroy you. Not for people like you, this city ... You will ruin your happy gift on the royal orders and on the orders of his nobles ”. He remembered how his career almost collapsed in his youth. In addition, he was really unbearably drawn to the sea. He could spend the winter in St. Petersburg, but it got a little warmer - he was eager for the waves.
In the most fashionable drawing rooms of St. Petersburg, the news about strange artist Aivazovsky, a darling of fortune and a favorite of the emperor, who, in the prime of his glory, took and left for provincial Feodosia. And he never regretted it: finding your place is no less important than finding your own business. Ivan Konstantinovich loved his city very much. It seems that he made it his goal to thank him for the start in life that was given to him. Without occupying any rank, he became the real father of the city. His yard was always open to the townspeople, he set up a theater, an art school, a gallery in Feodosia. It seems that half of the Feodosia children were baptized by him personally. He made a lot of efforts to build a port in Feodosia and lay a railway, gave the city a water pipe.
Artist Aivazovsky and his women
Aivazovsky's first love, about which either information or legends have come down to us, is the leading soloist of the Paris Opera, ballerina Maria Taglioni. She was 13 years older than the artist. He dreamed of always being there, but Maria decided that in her life the main role devoted to ballet and refused to become his wife.Having already built a house in Feodosia, Aivazovsky often spent the winter in St. Petersburg, where he was considered a very enviable groom. And it's not just fame and wealth - he was very handsome, courteous, charming and cheerful. How many beauties dreamed of turning his head! In one of the wealthy St. Petersburg families, the older girls quarreled, trying to determine who Aivazovsky, who frequented them, was in love with. And he himself offered to give drawing lessons to both the elders and the younger, whom the governess brought to classes. The mother of the family was thinking in a sinful way, what if she herself sunk into the soul of a young man? Two weeks later, Petersburg received a new gossip. A well-known artist, a handsome young man, a charming rich man marries ... a governess! That's who he came for!
Married to Yulia Grevs, four girls were born. Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky was incredibly happy and said that his best paintings were inspired by marriage. Alas, such happiness was not endless. Julia dreamed of shining in St. Petersburg, but life in Feodosia did not suit her at all. The family paradise gave way to scandals, and after 11 years she left for Odessa, from where she sent complaints to the tsar against her husband and prevented him from communicating with his children. In 1877, their marriage was officially annulled.
Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky was well known and loved in Feodosia. When the matchmaker handed over the proposal of the 65-year-old master to the 26-year-old widow Anna Sarkizova, she did not hesitate for long. The whole Feodosia celebrated the wedding. In this marriage, the artist gained support and understanding.
"Happiness smiled at me", he once said. When a person falls into his destiny and lives his life, then happiness really smiles at him.
Today, Aivazovsky's paintings are exhibited all over the world, they are also present in the catalogs of various reputable auctions, such as Sotheby's, for example, and are an incredible success. The richest art collectors want to buy Ivan Konstantinovich's works for a lot of money. But the most large paintings the artist remains in museums and is available to the public: the painting “Among the Waves” (282 × 425 cm) is exhibited in the Aivazovsky Gallery in Feodosia, “The Ninth Wave” (221 × 332 cm) in the Russian Museum, “The Black Sea” (149 × 208 cm) in the Tretyakov Gallery.
Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky (Hovhannes Ayvazyan) was born in Feodosia on July 29, 1817. His father, Konstantin Grigorievich Aivazovsky, an Armenian by nationality, married an Armenian compatriot named Hripsime. Ivan (or Hovhannes - this was the name he was given at birth) had three sisters and a brother Gabriel (at birth - Sargis), who later became an Armenian historian and priest. Konstantin Aivazovsky was a merchant, initially quite prosperous, but in 1812 he went bankrupt due to the plague.Even as a child, Ivan Aivazovsky showed outstanding artistic and musical abilities - for example, he mastered playing the violin without outside help. Yakov Khristianovich Kokh, an architect from Feodosia, was the first to notice artistic talents young Ivan and taught him initial lessons skill. He supplied Aivazovsky with pencils, paper, paints, and also attracted the attention of A. I. Kaznacheev, the mayor of Feodosia, to the boy's talents.
Aivazovsky graduated from the Feodosia district school, then was admitted to the Simferopol gymnasium with the assistance of the mayor, who by that time had already turned into an admirer of the young man's talent. Following this, he was enrolled in the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts (training in which was carried out at the expense of the state), thanks to the recommendation of the German painter Johann Ludwig Gross, the first drawing teacher for young Aivazovsky. Sixteen-year-old Ivan Aivazovsky arrived in St. Petersburg in 1833.
In 1835, Aivazovsky's landscapes "View of the seaside in the vicinity of St. Petersburg" and "Study of air over the sea" were awarded a silver medal, the artist was appointed assistant to the fashionable French landscape painter Philip Tanner. The latter forbade Aivazovsky to paint on his own, but the young artist continued to paint landscapes, and in the autumn of 1836, five of his paintings were presented at the exhibition of the Academy of Arts, all of which received favorable reviews from critics.
But Philip Tanner filed a complaint against Aivazovsky to the Tsar, and at the direction of Nicholas I, all the artist's works were removed from the exhibition. Aivazovsky was pardoned six months later. He was transferred to the class of military marine painting under the guidance of Professor Alexander Ivanovich Sauerweid. After a few months of training with Sauerweid, Aivazovsky was waiting for unprecedented success - in the fall of 1837 he was awarded the Big Gold Medal for the painting "Calm", thus earning the right to travel to the Crimea and Europe.
The period of creativity from 1838 to 1844.
In the spring of 1838 the artist went to the Crimea, where he lived until the summer of 1839. main theme his works were not only seascapes, but also battle scenes. At the suggestion of General Raevsky, Aivazovsky took part in hostilities on the Circassian coast in the valley of the Shakhe River. There he made sketches for the future canvas "Landing of the Detachment in the Subashi Valley", which he wrote later; then this canvas was acquired by Nicholas I. By the autumn of 1839, the painter returned to St. Petersburg, on September 23 he was awarded a certificate of graduation from the Academy of Arts, the first rank and personal nobility.During this period of time, Aivazovsky became a member of the circle of the artist Karl Bryullov and the composer Mikhail Glinka. In the summer of 1840, the artist, together with his friend from the Academy, Vasily Shternberg, went to Italy. Rome was their final destination, stopping in Florence and Venice along the way. In Venice, Aivazovsky made acquaintance with N.V. Gogol, and also visited the island of St. Lazarus, where he met his brother Gabriel. Settling in southern Italy, in Sorrento, he worked in his own unique way - spending only a short time outdoors, and in the studio he recreated the landscape, improvising and giving free rein to fantasy. The painting "Chaos" was acquired by Pope Gregory XVI, who gave the painter a gold medal as a reward for this work. The "Italian" period of the artist's work is considered very successful both from a commercial point of view and from the point of view of criticism - for example, the work of Ivan Konstantinovich was highly appreciated by the English painter William Turner. The Paris Academy of Arts awarded Aivazovsky's paintings with a gold medal.
In 1842, Aivazovsky visited Switzerland and Germany, then went to Holland, from there to England, and later visited Paris, Portugal and Spain. It was not without incident - in the Bay of Biscay, he fell into a storm and almost sank the ship on which Ivan Konstantinovich was sailing, and information appeared in the Parisian press about the death of the artist. In the autumn of 1844, after a four-year journey, Aivazovsky returned to his homeland.
Later career, period from 1844 to 1895
In 1844, Ivan Konstantinovich was awarded the title of painter of the Main Naval Staff, in 1847 - professor at the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts. He was an honorary member of five Academies of Arts in European cities - Paris, Rome, Florence, Stuttgart, Amsterdam.The basis of creativity Aivazovsky was a maritime theme, he created a series of portraits of the cities of the Crimean coast. Among marine painters, Aivazovsky has no equal - he captured the sea as a stormy element with menacing foaming waves, and at the same time he painted numerous landscapes of amazing beauty depicting sunrises and sunsets on the sea. Although among the paintings of Aivazovsky there are types of sushi (mainly mountain scenery), as well as portraits - the sea is undoubtedly his native element.
He was one of the founders of the Cimmerian school landscape painting, conveying on the canvas the beauty of the Black Sea coast of the eastern Crimea.
His career can be called brilliant - he had the rank of rear admiral and was awarded many orders. The total number of works by Aivazovsky exceeds 6,000.
Aivazovsky did not like metropolitan life, he was irresistibly drawn to the sea, and in 1845 he returned to hometown- Feodosia, where he lived until the end of his life. He received the title of the first honorary citizen of Feodosia.
He was not only an outstanding artist, but also a philanthropist - he founded an art school and an art gallery with the money he earned. Aivazovsky made a lot of efforts to improve Feodosia: he initiated the construction of a railway that connected Feodosia and Dzhankoy in 1892; thanks to him, water supply appeared in the city. He was also interested in archeology, he was engaged in the protection of Crimean monuments, participated in archaeological excavations (some of the items found were transferred to the Hermitage). At his own expense, Aivazovsky erected a new building for the Feodosia Historical and Archaeological Museum.
To the Palestinian society, which was headed by I.I. Tchaikovsky, brother famous composer, Ivan Konstantinovich presented his work "Walking on the Waters".
Completion of a career and the last days of the painter
Aivazovsky died on May 2, 1900 in Feodosia, having reached old age(he lived 82 years).Before last day Aivazovsky wrote - one of his last canvases is called “Sea Bay”, and the painting “The Explosion of a Turkish Ship” remained unfinished due to the sudden death of the artist. The unfinished painting remained on the easel in the painter's studio.
Ivan Konstantinovich buried in Feodosia, in the fence of a medieval Armenian temple. Three years later, the painter's widow installed a marble tombstone on his grave - a sarcophagus made of white marble by Italian sculptor L. Biojoli.
In 1930, a monument to Aivazovsky was erected in Feodosia in front of the eponymous art gallery. The painter is represented sitting on a pedestal and peering into the sea distance, in his hands is a palette and a brush.
Family
Aivazovsky was married twice. He first married in 1848 to an Englishwoman Julia Grevs, daughter of a St. Petersburg doctor. In this marriage, which lasted 12 years, four daughters were born. At the beginning family life was prosperous, then a crack appeared in the relationship of the spouses - Yulia Yakovlevna wanted to live in the capital, and Ivan Konstantinovich preferred his native Feodosia. The final divorce took place in 1877, and in 1882 Aivazovsky remarried - Anna Nikitichna Sarkisova, a young merchant's widow, became his wife. Despite the fact that the spouse was almost 40 years old older than Anna Sarkisova, Aivazovsky's second marriage was successful.
It is curious that many of the grandchildren of the great painter followed in his footsteps and became artists.
