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The beauty of Russian nature in the little-known paintings of the great landscape painter Isaac Levitan
The beauty of Russian nature in the little-known paintings of the great landscape painter Isaac Levitan

Video: The beauty of Russian nature in the little-known paintings of the great landscape painter Isaac Levitan

Video: The beauty of Russian nature in the little-known paintings of the great landscape painter Isaac Levitan
Video: Russian Artist Alexandar Averin - YouTube 2024, November
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His landscapes attract with their amazing energy and definitely leave no one indifferent. Isaac Levitan is a legendary Russian landscape painter who in the 19th century discovered all the beauty and splendor of Russian nature for his contemporaries. The future artist was born on August 18, 1860 in the town of Kybarty in the Mariampol district of the August province in a Jewish family. Already as an artist, he traveled almost all over Europe, but most of all he loved and painted with great pleasure it was Russian landscapes.

1. Landscape with a fern

Russian landscape, 1890s
Russian landscape, 1890s

Levitan's father, Ilya Abramovich, came from a rabbinical family that lived in the town of Kaidanova. Elyash studied at the yeshiva in Vilna. Being engaged in self-education, he independently mastered French and German. In Kovno, he taught foreign languages, and then worked as a translator during the construction of a railway bridge, which was led by a French company.

2. Promenade Riva degli Schiavoni

The main Venetian embankment
The main Venetian embankment

Ilya Levitan, striving to improve his financial situation and give his children an education, in the early 1870s moved with his family to Moscow. In 1871, Isaac's older brother, Abel Leib, entered the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. In the fall of 1873, thirteen-year-old Isaac entered the school. His teachers were the artists Perov, Savrasov and Polenov. In 1875, Levitan's mother died and his father became seriously ill. Forced by illness to leave his job on the railroad, Levitan's father could not support his four children with tutoring. The financial situation of the family was such that the school from time to time provided the brothers with material assistance, and in 1876 exempted them from paying tuition "due to extreme poverty" and as "who had great success in the arts." On February 3, 1877, his father died of typhus. For Levitan, his brother and sisters, the time of extreme need has come. The artist then studied in the fourth "full-scale" class with Vasily Perov. Perov's friend, Aleksey Savrasov, drew attention to Levitan and took him to his landscape class. In March 1877, two of Levitan's works exhibited at the exhibition were noted by the press, and the sixteen-year-old artist received a small silver medal and 220 rubles "for the opportunity to continue his studies."

3. Birch grove

Painting by Russian artist Isaac Levitan, painted in 1885-1889
Painting by Russian artist Isaac Levitan, painted in 1885-1889

4. Big road

Autumn sunny day, 1897
Autumn sunny day, 1897

Having already taken place, the artist had a chance to visit France, Italy, Austria, Finland, where he painted several famous canvases. Levitan also enthusiastically received Crimea, where he arrived, probably at the invitation of Chekhov. Having painted several dozen bright, undoubtedly talented landscapes, having traveled around several cities, the artist later wrote to a friend-writer: "Tell Shekhtel … don't worry, I love the north now more than ever, I only now understand it …". Levitan will forever remain faithful to his "Moscow region" and, especially, to the town of Plyos, where the main subjects of the artist were born. Having stopped there for the night, Levitan stayed in Plyos for three artistic seasons and for the rest of his life, inextricably linked his own name and the name of the Volga town.

5. Boulevard in winter

Tsvetnoy Boulevard starting from Trubnaya Square
Tsvetnoy Boulevard starting from Trubnaya Square

6. In early March

A textbook landscape by Isaac Levitan, painted in 1895
A textbook landscape by Isaac Levitan, painted in 1895

Having traveled all over Europe to “synchronize watches” with the leading artists of that time, he nevertheless wrote from Nice: “I can imagine what a charm we have in Russia now - the rivers have flooded, everything comes to life. There is no better country than Russia … Only in Russia can there be a real landscape painter. " And Levitan's paintings really became a reflection of Russian nature, inspiring the poet Rubtsov's poetry and the genius Chekhov's prose. Konstantin Paustovsky, famous for his landscapes in prose, enthusiastically wrote about the spectrum of "emotions" on the artist's canvases.

7. Spring in Italy

Isaac Levitan painted the painting "Spring in Italy" in 1890
Isaac Levitan painted the painting "Spring in Italy" in 1890

8. Evening bells

Painting by Russian artist Isaac Levitan, painted in 1892
Painting by Russian artist Isaac Levitan, painted in 1892

Three years before his death, Levitan will write: “I have never loved nature so much, I was not so sensitive to it, I have never felt this divine something so strongly, spilled in everything, but that not everyone sees, that it cannot even be called, since it does not lend itself to reason, analysis, but is comprehended by love. Without this feeling, there can be no true artist …”.

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