Vasily Surikov traveled around the world a lot — he studied art in Italy, Germany, Austria and France, got acquainted with the collection of the Louvre and the collection of the Dresden gallery. However, it was the Crimea which became one of his favorite places. In 1907 Surikov first came to visit the ancient Taurida land.
He wrote to his brother Alexander in Krasnoyarsk: ‘Today I’m on my way to the Crimea with Lena. I’ve never been there’. Later the painter went there many more times. The Crimea gave him boundless horizons, the sun and bright, pure colors. The artist was captivated by the vast sea and gray mountain peaks, ancient settlements and the people living in those places. The artist’s grand-daughter Natalia Konchalovskaya wrote about the Surikov’s first trip to the Crimea: ‘Surikov found Crimea wonderful, he enjoyed swimming, he admired the Crimean sun, and long walks in the mountains…’
During his travel, he visited almost the entire coastline of the southern Crimea: Alupka, Gurzuf, Yalta, Suuk-Su and Simeiz. And each of these places he visited more than once, the main benefit of those destinations was that the distance between them was rather short: five kilometers between Simeiz and Alupka, one and a half — from Gurzuf to Suuk-Su, fifteen kilometers from Yalta to Alupka. When travelling, Vasily Surikov used to take an album, canvases and paints with him, and on vacation he was making sketches. From his trips to the Crimea Surikov brought a lot of landscape paintings created in nature.
Most of Surikov’s landscape paintings were panoramic, with expanded views. His Crimean paintings are not an exception. The artist followed the rule of his first teacher, Nikolai Grebnyov, to “draw the city from the top of the hill”, and Surikov also loved the general views and endless distances. In Simeiz, Vasily Surikov often painted a view of the Mount Koshka, a small bay surrounded with unusual cliffs, and cliffs alone that rose above the turquoise water. One of the frequently repeated motifs was the majestic view of Ay-Petri mountain from Simeiz and Alupka. The “Simeiz Cliffs” landscape painting shows the whimsical scenery in this area: coastal rocky peaks, steep hills that surround the ancient village and small valleys that cross the hills and lead to the sea.
During his travel, he visited almost the entire coastline of the southern Crimea: Alupka, Gurzuf, Yalta, Suuk-Su and Simeiz. And each of these places he visited more than once, the main benefit of those destinations was that the distance between them was rather short: five kilometers between Simeiz and Alupka, one and a half — from Gurzuf to Suuk-Su, fifteen kilometers from Yalta to Alupka. When travelling, Vasily Surikov used to take an album, canvases and paints with him, and on vacation he was making sketches. From his trips to the Crimea Surikov brought a lot of landscape paintings created in nature.
Most of Surikov’s landscape paintings were panoramic, with expanded views. His Crimean paintings are not an exception. The artist followed the rule of his first teacher, Nikolai Grebnyov, to “draw the city from the top of the hill”, and Surikov also loved the general views and endless distances. In Simeiz, Vasily Surikov often painted a view of the Mount Koshka, a small bay surrounded with unusual cliffs, and cliffs alone that rose above the turquoise water. One of the frequently repeated motifs was the majestic view of Ay-Petri mountain from Simeiz and Alupka. The “Simeiz Cliffs” landscape painting shows the whimsical scenery in this area: coastal rocky peaks, steep hills that surround the ancient village and small valleys that cross the hills and lead to the sea.
