The coastal strip of many kilometers stretches between the southern part of the bay and the Lielupe River — the Riga seaside. It is a famous resort area that borders the Latvian capital on one side and the Kurzeme Forests on the other. A couple of hundred years ago, the Riga seaside was deserted except for dunes and occasional fishing villages. However, when cholera broke out in Riga in the early 19th century, the residents moved to the picturesque and undeveloped coast to escape. That is the story of how the first private summer houses and hotels on the Riga seaside came to be.
Between the 17th and the early 20th century, the Riga seaside belonged to the German barons by the name of von Fircks. By the mid-1900s, the whole area was declared to become the city of Jūrmala, which translates as “seaside”.
Andrey Kurnakov’s painting “Boats on the Riga Seaside” depicts a typical Latvian landscape with a cold coloring typical of the northern waters. This is a classic oil painting. It has an elongated format: the artist needed a suitable size for painting the coastal strip. The high clear sky is slightly touched by the gleams of the sun. Crimson lighting colors the wings of seagulls and the decks. The fishing boats along the shore are the focal point of the painting. At the same time, they do not make the foreground cumbersome — apart from working on the proportions of the old boats, the artist also emphasizes their texture: he uses various colors to paint the pine boards, that look aged because of seawater, and adds a few scratchy details, such as ropes, for a more authentic look.
The sand found on the Riga seaside is extremely fine and clean, in the painting it is rendered with patches of light gray and yellowish. Small strokes and spots of color, used to show the cluttered coastal zone, add some diversity to the foreground. But Kurnakov’s main focus is still on the sea — it is dark emerald far on the horizon or light, silver-gray, icy, and clear toward the shore. When the weather is good, the sea is usually clear and sparkling, however, in this picture, it is portrayed as dense and deep, in muted matte colors. Paint streaks can be discerned around the sea foam, which comes from the fluent and thick manner of painting used to emphasize the spirit of the cold northern reservoir with its impressive ebbs and flows.
Between the 17th and the early 20th century, the Riga seaside belonged to the German barons by the name of von Fircks. By the mid-1900s, the whole area was declared to become the city of Jūrmala, which translates as “seaside”.
Andrey Kurnakov’s painting “Boats on the Riga Seaside” depicts a typical Latvian landscape with a cold coloring typical of the northern waters. This is a classic oil painting. It has an elongated format: the artist needed a suitable size for painting the coastal strip. The high clear sky is slightly touched by the gleams of the sun. Crimson lighting colors the wings of seagulls and the decks. The fishing boats along the shore are the focal point of the painting. At the same time, they do not make the foreground cumbersome — apart from working on the proportions of the old boats, the artist also emphasizes their texture: he uses various colors to paint the pine boards, that look aged because of seawater, and adds a few scratchy details, such as ropes, for a more authentic look.
The sand found on the Riga seaside is extremely fine and clean, in the painting it is rendered with patches of light gray and yellowish. Small strokes and spots of color, used to show the cluttered coastal zone, add some diversity to the foreground. But Kurnakov’s main focus is still on the sea — it is dark emerald far on the horizon or light, silver-gray, icy, and clear toward the shore. When the weather is good, the sea is usually clear and sparkling, however, in this picture, it is portrayed as dense and deep, in muted matte colors. Paint streaks can be discerned around the sea foam, which comes from the fluent and thick manner of painting used to emphasize the spirit of the cold northern reservoir with its impressive ebbs and flows.
