Marine art or maritime art is a genre that focuses on depicting views and scenes of the sea. Seascapes can feature shipwrecks, storms, sea battles, views from the seashore, and any sea-related events. The most famous Russian marine painter is Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky — a talented improviser, a gifted colorist, and an ardent worshiper of the sea. Day after day, he devoted his time to the sea and the easel. His persistence resulted in over 6,000 artworks.

Ivan Aivazovsky was born in Feodosia in 1817. He studied at the Imperial Academy of Arts in Saint Petersburg. He lived and worked in the Crimea and traveled extensively throughout his life.

The artist had a phenomenal memory and painted not from nature but from memory. He collected impressions en plein air and made quick drawings in his sketchbook, sometimes indicating the color of the sea only with letters. He later transformed these impressions into masterpieces in his studio.

“Having sketched the plan of the future painting with a pencil on a scrap of paper, I get to work and throw myself, body and soul, into the process,” Ivan Aivazovsky said, explaining how he created his landscapes so fast.

Being a resolute person, Aivazovsky was categorical in his judgments. He said,

“The Sea. Sunset” is a study marked by the intention to convey a certain state of nature. The artist depicted the edge of the shoreline. Small turquoise waves with white crests roll up on the shore. Above the horizon, a bright yellow and orange sun sets over the sea, making the sky exquisitely bright. Small clouds are illuminated and are distinguished by saturated colors, like burning gold. The sunlight shines on the water, moving from the greenish water to the shore as if approaching the viewer. Ivan Aivazovsky loved the sea most of all and masterfully captured the beauty of his favorite element.