Isaak Levitan was a famous Russian landscape painter, one of the founders of the ‘mood landscape’. In his works, he tried to express the depth and charm of the nature’s quiet beauty.
At the age of 13, Levitan entered the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, where he studied under Alexey Savrasov and Vasily Polenov. “Do not idealize the prospects of studying art” he used to say thinking of those years. “One will have to work hard, to expend a lot of effort, to come through many griefs and disappointments to reach success”. During his study, Levitan lived in poverty: he was suffering a lot from hunger and severe cold when he had to sleep in a frozen attic in the wintertime. Such terrible ordeals sapped his fragile health. That is why afterwards the painter never depicted winter in his works.
While studing, Levitan managed to develop his own original artistic style and began to paint his “mood landscapes” that made him famous. He was not only depicting nature in detail but also expressed his inner spirits and emotional state.
There are several works by Levitan in the Astrakhan Art Gallery; they were bought by the gallery’s founder Pavel Dogadin.
The painting The Nenuphars came from the State Tretyakov gallery in 1927. It demonstrates Levitan’s technical skills. An accurate detailed depiction of the surrounding world comes along with a fresh bright coloristic solution.
In order to make the water lilies the center of the work, Levitan painted them sitting in a boat and looking down at them. That is why the horizon lies beyond the canvas.
The large leaves and lilies resemble some applique work; they are lying on the water surface separating the air space from the water depth. Levitan depicted the transparency of the water in a masterly manner: it is emphasized by waterweeds stretching into the water depth.
At the age of 13, Levitan entered the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, where he studied under Alexey Savrasov and Vasily Polenov. “Do not idealize the prospects of studying art” he used to say thinking of those years. “One will have to work hard, to expend a lot of effort, to come through many griefs and disappointments to reach success”. During his study, Levitan lived in poverty: he was suffering a lot from hunger and severe cold when he had to sleep in a frozen attic in the wintertime. Such terrible ordeals sapped his fragile health. That is why afterwards the painter never depicted winter in his works.
While studing, Levitan managed to develop his own original artistic style and began to paint his “mood landscapes” that made him famous. He was not only depicting nature in detail but also expressed his inner spirits and emotional state.
There are several works by Levitan in the Astrakhan Art Gallery; they were bought by the gallery’s founder Pavel Dogadin.
The painting The Nenuphars came from the State Tretyakov gallery in 1927. It demonstrates Levitan’s technical skills. An accurate detailed depiction of the surrounding world comes along with a fresh bright coloristic solution.
In order to make the water lilies the center of the work, Levitan painted them sitting in a boat and looking down at them. That is why the horizon lies beyond the canvas.
The large leaves and lilies resemble some applique work; they are lying on the water surface separating the air space from the water depth. Levitan depicted the transparency of the water in a masterly manner: it is emphasized by waterweeds stretching into the water depth.
Art historians believe that The Nenuphars can be classified neither as a landscape nor as a still-life.
