The great Russian artist Isaac Levitan painted “Railway Track” during one of the most difficult periods of his life.

Isaac Levitan was born into an impoverished Jewish family that moved to Moscow in search of a better life. Despite living under constant financial stress, the head of the family did not object to either of his two sons, Adolf and Isaac, devoting their lives to painting. Both brothers entered the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture and soon faced a terrible tragedy when their mother and then father died at an early age. The talent of the young Isaac Levitan attracted the attention of Alexei Savrasov, who invited him to join his landscape class. By the time of his graduation, Levitan studied under Vasily Polenov.

On the one hand, Levitan’s unique talent was quickly recognized by contemporaries, he earned favorable recognition and successfully presented his works at many Russian and foreign exhibitions. On the other hand, the artist faced discrimination due to his nationality. The Soviet artist Konstantin Paustovsky later wrote, “Some teachers were irritated by the talented Jewish boy. They believed that a Jew had no business painting a Russian landscape. According to them, this right was reserved only to artists of Russian ethnicity.” Soon, after Alexander Solovyov’s assassination attempt on Alexander II, mass deportations of Jews from “the original Russian capital” forced Isaac Levitan to leave Moscow for two years.

During the last years of his life, Isaac Levitan was seriously ill. In 1897, his friend, writer and doctor Anton Pavlovich Chekhov, examined the painter and made a note in one of his letters,

Levitan was only 38 or 39 when he painted “Railway Track”. This landscape evokes strong emotions, reflections on the meaning of life, feelings of loneliness, and great compassion for the painter.

After Isaac Levitan’s early death, his brother Adolf (Abel-Leib) Levitan set out to preserve everything that was created by the great Russian artist. He went through all of his brother’s drawings, studies, finished works, and sketches, and certified their authenticity with his signature. The painting “Railway Track” also features his signature in the bottom right corner,“Painted by my late brother I. Levitan. A. Levitan.”