Konstantin Makovsky was different from many painters of his time with his peculiar manner of painting. Makovsky’s art biography is interesting. He united Vasily Perov’s heritage of a realist painter with Karl Bryullov’s romanticism. In the early period of his art he was interested in the ideas of Peredvizhniki, worked on paintings in genre and historical art. Later the artist stepped away from the ideas of Peredvizhniki and chose his own path not adherent to any artistic movement.
There was a time when the artist was fascinated by the boyars’ life and the Eastern motives. His works have bright, juicy color. Each detail in there is aesthetic and harmonic. There is no drama, no excessive psychologism. The artist concentrated on demonstrating his talent with transferring the texture and color. Objective world and its beauty occupied Makovsky during his whole life. He started his path as a painter and, apart from that, continued it as a famous collector of the antiquities. He was very popular among Saint Petersburg’s grand people and got a lot of orders.
One of Konstantin Makovsky’s mottos was the phrase: “life is so beautiful when you take it with handfuls!” Not only his professional but his personal life was eventful as well.
At the painting featured at the exhibition “Portrait of Artist”s Children” we see Sergei and Elena Makovsky, the artist’s elder children from his second marriage. Elena followed in her father’s footsteps and became a painter, while Sergei was famous as one of the most important figures of the “Silver Age”. He wrote poems, was engaged into the art critic. As an editor he published journal “Apollo”, which became one of the centres of literature, theatre and art life of early 20th century. The portrait is painted in a bright and festive manner. The bright sunlight drenches the picture. The children are dressed in beautiful costumes for working in a garden, a garden itself is full of blossoming flowers. The artist created a truly idealistic and decorative children’s portrait full of details. He played with the object’s texture and the bright colours making the atmosphere of a celebration and the beauty triumph.
There was a time when the artist was fascinated by the boyars’ life and the Eastern motives. His works have bright, juicy color. Each detail in there is aesthetic and harmonic. There is no drama, no excessive psychologism. The artist concentrated on demonstrating his talent with transferring the texture and color. Objective world and its beauty occupied Makovsky during his whole life. He started his path as a painter and, apart from that, continued it as a famous collector of the antiquities. He was very popular among Saint Petersburg’s grand people and got a lot of orders.
One of Konstantin Makovsky’s mottos was the phrase: “life is so beautiful when you take it with handfuls!” Not only his professional but his personal life was eventful as well.
At the painting featured at the exhibition “Portrait of Artist”s Children” we see Sergei and Elena Makovsky, the artist’s elder children from his second marriage. Elena followed in her father’s footsteps and became a painter, while Sergei was famous as one of the most important figures of the “Silver Age”. He wrote poems, was engaged into the art critic. As an editor he published journal “Apollo”, which became one of the centres of literature, theatre and art life of early 20th century. The portrait is painted in a bright and festive manner. The bright sunlight drenches the picture. The children are dressed in beautiful costumes for working in a garden, a garden itself is full of blossoming flowers. The artist created a truly idealistic and decorative children’s portrait full of details. He played with the object’s texture and the bright colours making the atmosphere of a celebration and the beauty triumph.
