Konstantin Yuon established himself as an artist at a time when avant-garde dominated Russian art. However, the master remained committed to the school of realism only rarely adopting techniques of the new art. KonstantIn YuOn painted landscapes and churches. He perfectly managed to convey winter rarefied air and features of ancient Russian architecture. At the same time, the artist created a number of startling symbolic paintings, which artistically reflected on the revolutionary and military events taking place in the country.
NovosibIrsk State Art Museum stores one of his paintings, ‘Symphony of action.’ This is a deeply symbolical work, which absorbed the artist’s anxious presentiments caused by the tragic events of the early 20th century. In the painting, the artist interpreted the revolution in his own original way. It resembles the scene of the Last Judgment and acquires a global cosmic scale. He depicts people dying and cities being destroyed. Against the background of the blazing sky, we see the vague outlines of the things that are yet to come.
Yuon’s ‘Symphony of action’ is about the movement of cosmic powers. People are powerless in the face of the elements that destroy everything in their way. They look like pitiful little creatures doomed to die. The relationship between the artist and reality in this work is completely different from that in his realistic and impressionistic paintings.
We see an imaginary reality. Its appearance in Yuon’s creative work is largely explained by historical and cultural circumstances. The master was under the influence of the symbolists and artists of the Blue Rose association. For them, the cosmic issue was among the most significant.
Artist Alexandre Benois said that the appearance of cosmic motifs and images in Yuon’s creative work had been also prompted by the then-popular scientific discoveries. It was the time when Tsiolkovsky dreamt of building an interplanetary spacecraft. Yuon’s work on theater productions also affected his paintings since the theater is considered a realm of imagination and fantasies.
NovosibIrsk State Art Museum stores one of his paintings, ‘Symphony of action.’ This is a deeply symbolical work, which absorbed the artist’s anxious presentiments caused by the tragic events of the early 20th century. In the painting, the artist interpreted the revolution in his own original way. It resembles the scene of the Last Judgment and acquires a global cosmic scale. He depicts people dying and cities being destroyed. Against the background of the blazing sky, we see the vague outlines of the things that are yet to come.
Yuon’s ‘Symphony of action’ is about the movement of cosmic powers. People are powerless in the face of the elements that destroy everything in their way. They look like pitiful little creatures doomed to die. The relationship between the artist and reality in this work is completely different from that in his realistic and impressionistic paintings.
We see an imaginary reality. Its appearance in Yuon’s creative work is largely explained by historical and cultural circumstances. The master was under the influence of the symbolists and artists of the Blue Rose association. For them, the cosmic issue was among the most significant.
Artist Alexandre Benois said that the appearance of cosmic motifs and images in Yuon’s creative work had been also prompted by the then-popular scientific discoveries. It was the time when Tsiolkovsky dreamt of building an interplanetary spacecraft. Yuon’s work on theater productions also affected his paintings since the theater is considered a realm of imagination and fantasies.
