Julius Yulievich Klever, born Julius von Klever, came from an old family of von Klevers, who were Baltic Germans. He was born in the city of Dorpat (now the Estonian city of Tartu).
In 1867, Julius Klever arrived in Saint Petersburg and entered the Imperial Academy of Arts, however, he left in 1870, feeling disappointed in academic education with its strict canons.
It is difficult to attribute Klever’s works to a particular style or movement since he developed his own unique manner. The artist painted from life, but, unlike naturalists, did not strive for authenticity in his paintings. Klever gravitated toward using color effects and beautifying the landscape motif, which brought him closer to academic art, known for its eclectic side. However, the artist chose subjects well outside the scope of salon painting, such as gnarled birch trees, huts, old gates, swamps and copses.
Klever was known as an independent and quite active Saint Petersburg artist. In 1874, Julius Klever organized his personal exhibition using stands of the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, which went well and received critical acclaim.
The artist had excellent knowledge of how, to what extent and what colors complement and enhance each other. Klever (just like Arkhip Kuindzhi) saw the spectrum of hues in a much broader way than an average person. The viewer looks at sunsets and landscapes through the lens of Klever’s painting. The artist managed to capture what many people do not notice, and his vision, which made his works truly unique and recognizable, would later be dubbed as “Klever effects”.
Throughout his career, Julius Klever stayed true to his style. The painter created the work “Winter Sunset”, depicting a bright sunset in winter, a year before his death. Winter sunsets were among the artist’s most favorite landscape motifs. The sky in the painting is predominantly reddish-yellow and smoky gray. The treetops far in the background, the snow-covered roof of the village hut, and the lonely birch trees are flooded with the light from the setting sun. The light in the hut window and flying birds enliven the winter evening landscape.
