Each picture of Shishkin - the exact reproduction of the beauty of nature

The famous Russian landscape painter Ivan Ivanovich Shishkin left behind several hundred paintings, glorifying the beauty of Russian nature. The choice of subjects was greatly influenced by the area where he grew up. This Vyatka province, the city of Elabuga and the surrounding area - the floodplain of the Kama River, its steep banks, forest streams, cutting through thick thickets of ship forests, lakes, sunny lawns ... All this gave him inspiration and the desire to capture the divine beauty on canvas.

Favorite stories

Birch, oak, pine - the artist's favorite trees. Even when leaving Russia, he wandered around the neighborhoods of Düsseldorf, Munich, Zurich and looked for similar species. When he went to Finland to visit his daughter Lidia, Ivan Ivanovich continued to write landscapes, because the nature of these places is very similar to the Russian one.

If you carefully examine the canvases of Ivan Shishkin, you can find on them often repeating landscapes with pines. The majestic Kama beauties conquered the heart of Ivan Ivanovich as a child.

"Pine trees, illuminated by the sun"

Shishkin's picture "Pines, illuminated by the sun," written in 1886, introduces us to the charm of the Russian forest: two slender, strong trees, one that goes to ship masts; Fluffy crowns create a nice cool shade; The elastic soil, strewn with a thick layer of needles, drowns out all the noise. Only the singing of birds and the rustle of branches from the gusts of the wind disturb the silence of the summer day. The resinous smell slightly excites, the easy breeze encourages. The viewer can easily imagine himself in this place. Notice how the bark, branches, needles are written out. You might think that there is a photo in front of you. Some of our contemporaries consider this a major drawback. Do not forget that in the days of Shishkin not yet invented a degerrotype. Reliability, scrupulousness in the image was valued higher than the smeared strokes. The era of photography and impressionism was ahead.

Ivan Shishkin is a master of small details. He deliberately does not give his subjects a psychological focus. He writes how he breathes, how he lives. He does not teach anyone. A series of heavy losses that befell the artist in the prime of life, taught him patience, accepting his fate as a cross imposed by the Lord. What associations are caused by this picture of Shishkin? "Pines, illuminated by the sun" - a pair of beautiful, strong, healthy trees. Under their shadow it is nice to hide from the scorching rays of the midday sun. Here could play small cubs, as in "Morning in a pine forest", or rest tired mushroom pickers. Sadness grows from the landscape. Only two pines and an empty space nearby. By the time of writing, the artist had already twice widowed and no longer hoped for the opportunity to live in a happy family nest.

Two pines as two different people

Ivan Ivanovich rightly considered it unnecessary to load pictures of nature with psychology. Nevertheless it turned out that every picture of Shishkin is an autobiography of the artist, a projection of his personal life, pain and joy of his soul. Compare - "Pine on the rock," written in 1855, then the artist was 23 years old, and "In the north wild," the year of writing - 1891. He is almost 70 years old. He has already twice widowed, buried his sons. What can you expect from life? Up to what piercingly lonely and unattached looks Valaam pine (Shishkin's picture "In the North Wild"). Compare it to the earlier work of 1884 "Pine in the Sand".

That year, Ivan Ivanovich turned 52 years old. In his works (canvases "Pine in the Sand" and "Before the Storm"), there is a hope for change, the opportunity to start a new life. Look, the pine on the sand seems to rise to the dune. The sandy hills look more like a shield from the cold winds of the Baltic than obstacles. And yet the soil is unsteady. There is no previous self-confidence. There were doubts, although hope is not lost yet.

"Before the storm"

Ivan Ivanovich works a lot. Labor does not allow to break down and to descend. The artist pays particular attention to small details, draws every blade of grass, every leaf. Shishkin's painting "Before the Storm" was written just in those years. Note that the right side is much more loaded. A narrow but clear path makes a decisive turn to the right, to the future. Standing water is not a place to stay. Discouragement is a grave sin. While we are alive, we must move forward! Fresh and bright shades of green on the right side and a yellowish, slightly dried grass on the left. A large bush is not an obstacle. It is like a screen, behind which a new life. What is she like?

The last picture of Shishkin

Pine forests in the Vyatka province, with centenary trees half a meter in diameter and up to forty meters high, were also called shipborne or masted forests. Straight, strong and light trunks were transported to the shipyard and used in shipbuilding.

It is no accident that the last picture of Shishkin is "The Ship Grove" (1898). The exhibition was held in February-March of the same year, and Ivan Ivanovich presented his new work on it. The last picture of Shishkin is also known under the name "Afonasofskaya ship grove near Yelabuga". She caused a lot of enthusiasm, and on March 8 a wonderful artist died. Death found him behind an easel, with a brush in his hand, for creating a new landscape ...