Ivan Ivanovich Shishkin biography in Tatar language. Shishkin Ivan biography
Ivan Ivanovich Shishkin (1832-1898) - Russian landscape artist, painter, draftsman and engraver. Representative of the Dusseldorf Art School. Academician (1865), professor (1873), head of the landscape workshop (1894-1895) of the Academy of Arts. Founding member of the Mobile Partnership art exhibitions.
Biography of Ivan Shishkin
Ivan Ivanovich Shishkin is a famous Russian artist (landscape artist, painter, engraver) and academician.
Ivan was born in the city of Elabuga in 1832 into a merchant family. The artist received his first education at the Kazan gymnasium. After studying there for four years, Shishkin entered one of the Moscow painting schools.
After graduating from this school in 1856, he continued his education at the Academy of Arts of St. Petersburg. Within the walls of this institution, Shishkin received knowledge until 1865. In addition to academic drawing, the artist also honed his skills outside the Academy, in various picturesque places in the suburbs of St. Petersburg. Now the paintings of Ivan Shishkin are valued more highly than ever.
In 1860, Shishkin received an important award - the gold medal of the Academy. The artist is heading to Munich. Then - to Zurich. Everywhere he works in the workshops of the most famous artists that time. For the painting “View in the vicinity of Dusseldorf” he soon received the title of academician.
In 1866, Ivan Shishkin returned to St. Petersburg. Shishkin, traveling around Russia, then presented his paintings at various exhibitions. He painted a lot of paintings of a pine forest, among the most famous are “A Stream in the Forest”, “Morning in a Pine Forest”, “Pine Forest”, “Fog in pine forest", "Reserve. Pinery" The artist also showed his paintings at the Association of Traveling Exhibitions. Shishkin was a member of the aquafortist circle. In 1873, the artist received the title of professor at the Academy of Arts, and after some time he was the head of a training workshop.
Works of Ivan Ivanovich Shishkin
Early creativity
For early works masters (“View on the island of Valaam”, 1858, Kiev Museum of Russian Art; “Forest cutting”, 1867, Tretyakov Gallery) some fragmentation of forms is characteristic; adhering to the “scene” structure of the picture, traditional for romanticism, clearly marking the plans, he still does not achieve a convincing unity of the image.
In such films as “Noon. In the vicinity of Moscow" (1869, ibid.), this unity appears as an obvious reality, primarily due to the subtle compositional and light-air-coloristic coordination of the zones of sky and earth, soil (Shishkin felt the latter especially soulfully, in this regard not having equal in Russian landscape art).
Maturity
In the 1870s. Ivan Shishkin was entering a time of unconditional creative maturity, which is evidenced by the paintings “Pine Forest. Mast forest in the Vyatka province" (1872) and "Rye" (1878; both - Tretyakov Gallery).
Usually avoiding the unstable, transitional states of nature, the artist Ivan Shishkin captures its highest summer flowering, achieving impressive tonal unity precisely due to the bright, midday, summer light that determines the entire color scale. Monumental-romantic image of Nature with capital letters is invariably present in the paintings. New, realistic trends appear in the soulful attention with which the signs of a specific piece of land, a corner of a forest or field, or a specific tree are written down.
Ivan Shishkin is a remarkable poet not only of the soil, but also of the tree, with a keen sense of the character of each species [in his most typical entries he usually mentions not just a “forest”, but a forest of “sedge, elms and partly oaks” (diary of 1861) or “forest spruce, pine, aspen, birch, linden” (from a letter to I.V. Volkovsky, 1888)].
Rye Pine forest Among the flat valleys
With particular desire, the artist paints the most powerful and strong species, such as oaks and pines - in the stages of maturity, old age and, finally, death in the windfall. Classic works Ivan Ivanovich - such as “Rye” or “Among the Flat Valley...” (the painting is named after the song by A.F. Merzlyakov; 1883, Kiev Museum of Russian Art), “Forest Distances” (1884, Tretyakov Gallery) - are perceived as generalized, epic images Russia.
The artist Ivan Shishkin is equally successful in both distant views and forest “interiors” (“Pines illuminated by the sun”, 1886; “Morning in a pine forest” where bears are painted by K. A. Savitsky, 1889; both in the same place). His drawings and sketches, which represent a detailed diary of natural life, have independent value.
Interesting facts from the life of Ivan Shishkin
Shishkin and the bears
Did you know that Ivan Shishkin did not write his masterpiece dedicated to bears in the forest alone?
An interesting fact is that to depict the bears, Shishkin hired the famous animal painter Konstantin Savitsky, who did an excellent job. Shishkin fairly assessed his companion’s contribution, so he asked him to put his signature under the painting next to his own. It was in this form that the painting “Morning in a Pine Forest” was brought to Pavel Tretyakov, who managed to buy the painting from the artist during the work process.
Seeing the signatures, Tretyakov was indignant: they say he ordered the painting from Shishkin, and not from a tandem of artists. Well, he ordered the second signature to be washed away. So they put up a painting with the signature of one Shishkin.
Under the influence of the priest
There was another one from Yelabuga amazing person- Kapiton Ivanovich Nevostroev. He was a priest, served in Simbirsk. Noticing his passion for science, the rector of the Moscow Theological Academy invited Nevostroev to move to Moscow and begin describing the Slavic manuscripts stored in the Synodal library. They started together, and then Kapiton Ivanovich continued alone and gave scientific description all historical documents.
So, it was Kapiton Ivanovich Nevostroev who had the strongest influence on Shishkin (like Elabuga residents, they kept in touch in Moscow). He said: “The beauty that surrounds us is the beauty of divine thought diffused in nature, and the artist’s task is to convey this thought as accurately as possible on his canvas.” This is why Shishkin is so meticulous in his landscapes. You won't confuse him with anyone.
Tell me as an artist to an artist...
– Forget the word “photographic” and never associate it with the name Shishkin! – Lev Mikhailovich was indignant when I asked about the stunning accuracy of Shishkin’s landscapes.
– A camera is a mechanical device that simply captures a forest or field in given time under this lighting. Photography is soulless. And in every stroke of the artist there is a feeling that he feels for the surrounding nature.
So what is the secret of a great painter? After all, looking at his “Stream in a Birch Forest,” we clearly hear the murmur and splash of water, and while admiring “Rye,” we literally feel the blow of the wind on our skin!
“Shishkin knew nature like no one else,” the writer shares. “He knew plant life very well, and to some extent was even a botanist. One day Ivan Ivanovich came to Repin’s studio and, looking at his new painting, which depicted rafts floating on a river, asked what kind of wood they were made of. "Who cares?!" – Repin was surprised. And then Shishkin began to explain that the difference is great: if you build a raft from one tree, the logs can swell, if from another, they will sink, but from a third, you will get a serviceable floating craft! His knowledge of nature was phenomenal!
You don't have to be hungry
“An artist must be hungry,” says a well-known aphorism.
“Indeed, the conviction that an artist should be far from everything material and engage exclusively in creativity is firmly entrenched in our consciousness,” says Lev Anisov. – For example, Alexander Ivanov, who wrote “The Appearance of Christ to the People,” was so passionate about his work that he sometimes drew water from the fountain and was content with a crust of bread! But still, this condition is far from necessary, and it certainly did not apply to Shishkin.
While creating his masterpieces, Ivan Ivanovich, nevertheless, lived life to the fullest and did not experience great financial difficulties. He was married twice, loved and appreciated comfort. And he was loved and appreciated beautiful women. And this despite the fact that to people who didn’t know him well, the artist gave the impression of an extremely reserved and even gloomy subject (at school, for this reason, he was even nicknamed “the monk”).
In fact, Shishkin was a bright, deep, versatile personality. But only in a narrow company of close people did it manifest itself true essence: the artist became himself and turned out to be talkative and humorous.
Fame came very early
Russian – yes, but not only Russian! – history knows many examples when great artists, writers, composers received recognition from the general public only after death. In the case of Shishkin, everything was different.
By the time he graduated from the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts, Shishkin was well known abroad, and when the young artist studied in Germany, his works were already being sold and bought well! There is a known case when the owner of a Munich shop did not agree to part with several of Shishkin’s drawings and etchings that decorated his shop for any money. Fame and recognition came to the landscape painter very early.
Noon Artist
Shishkin is an artist of the afternoon. Typically, artists love sunsets, sunrises, storms, fogs - all these phenomena are really interesting to paint. But to write midday, when the sun is at its zenith, when you don’t see shadows and everything merges, is aerobatics, top artistic creativity! To do this you need to feel nature so subtly! In all of Russia, perhaps, there were five artists who could convey all the beauty of the midday landscape, and among them was Shishkin.
In any hut there is a reproduction of Shishkin
Living not far from the painter’s native place, we, of course, believe (or hope!) that he reflected exactly them in his canvases. However, our interlocutor was quick to disappoint. The geography of Shishkin's works is extremely wide. While studying at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, he painted Moscow landscapes - visited the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, worked a lot in the Losinoostrovsky forest, Sokolniki. While living in St. Petersburg, he traveled to Valaam and Sestroretsk. Having become a venerable artist, he visited Belarus and painted in Belovezhskaya Pushcha. Shishkin also worked a lot abroad.
However, in last years During his life, Ivan Ivanovich often visited Yelabuga and also wrote local motifs. By the way, one of his most famous, textbook landscapes – “Rye” – was painted just somewhere not far from his native place.
“He saw nature through the eyes of his people and was loved by the people,” says Lev Mikhailovich. - In any village house in a prominent place one could find a reproduction of his works, “Among the Flat Valley...”, “In the Wild North...”, “Morning in a Pine Forest,” torn from a magazine.
Bibliography
- F. Bulgakov, “Album of Russian painting. Paintings and drawings by I. I. Sh.” (SPb., 1892);
- A. Palchikov, “List printed sheets I.I.Sh.” (SPb., 1885)
- D. Rovinsky, " Detailed dictionary Russian engravers of the 16th-19th centuries." (vol. II, St. Petersburg, 1885).
- I. I. Shishkin. "Correspondence. Diary. Contemporaries about the artist." L., Art, 1984. - 478 pp., 20 sheets. ill., portrait. — 50,000 copies.
- V. Manin Ivan Shishkin. M.: White City, 2008, p.47 ISBN 5-7793-1060-2
- I. Shuvalova. Ivan Ivanovich Shishkin. St. Petersburg: Artists of Russia, 1993
- F. Maltseva. Masters of Russian landscape: Second half of the 19th century. M.: Art, 1999
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Painted paintings in various genres. He was the same good landscape painter, painter and aquatic engraver. Here is such a versatile artist.
Ivan Ivanovich was born into the merchant family of Ivan Vasilyevich Shishkin. This significant event for Russian and world art took place on January 25, 1832. The family lived in the city of Elabuga, Vyatka province.
When Ivan was 12 years old, he entered the first Kazan gymnasium. After studying there until the fifth grade, he entered the Moscow School of Painting.
After completing the science course at Moscow art school, he continues his studies at the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts. Ivan Ivanovich was not very happy educational process, which took place within the walls of the Art Academy.
In his free time, Shishkin worked with great diligence to improve his skills, and painted landscapes. Shishkin painted landscapes from the beauty of St. Petersburg, fortunately beautiful places There were plenty of things in the city to inspire the artist.
During his first year of study at the academy, he achieved great success and was awarded two small silver medals.
In 1858, the artist received a large silver medal for the first time. He received this honor for a painting describing the beauty of Valaam. A year later he was awarded a gold medal for St. Petersburg landscapes.
Shishkin, thanks to his diligent study and his amazing creativity, won the right from the academy to travel abroad. The trip, of course, was free. In 1861 he went to Munich, where he visited the workshops of such master artists as Beno Adamov and his brother Franz.
Further his path lay in Switzerland, in Zurich. In Switzerland, he worked under the supervision of Professor Koller, who perfected Shishkin's skills. Having then visited Geneva, he completed a painting, depicting in it a view of the Geneva surroundings. The painting was done very professionally and, thanks to this masterpiece, Ivan Ivanovich received the title of academician.
On a trip to Europe, he not only painted, but also practiced pen drawing. Shishkin’s drawing, made in this genre, shocked foreigners. Many of his works were placed in the Düsseldorf Museum, next to the drawings of great masters.
In 1866, Ivan Ivanovich returned to. Now he travels only across the expanses of his Fatherland, and he does this constantly. The artist looked for inspiration in the beauties of the Russian land, and naturally found it, displaying the beauties of Russia on canvas. His works were constantly exhibited at various exhibitions, including traveling ones.
Ivan Ivanovich had a great hobby - aquafortics. In 1870, a circle of aquafortists was formed in St. Petersburg, of which he became a member. In 1873, for the painting “Forest Wilderness,” Ivan Shishkin became a professor.
Shishkin is the most famous and powerful Russian landscape painter. In our history there was no master capable of properly competing with him. The artist’s work amazes with his amazing knowledge of plant forms. Each component of his paintings was individual, had its own “physiognomy”.
Everything that Shishkin painted had very truthful and realistic forms. The secret of this phenomenon of the Russian artist is simple, he painted what he saw, without embellishing or belittling. Experts note that in many of his works, the accuracy of the landscape forms came at the expense of the color of the paintings. It is also noted that paintings with many flowers came out worse from the bright master of Russian landscape than those paintings where color palette was poorer.
Ivan Ivanovich Shishkin - a real master landscape. The author of many stunning paintings, many of which are kept in the collection. His work is a unique heritage that our people were lucky enough to own, and which will forever remain in our hearts and memories. Ivan Ivanovich died on March 8 (20), 1898 while working on another painting.
Video about Ivan Ivanovich Shishkin
Ivan Ivanovich Shishkin is rightfully considered a great landscape artist. He, like no one else, managed to convey through his canvases the beauty of the pristine forest, the endless expanses of fields, and the cold of a harsh region. When looking at his paintings, one often gets the impression that a breeze is about to blow or the cracking of branches is heard. Painting occupied all the artist’s thoughts so much that he even died with a brush in his hand, sitting at his easel.
Ivan Ivanovich Shishkin was born in the small provincial town of Elabuga, located off the banks of the Kama River. As a child, the future artist could wander through the forest for hours, admiring the beauty of pristine nature. In addition, the boy carefully painted the walls and doors of the house, surprising those around him. In the end, the future artist in 1852 ends up in Moscow school painting and sculpture. There, teachers help Shishkin recognize exactly the direction in painting that he will follow throughout his life.
Landscapes became the basis of Ivan Shishkin’s work. The artist masterfully conveyed the species of trees, grasses, moss-covered boulders, and uneven soil. His paintings looked so realistic that it seemed as if the sound of a stream or the rustling of leaves could be heard somewhere.
Without a doubt, one of the most popular paintings by Ivan Shishkin is considered "Morning in a pine forest". The painting depicts more than just a pine forest. The presence of bears seems to indicate that somewhere far away, in the wilderness, there is a unique life.
Unlike his other paintings, the artist did not paint this alone. The bears are by Konstantin Savitsky. Ivan Shishkin judged fairly, and both artists signed the painting. However, when the finished canvas was brought to the buyer Pavel Tretyakov, he became angry and ordered Savitsky’s name to be erased, explaining that he had ordered the painting only from Shishkin, and not from two artists.
The first meetings with Shishkin caused mixed feelings among those around him. He seemed to them a gloomy and taciturn person. At school they even called him a monk behind his back. In fact, the artist revealed himself only in the company of his friends. There he could argue and joke.
“Forest hero-artist”, “king of the forest” - this is what contemporaries called Ivan Shishkin. He traveled a lot around Russia, glorifying the majestic beauty of its nature in his paintings, which are known to everyone today.
“There has never been an artist in the Shishkin family!”
Ivan Shishkin was born into a merchant family in small town Yelabuga, Vyatka province (in the territory of modern Tatarstan). The artist’s father, Ivan Vasilyevich, was a highly respected person in the city: he was elected mayor for several years in a row, installed a wooden water supply system in Yelabuga at his own expense, and even created the first book about the history of the city.
Being a man of varied hobbies, he dreamed of giving his son a good education and at the age of 12 he sent him to the First Kazan Gymnasium. However, young Shishkin was already more interested in art than in exact sciences. He was bored at the gymnasium and, without finishing his studies, he returned to parents' house saying that he doesn’t want to become an official. At the same time, his views on art and the vocation of an artist began to take shape, which he retained throughout his life.
Shishkin's mother, Daria Alexandrovna, was upset by her son's inability to study and do household chores. She did not approve of his hobby of drawing and called this activity “smearing paper.” Although his father sympathized with Ivan’s passion for beauty, he also did not share his detachment from life’s problems. Shishkin had to hide from his family and paint by candlelight at night.
Shishkin first thought seriously about the profession of an artist when Moscow painters came to Yelabuga to paint the iconostasis of the local church. They told him about the Moscow School of Painting and Sculpture - and then Ivan Ivanovich firmly decided to follow his dream. With difficulty, he persuaded his father to let him leave, and he sent the artist to Moscow, hoping that his son would one day grow into a second Karl Bryullov.
“The depiction of everything that has life is the main difficulty of art”
In 1852, Shishkin entered the Moscow School of Painting and Sculpture, where he studied under the guidance of portrait artist Apollo Mokritsky. Then, in his still weak works, he dreamed of getting as close to nature as possible, and constantly sketched views and details of the landscape that were interesting to him. The whole school gradually learned about his drawings. Fellow students and even teachers noted that “Shishkin paints views that no one has ever painted before: just a field, a forest, a river - and he makes them look as beautiful as Swiss views.” By the end of the training, it became clear: the artist had an undoubted - and truly one-of-a-kind - talent.
Not stopping there, in 1856 Shishkin entered the Imperial Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg, where he quickly established himself as a brilliant student with outstanding abilities. Valaam became a true school for the artist, where he went to summer job on location. He began to gain own style and attitude towards nature. With the attention of a biologist, he examined and felt tree trunks, grasses, mosses, and the smallest leaves. His sketch “Pine on Valaam” brought the author a silver medal and recorded Shishkin’s desire to convey the simple, unromanticized beauty of nature.
Ivan Shishkin. Stones in the forest. Balaam. 1858-1860. State Russian Museum
Ivan Shishkin. Pine on Valaam. 1858. Perm State Art Gallery
Ivan Shishkin. Landscape with a hunter. Balaam. 1867. State Russian Museum
In 1860, Shishkin graduated from the academy with a large gold medal, which he also received for views of Valaam, and went abroad. He visited Munich, Zurich and Geneva, wrote a lot with a pen, and for the first time tried to engrave with “royal vodka”. In 1864, the artist moved to Düsseldorf, where he began work on “View in the vicinity of Düsseldorf.” This landscape, filled with air and light, brought Ivan Ivanovich the title of academician.
After six years of traveling abroad, Shishkin returned to Russia. At first he lived in St. Petersburg, where he met with old comrades from the academy, who by that time had organized the St. Petersburg Artel of Artists (later the Association of Traveling Art Exhibitions). According to the memoirs of Alexandra Komarova, the painter’s niece, he himself was never a member of the artel, but he constantly attended the creative Fridays of his friends and took a very active part in their affairs.
In 1868, Shishkin married for the first time. His wife was the sister of his friend, landscape painter Fyodor Vasilyev, Evgenia Aleksandrovna. The artist loved her and the children born in the marriage; he could not leave them for a long time, as he believed that without him at home something terrible would definitely happen. Shishkin turned into a tender father, a sensitive husband and a hospitable host, in whose house friends constantly visited.
“The genius of art requires that the artist’s entire life be devoted to it”
In the 1870s, Shishkin became even closer to the Itinerants, becoming one of the founders of the Association of Traveling Art Exhibitions. His friends were Konstantin Savitsky, Arkhip Kuinzhdi and Ivan Kramskoy. They had a particularly warm relationship with Kramskoy. The artists traveled together around Russia in search of a new nature, Kramskoy observed the successes of Shishkin and admired how attentive his friend and colleague was to nature in its most varied states, how accurately and subtly he conveyed color. Shishkin’s talent was once again noted by the Academy, elevating him to the rank of professor for the painting “Wilderness”.
“He [Shishkin] is still immeasurably higher than everyone else taken together so far... Shishkin is a milestone in the development of Russian landscape, he is a man - a school, but a living school.”
Ivan Kramskoy
However, the second half of this decade became hard time in Shishkin's life. In 1874, his wife died, causing him to become withdrawn; his character - and performance - began to deteriorate due to frequent binges. Due to constant quarrels, many relatives and friends stopped communicating with him. Apparently, his habit of work saved him: because of his pride, Shishkin could not afford to miss the place that he already firmly occupied in artistic circles, and continued to paint paintings, which became more and more popular thanks to traveling exhibitions. It was during this period that “First Snow”, “Road in a Pine Forest”, “Pine Forest”, “Rye” and other famous paintings by the master were created.
Ivan Shishkin. Pinery. Mast forest in Vyatka province. 1872. State Tretyakov Gallery
Ivan Shishkin. First snow. 1875. Kyiv National Museum Russian art, Kyiv, Ukraine
Ivan Shishkin. Rye. 1878. State Tretyakov Gallery
And in the 1880s, Shishkin married the beautiful Olga Lagoda, his student. His second wife also died, literally a year after the wedding - and the artist again threw himself headlong into work, which allowed him to forget. He was attracted by the variability of the states of nature, he sought to catch and capture the elusive nature. He experimented with combinations different brushes and strokes, honed the construction of forms, the rendering of the most delicate color shades. This painstaking work especially noticeable in the works of the late 1880s, for example in the landscapes “Pines illuminated by the sun”, “Oaks. Evening”, “Morning in a pine forest” and “Off the coast of the Gulf of Finland”. Contemporaries of Shishkin's paintings were amazed by how easily and freely he experimented, while achieving stunning realism.
“What interests me most now? Life and its manifestations, now, as always"
IN late XIX century, a difficult period began for the Association of Traveling Art Exhibitions - more and more generational differences arose among the artists. Shishkin was attentive to young authors, because he tried to introduce something new into his work and understood that the cessation of development means decline even for an eminent master.
"IN artistic activity, in the study of nature, you can never put an end to it, you cannot say that you have learned it completely, thoroughly, and that there is no need to study more; what has been studied is good only for the time being, and after that the impressions fade, and, without constantly coping with nature, the artist himself will not notice how he is moving away from the truth.”
Ivan Shishkin
In March 1898, Shishkin died. He died at his easel while working on new picture. The artist was buried on Smolensky Orthodox cemetery in St. Petersburg, but in 1950 his ashes were transferred along with the monument to the Tikhvin cemetery of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra.
How truly great are the artists, whose inexhaustible supply of spiritual strength and life observations is poured into an extremely clear, simple form, accessible to the widest audience. The whole philosophy of their paintings is a hymn to living nature, the beauty of nature. Their work resembles a leisurely song, epic and free. The best canvases artists become milestones in the development of art of the country in which they lived and wrote. Their compatriots are proud of their paintings as national treasures, so great is the generalized sense of citizenship and sense of homeland in these realistic works.
In the second half of the 19th century, the Russian national landscape was unconditionally established. That is why Shishkin’s work marks an important stage in the development of this genre. Among outstanding artists Shishkin Ivan Ivanovich(1832-1896) represents with his art an exceptional phenomenon that was not known in the region landscape painting previous eras. Like many Russian artists, he naturally possessed enormous natural talent. Nemirovich-Danchenko spoke of his work this way: “A poet of nature, precisely a poet who thinks in its images, discerning its beauty where a mere mortal would pass by indifferently.” Shishkin's creativity imbued with the pathos of life and the affirmation of the beauty and strength of nature of the native country.
Future artist born in Yelabuga on the Kama, a remote Russian province. The inhabitants of this town carefully preserved the indigenous foundations patriarchal way of life. His father was a merchant cultured person. His father was the first from whom Vanya found support in his aspirations for art. In 1852, young Shishkin enters the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. Then four years of study at St. Petersburg Academy arts Already during this period, Shishkin introduced an innovation to the landscape genre - a sketch approach to the subject of the image, natural exploration of nature. One of the works of the academic period “VIEW ON THE ISLAND OF VALAAME” (Kukko area) (1858, Kiev Museum of Russian Art). The future artist admired meadows and forests, grasses and flowers, stumps and stones, bushes and mosses, in which the idea of living life and the eternal growth of nature was manifested. Shishkin was attracted by thirst artistic research nature. He carefully examined, probed, studied every stem, tree trunk, trembling foliage on the branches, erect herbs and mosses. For this painting, Shishkin received a large gold medal and the right to improve his creativity abroad after graduating from the Academy.
For two years, the artist gained knowledge in Switzerland and Germany. From where he returned as a highly professional, he became a professor (the head of a landscape class) and a member of the Association of Itinerants. Here he nurtured his view of creativity and determined the themes of future works. Life in a foreign land sharpened his sense of his homeland.
Another painting by the artist “SESTROETSKY BOR” (1887) has the opposite plot. Here is not a thicket, but sunlight, breaking through the pines and warming the earth. And again the main ones characters in Shishkin's landscapes there are trees. In the spirit of his time, the artist poetizes them, calling them from the opening lines of the poem: “Among the flat valley...”, “In the wild north...”.
“AMID THE FLAT VALLEY...” (1883, Kiev Museum of Russian Art) – romantic painting, which became a continuation of the majestic landscape, created based on the poem of the same name by Alexei Merzlyakov. The artist developed a visually compelling painting, filled with the smells of the plain and the coolness of the fading day. Shishkin spent his whole life depicting forests, but here there is only one tree in the entire vast space. The picture is addressed to a person’s well-being in a vast world. Shishkin's man is attached to the ground. Nature expresses music human soul. Through its states, a person reflects on life. Thus, the artist’s landscape expresses the state of nature and the feelings of man responding to this state. It is very difficult to say which of the artist’s works is the most remarkable. All of Shishkin’s works show how his creative tasks, and as a true landscape painter wanted to express the best folk ideals and aspirations in images of Russian nature.
IN paintings by Shishkin as it sounds “the spirit and image of the great, mighty space” called Russia. In the artist’s images the era lives, a mighty, unhurried people is imagined, a huge endless country is seen, which has no end and which keeps moving away and moving away into endless horizons. Shishkin conquered the most with his works wide circles society. After all, he created a real epic of the Russian forest, capturing not only the appearance of the national nature, but also the character of the people. It was from Shishkin’s love for nature that images were born that have long become unique symbols of Russia. Already the figure of Shishkin personified Russian nature for his contemporaries. He was called the “forest hero-artist”, “king of the forest”, “old forest man”, he was compared to an old strong pine tree, but he is most likely like a lonely oak tree with his famous painting. After all, the artist had a difficult fate. Twice he married for love, and twice death took away his beloved women. His sons died. But Shishkin never allowed himself to transfer his own difficult condition to nature.
Shishkin died on March 20, 1898, like a true artist - at work. His student Grigory Gurkin worked in Shishkin’s workshop. Hearing an unnaturally loud sigh, he looked out from behind the canvas and saw the teacher slowly sliding onto his side. This is how his niece describes the death of Ivan Ivanovich. But the master’s creativity is alive, in which “the spirit and image of the great, powerful space” called Russia sounds.