Ivan Shishkin: the most famous paintings of the great Russian landscape painter. Artist Shishkin Ivan Ivanovich: paintings and their description

Shishkin Ivan Ivanovich (1832-1898) is the most famous Russian painter and graphic artist who depicted nature in all its glory. The variety of the creator’s works is amazing: in his paintings you can find steppe and forest-steppe, coniferous landscapes not only of the expanses of Russia, but also of other countries. It is popular both in our country and throughout the world.

Ivan Shishkin: biography

This outstanding man was born into a merchant family and lived ordinary life before school years. As you know, Shishkin was unable to study at regular school, so he left her and went to art school. From there he entered the university in St. Petersburg, where students were taught not only painting, but also architecture and sculpture. Such a base had a very good influence on the development of young Shishkin’s abilities. However, the study tasks turned out to be not enough for the artist, and he spent his free time from classes in the open air.

Shishkin's independent practice

Plein air is painting in the open air. Artists created on the street in order to create light, atmospheric paintings, in contrast to the idealized paintings that were completed in workshops (using the imagination). Ivan Shishkin also took part in plein airs. The biography of this man consists of constant travel to different parts of the world to learn how to draw different landscapes.

Shishkin went for walks with paints or graphic materials (pencils, charcoal) and wrote about the area of ​​St. Petersburg. Thanks to this habit, the young man quickly improved his skills in depicting shapes and details.

Soon the merits of the young painter were noticed in the educational institution, and the artist Shishkin received many medals for these works. The pictures became more realistic and he made fewer mistakes. Soon the young man became one of the most famous artists Russia.

"Afternoon in the vicinity of Moscow"

This picture is very light and bright. The first thing that catches your eye is the contrast of sky and field, blue and yellow flowers. The artist (Shishkin) allocated more space for the sky, probably because the sheaves are already very bright. Most of the picture is occupied by gray clouds. You can find many shades in them: emerald, blue and yellow. The field is separated from the sky only by a thin strip of bluish horizon. In this distance you can see the hills, and a little closer are the dark blue silhouettes of bushes and trees. Closest to the viewer is a spacious field.

The wheat is already ripe, but wild, unseeded land is visible to the left. The riot of burnt grass stands out against the background of the yellowish mass of ears and creates an extraordinary contrast. In the foreground we see the beginning of a wheat field: the artist arranged reddish, burgundy and dark ocher strokes so that the depth of these sheaves is felt. Along the road that runs between grass and field, the artist Shishkin depicted two figures. You can tell from the clothes of these people that they are peasants. One of the figures definitely belongs to a woman: we see a scarf tied on her head and a dark skirt.

"Pines illuminated by the sun"

Ivan Shishkin wrote many amazing works. He loved to depict the pine forest most of all. However, it is worth paying attention to other paintings: they are not devoid of beauty and sometimes turn out to be much more interesting than more famous paintings.

Pines are one of the eternal themes in the work of such an artist as Shishkin Ivan Ivanovich. The play of light and shadow is especially noteworthy in this landscape. The sun is shining from behind the artist; it is midday or late afternoon. In the foreground are two tall pine trees. Their trunks stretch so strongly towards the sky that they do not fit into the picture. Therefore, the tree crowns begin only in the middle of the picture. Although the trunks are not very old, moss has already grown on their bark. From the sun it appears yellowish and gray in some places.

The shadows from the trees are very long and dark, the artist depicted them almost black. Three more pine trees are visible in the distance: they are arranged compositionally so as not to distract the viewer from the main thing in the picture. The color scheme of this work is warm and consists mainly of light green, brown, ocher and yellowish shades. This palette evokes joy and a feeling of peace in the soul. All this is diluted by several cool shades, which Shishkin skillfully distributed throughout the picture. We see emerald shades on the top of the pine crowns and on the left in the distance. Thanks to this combination of colors, the composition looks very harmonious and at the same time bright.

"Landscape with a Lake" (1886)

This painting is one of the few by Shishkin that depicts water. The artist preferred to paint the thick of the forest, in contrast to the light vegetation in this work.

The first thing that attracts attention in this work is the lake. The surface of the water is painted in great detail, so that you can see light ripples near the shore and precise reflections of trees and bushes.

Thanks to the clear light blue and in some places purple sky, the water in the lake seems very clean. However, ocher and greenish inclusions give the impression that this lake is real.

Foreground of the painting

In the foreground is a green bank. The small grass is so bright that it seems acidic. Near the very edge of the water, she gets lost in the lake, here and there peeking out from its surface. In the contrasting grass, small wildflowers are visible, so white that it seems as if they are glare from the sun on the plants. To the right, behind the lake, a large dark green bush interspersed with bright light green shades sways in the wind.

On the other side of the lake on the left, the viewer can make out the roofs of several houses; there is probably a village next to the lake. Behind the roofs rises an emerald, dark green pine forest.

The artist (Shishkin) chose a very correct combination of light blue, green (warm and cold), ocher and black.

"Dali"

Shishkin’s painting “Dali” exudes something mysterious, the landscape seems to be lost in the sunset. The sun has already set, and we see only a light streak of light on the horizon. Lonely trees rise in the right foreground. There are many plants around them. The greenery is very dense, so almost no light breaks through the bushes. Closer to the center of the canvas is a tall linden tree, which bent over from the weight of its branches.

The sky, as in other paintings, occupies most compositions. The sky is the brightest on the canvas. The gray-blue color of the sky turns into light yellow. Scattered light clouds look very light and dynamic. In this work, Ivan Ivanovich Shishkin appears before us as a romantic and a dreamer.

In the foreground we see a small lake that goes into the distance. It reflects dark stone and faded ocher and yellow-green grass. In the distance there are purple, gray hills, not very high, but noticeable.

Looking at the picture, you are filled with a feeling of sadness and comfort. This effect is created thanks to the warm shades that the artist Shishkin used in his work.

Ivan Shishkin is one of the most famous painters and graphic artists who depicted nature. This man was truly in love with the forests, groves, rivers and lakes of Russia, so he worked on them until the smallest details in his works. Using Shishkin’s paintings you can not only describe the climate of Russia, but also study the basics of plein air painting. The artist mastered both oil paints and graphic materials perfectly, which is quite rare among creative people. It is difficult to name people who painted nature as well as the artist Shishkin. This man’s paintings are very naturalistic, contrasting and bright.

Name: Ivan Shishkin

Age: 66 years old

Activity: landscape artist

Family status: widower

Ivan Shishkin: biography

Ivan Shishkin “lives” in almost every Russian house or apartment. Especially in Soviet time the owners loved to decorate the walls with reproductions of the artist’s paintings, torn from magazines. Moreover, Russians get acquainted with the artist’s work early childhood- bears in pine forest decorated the wrapper chocolates. Even during his lifetime, the talented master was called the “forest hero” and “king of the forest” as a sign of respect for his ability to glorify the beauty of nature.

Childhood and youth

The future painter was born into the family of merchant Ivan Vasilyevich Shishkin on January 25, 1832. The artist spent his childhood in Yelabuga (in tsarist times it was part of the Vyatka province, today it is the Republic of Tatarstan). Father was loved and respected in a small provincial town, Ivan Vasilyevich even occupied the chair of the head for several years settlement. On the initiative of the merchant and with his own money, Elabuga acquired a wooden water supply system, which is still partially operational. Shishkin also gave his contemporaries the first book about history native land.

Being a versatile and pragmatic person, Ivan Vasilyevich tried to interest his son Vanya natural sciences, mechanics, archeology, and when the boy grew up, he sent him to the First Kazan Gymnasium in the hope that his son would receive an excellent education. However, young Ivan Shishkin was more attracted to art from childhood. Therefore, he quickly became bored with the educational institution, and he left it, declaring that he did not want to turn into an official.

The son's return home upset the parents, especially since the son, as soon as he left the walls of the gymnasium, began to draw selflessly. Mom Daria Aleksandrovna was indignant at Ivan’s inability to study; it was also annoying that the teenager was completely unsuited to household chores, sitting and doing unnecessary “smudged paper.” The father supported his wife, although he secretly rejoiced at the awakening desire for beauty in his son. In order not to anger his parents, the artist practiced drawing at night - this was how his first steps into painting were marked.

Painting

For the time being, Ivan “dabbled” with a brush. But one day, artists who had been sent from the capital to paint the church iconostasis came to Yelabuga, and Shishkin for the first time seriously thought about creative profession. Having learned from Muscovites about the existence of a school of painting and sculpture, the young man was inspired by the dream of becoming a student of this wonderful educational institution.

The father, with difficulty, nevertheless agreed to let his son go to distant lands - on the condition that his son did not give up his studies there, but preferably turned into a second one. The biography of the great Shishkin showed that he kept his word to his parents impeccably.

In 1852, the Moscow School of Painting and Sculpture accepted Ivan Shishkin into its ranks, who came under the tutelage of the portrait artist Apollo Mokritsky. And the aspiring painter was attracted by landscapes, in which he selflessly practiced. Soon about the bright talent of the new star in fine arts The whole school learned: teachers and fellow students noted the unique gift of drawing an ordinary field or river very realistically.

A college diploma was not enough for Shishkin, and in 1856 the young man entered the St. Petersburg Imperial Academy arts, in which he also won the hearts of teachers. Ivan Ivanovich studied diligently and surprised with his outstanding abilities in painting.

In the first year the artist went to summer internship to the island of Valaam, for the views of which he later received a large award from the academy gold medal. During his studies, the painter's piggy bank was replenished with two small silver and small gold medals for paintings with St. Petersburg landscapes.

After graduating from the academy, Ivan Ivanovich had the opportunity to improve his skills abroad. The academy awarded a special pension to a talented graduate, and Shishkin, not burdened with the worries of earning a living, went to Munich, then to Zurich, Geneva and Dusseldorf.

Here the artist tried his hand at engraving with “regia vodka” and wrote a lot with a pen, from which the fateful painting “View in the vicinity of Düsseldorf” came out. Svetlaya, aerial work went to her homeland - for her Shishkin received the title of academician.

For six years he became acquainted with the nature of a foreign country, but longing for his homeland took over, Ivan Shishkin returned to his homeland. In the first years, the artist tirelessly traveled across the expanses of Russia in search of interesting places, unusual nature. When he appeared in St. Petersburg, he organized exhibitions and participated in the affairs of the artists’ artel. The painter was friends with Konstantin Savitsky, Arkhip Kuinzhdi and.

In the 70s, classes increased. Ivan Ivanovich founded, together with his colleagues, the Partnership of Mobile art exhibitions, at the same time joining the association of aquafortists. A new title awaited the man - for the painting “Wilderness” the Academy elevated him to the rank of professor.

In the second half of the 1870s, Ivan Shishkin almost lost the place he managed to occupy in artistic circles. Experiencing a personal tragedy (the death of his wife), the man started drinking and lost his friends and relatives. With difficulty I pulled myself together, immersing myself in my work. At that time, the masterpieces “Rye”, “First Snow”, “Pine Forest” came out from the master’s pen. Ivan Ivanovich described his own state as follows: “What interests me most now? Life and its manifestations, now as always.”

Shortly before the death of Ivan Shishkin, he was invited to teach at the Higher art school at the Academy of Arts. Late XIX century was marked by decline old school artists, young people preferred to stick to other aesthetic principles, however

Assessing the artist’s talent, biographers and admirers of Shishkin compare him to a biologist - in an effort to depict the unromanticized beauty of nature, Ivan Ivanovich carefully studied plants. Before starting work, I felt the moss, small leaves, and grass.

Gradually, his special style was formed, which showed experiments with combinations of different brushes, strokes, attempts to convey elusive colors and shades. Contemporaries called Ivan Shishkin a poet of nature, able to see the character of every corner.

The geography of the painter’s creativity is wide: Ivan Ivanovich was inspired by the landscapes of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, the forest on Elk Island, the expanses of Sokolniki and Sestroretsk. The artist painted in Belovezhskaya Pushcha and, of course, in his native Yelabuga, where he came to visit.

It is curious that Shishkin did not always work alone. For example, animal painter and comrade Konstantin Savitsky helped paint the painting “Morning in a Pine Forest” - from the pen of this artist the bear cubs came to life on the canvas. The painting has two signatures.

Personal life

The personal life of the brilliant painter was tragic. Ivan Shishkin walked down the aisle for the first time late - only at 36 years old. In 1868, out of great love, he married the sister of the artist Fyodor Vasilyev, Evgenia. In this marriage, Ivan Ivanovich was very happy, could not stand long separations and was always in a hurry to return early from business trips around Russia.

Evgenia Alexandrovna gave birth to two sons and a daughter, and Shishkin reveled in fatherhood. Also at this time, he was known as a hospitable host who gladly received guests in his house. But in 1874 his wife died, and soon after her he left little son.

Having difficulty recovering from grief, Shishkin married his own student, artist Olga Ladoga. A year after the wedding, the woman died, leaving Ivan Ivanovich with his daughter in his arms.

Biographers note one feature of Ivan Shishkin’s character. During his years at the school, he bore the nickname Monk - he was so nicknamed for his gloominess and isolation. However, those who managed to become friends with him were later surprised at how talkative and humorous the man was around his loved ones.

Death

Ivan Ivanovich left this world, as befits masters, to work on another masterpiece. On a sunny spring day in 1898, the artist sat down at his easel in the morning. In addition to him, an assistant worked in the workshop, who told the details of the teacher’s death.

Shishkin feigned something like a yawn, then his head simply dropped to his chest. The doctor diagnosed a heart rupture. The painting “Forest Kingdom” remained unfinished, and the painter’s last completed work was “Ship Grove,” which today delights visitors to the “Russian Museum.”

Ivan Shishkin was first buried at the Smolensk Orthodox Cemetery (St. Petersburg), and in the mid-20th century the artist’s ashes were transported to the Alexander Nevsky Lavra.

Paintings

• 1870 - “The Lodge in the Forest”
• 1871 - “Birch Forest”
• 1878 - " Birch Grove»
• 1878 - “Rye”
• 1882 - “At the edge of a pine forest”
• 1882 - “Edge of the Forest”
• 1882 - “Evening”
• 1883 - “A stream in a birch forest”
• 1884 - “Forest distances”
• 1884 - “Pine on the Sand”
• 1884 - “Polesie”
• 1885 - “Foggy Morning”
• 1887 - “Oak Grove”
• 1889 - “Morning in a Pine Forest”
• 1891 - “Rain in the Oak Forest”
• 1891 - “In the wild north...”
• 1891 - “After the Storm at Mary Hovey”
• 1895 - "Forest"
• 1898 - “Ship Grove”

Shishkin Ivan Ivanovich is the founder of the Russian epic landscape, which gives a broad, generalized idea of ​​the majestic and free Russian nature. What is captivating in Shishkin’s paintings is the strict truthfulness of the image, the calm breadth and majesty of the images, their natural, unobtrusive simplicity. The poetry of Shishkin's landscapes is similar to a smooth melody folk song, with the flow of a wide, deep river.

Shishkin was born in 1832 in the city of Elabuga, among the untouched and majestic forests of the Kama region, which played a huge role in the formation of Shishkin as a landscape painter. From his youth he was possessed by a passion for painting, and in 1852 he left his native place and went to Moscow, to the School of Painting and Sculpture. He directed all his artistic thoughts towards depicting nature, for this he constantly went to Sokolniki Park to sketch and studied nature. Shishkin's biographer wrote that before him no one had painted nature so beautifully: "... just a field, a forest, a river - and he makes them as beautiful as the Swiss views." In 1860, Shishkin brilliantly graduated from the Academy of Arts with a Big Gold Medal.

Throughout the entire period of his work, the artist followed one of his rules, and did not change it all his life: “The imitation of nature alone can satisfy a landscape painter, and the main task of a landscape painter is the diligent study of nature... Nature must be sought in all its simplicity... "

Thus, all his life he followed the task of reproducing what existed as truthfully and accurately as possible and not embellishing it, not imposing his individual perception.

Shishkin's work can be called happy; he never knew painful doubts and contradictions. All of him creative life was devoted to improving the method he followed in his painting.

Shishkin’s pictures of nature were so truthful and accurate that he was often called “the photographer of Russian nature” - some with delight, others, innovators, with slight contempt, but in fact they still evoke excitement and admiration among viewers. No one passes by his paintings indifferent.

The winter forest in this picture is frozen, as if numb. In the foreground are several hundred-year-old giant pines. Their powerful trunks darken against the background of bright white snow. Shishkin reports amazing beauty winter landscape, calm and majestic. To the right the impenetrable thicket of the forest darkens. Everything around is immersed in winter sleep. Only a rare ray of cold sun penetrates the kingdom of snow and casts light golden spots on the branches of pine trees, on a forest clearing in the distance. Nothing disturbs the silence of this amazingly beautiful winter day.

A rich palette of shades of white, brown and gold conveys the state winter nature, her beauty. Shown here collective image winter forest. The picture is full of epic sound.

Bewitched by the Enchantress Winter, the forest stands -
And under snow fringe, motionless, dumb,
He shines with a wonderful life.
And he stands, bewitched... enchanted by a magical dream,
All wrapped, all bound in a light chain of down...

(F. Tyutchev)

The painting was painted in the year of the artist’s death; it was as if he had once again resurrected motifs close to his heart, associated with the forest and pine trees. The landscape was exhibited on the 26th Traveling exhibition and received a warm welcome from the progressive public.

The artist depicted a pine mast forest illuminated by the sun. The trunks of pine trees, their needles, the bank of a forest stream with a rocky bottom are bathed in slightly pinkish rays, the state of peace is emphasized by a transparent stream sliding over clean stones.

The lyricism of evening lighting is combined in the picture with the epic characters of the giant pine forest. Huge tree trunks with several girths and their calm rhythm give the entire canvas a special monumentality.

"Ship Grove" is the artist's swan song. In it, he sang of his homeland with its mighty slender forests, clear waters, resinous air, blue sky, and gentle sun. In it, he conveyed that feeling of love and pride for the beauty of the mother earth, which did not leave him throughout his entire creative life.

Noon summer day. It just rained. Puddles glisten on the country road. The moisture of warm rain is felt both on the gold of the grain field and on the emerald green grass with bright wildflowers. The purity of the rain-washed earth is made even more convincing by the sky brightening after the rain. Its blue is deep and pure. The last pearly-silver clouds run towards the horizon, giving way to the midday sun.

It is especially valuable that the artist was able to soulfully convey nature renewed after the rain, the breath of refreshed earth and grass, the trembling of running clouds.

Life's truthfulness and poetic spirituality make the painting "Midday" a work of great artistic value.

The canvas depicts a flat landscape of central Russia, the calm beauty of which is crowned by a mighty oak tree. The endless expanses of the valley. In the distance, the ribbon of the river glimmers slightly, a white church is barely visible, and further towards the horizon everything is drowned in a foggy blue. There are no boundaries to this majestic valley.

A country road winds through fields and disappears into the distance. Along the roadside there are flowers - daisies sparkle in the sun, unpretentious hawthorn blossoms, thin stalks of panicles bend low. Fragile and delicate, they emphasize the strength and grandeur of the mighty oak tree, proudly rising above the plain. A deep pre-storm silence reigns in nature. Gloomy shadows from the clouds ran across the plain in dark waves. A terrible thunderstorm is approaching. The curly greenery of the giant oak is motionless. He, like a proud hero, awaits a duel with the elements. Its powerful trunk will never bend under the blows of the wind.

This is Shishkin’s favorite theme - the theme of centuries-old coniferous forests, forest wilderness, majestic and solemn nature in its calm peace. The artist managed to convey the character well pine forest, majestically calm, enveloped in silence. The sun softly illuminates the hillock near the stream, the tops of centuries-old trees, leaving the wilderness immersed in shadow. Snatching the trunks of individual pines from the forest darkness, the golden light of the sun reveals their slenderness and height, the wide span of their branches. The pines are not only depicted correctly, not only similar, but beautiful and expressive.

Notes of subtle folk humor are introduced by the amusing figures of bears gazing at a hollow with wild bees. The landscape is bright, clean, serenely joyful in mood.

The picture is painted in cold silver-green tones. Nature is full of damp air. Blackened oak tree trunks are literally shrouded in moisture, streams of water flow along the roads, raindrops bubble in puddles. But cloudy sky It's already starting to get brighter. Penetrating the net of fine rain hanging above oak grove, silver light pours from the sky, it is reflected with steel-gray reflections on wet leaves, the surface of a black wet umbrella turns silver, wet stones, reflecting the light, acquire an ashy hue. The artist makes the viewer admire the subtle combination of dark silhouettes of trunks, a milky gray veil of rain and silvery muted gray shades of greenery.

In this painting, more than in any other painting by Shishkin, the nationality of his perception of nature was revealed. In it, the artist created an image of great epic power and truly monumental sound.

A wide plain stretching to the very horizon (the artist deliberately places the landscape along the elongated canvas). And everywhere you look, ripened grains are earing. The oncoming gusts of wind sway the rye in waves - this makes it even more acute to feel how tall, plump and thick it is. The waving field of ripe rye seems to be filled with gold, casting a dull shine. The road, turning, crashes into the thicket of grain, and they immediately hide it. But the movement continues with tall pines lined up along the road. It seems as if giants are walking across the steppe with heavy, measured steps. Mighty nature, full of heroic forces, a rich, free region.

A hot summer day foreshadows a thunderstorm. Due to the long-lasting heat, the sky became discolored and lost its ringing blue. The first ones are already crawling over the horizon storm clouds. WITH great love and the foreground of the picture is painted with skill: the road covered with light dust, with swallows flying over it, and fat ripe ears of corn, and the white heads of daisies, and cornflowers turning blue in the gold of rye.

The painting "Rye" is a generalized image of the homeland. It victoriously sounds a solemn hymn to the abundance, fertility, and majestic beauty of the Russian land. Great faith in the power and wealth of nature, with which it rewards human labor, is the main idea that guided the artist in creating this work.

The artist perfectly captured in the sketch the sunlight, the gaps of the bright blue sky in contrast with the greenery of the oak crown, the transparent and tremulous shadows on the trunks of old oak trees.

The painting is based on the poem of the same name by M. Yu Lermontov.

The film contains a theme of loneliness. On an inaccessible bare rock, in the midst of pitch darkness, snow and ice, stands a lone pine tree. The moon illuminates the gloomy gorge and the endless distance covered with snow. It seems that in this kingdom of cold there is nothing alive, everything around is frozen. numb. But on the very edge of the cliff, desperately clinging to life, a lonely pine tree stands proudly. Heavy flakes of sparkling snow bound its branches and pulled them down to the ground. But the pine tree bears its loneliness with dignity, the power of the bitter cold is unable to break it.

The post presents 37 paintings by artist I. I. Shishkin!

Shishkin's paintings are mesmerizing views of nature! Among them the most famous painting"Morning in a pine forest"! Pictures of the forest are popular on the Internet and they lead to Shishkin’s paintings!

Portrait of the artist Shishkin by the artist Kramskoy.

A wonderful painting by Shishkin “Birch Grove”! It must be just like a photo, but very soulful! Shishkin's paintings almost always depict a forest!

"Swamp. Polesie". Shishkin.

In the picture close-up funny bull. A rare topic for Shishkin. Shishkin's main theme is forest. And the surname is forest.

Shishkin's painting "In the Park." Can a photo evoke such a spiritual response as this picture? You look and remember that in your life you have already experienced similar delight from the views of nature.

Painting "In the Grove". Shishkin. People are always in the background! Shishkin's paintings about pristine nature.

Seaside view

Painting "View on the island of Valaam". Shishkin.

Mountain road in Crimea

Painting "Dali". Shishkin.

Wilds. Shishkin. Impassable forest.

Painting "Children in the forest". It's really hard to see the children. Shishkin's paintings are primarily about nature.

Rain in an oak forest. Shishkin. People in the distance under umbrellas. This is not a photo, this is much better! You can imagine yourself in this forest.

Oaks in Old Peterhof. Shishkin.

Harvest. The work is finished.

A woman under an umbrella in a flowering meadow. Shishkin. Shishkin's paintings are impressive!

A woman with a boy in the forest. Shishkin's paintings are very expressive! Shishkin literally glorifies the forest in his paintings, it is so majestic! The forest pictures are amazing!

Gold autumn. Shishkin.

Willows, sanctified by the sun. Shishkin loved trees and forest!

Forest in Mordvinovo. Forest the main theme in Shishkin’s work! A search on the Internet for “pictures of the forest” will probably lead to paintings by Shishkin!

Forest in the evening. Shishkin. Shishkin's paintings evoke a whole range of feelings in viewers.

Forest Lake. Shishkin.

Fly agarics. Shishkin. Very picturesque fly agarics!)

In the wild north. Shishkin.

Apiary in the forest. Shishkin. A majestic forest, an apiary and an old beekeeper. Shishkin's paintings are so “talking”!

Landscape with a lake. Shishkin.

Before the storm. Shishkin. The sky is cloudy.

Walk in the forest. Shishkin. There is an opinion that paintings are not needed, because there are photos, but not a single photo will be so expressive. A photo cannot capture a scene from someone's life and still evoke pleasant memories. Here you can already see people, and in the foreground there is a funny dog.

The Ligovka river in the village of Konstantinovka near St. Petersburg.

And in the background there is a forest.

Today we will talk about the brightest, most talented representative of Russian art, Russian landscape painter, follower of the Düsseldorf art school, engraver and aquatic painter Ivan Ivanovich Shishkin. The genius of the brush was born in the winter of 1832 in the city of Elabuga into the family of a noble merchant Ivan Vasilyevich Shishkin. Since childhood, living on the outskirts of the village, Ivan Shishkin admired the expanses of yellow fields, the breadth of green forests, the blue of lakes and rivers. Having grown up, all these native landscapes could not leave the guy’s head and he decided to learn to be a painter. As we can see, he did it perfectly and the master left behind a huge mark in the history of Russian culture and painting. His ingenious works are so natural and beautiful that they are known not only in his homeland, but also far beyond its borders.

And now we will tell you more about his works.

"Morning in a Pine Forest" (1889)

Everyone knows this work by Ivan Shishkin, the master of the brush painted a lot of forest thickets and paths, but this picture is his favorite, because the composition includes playful and wonderful bear cubs playing in a clearing near a broken tree, which make the work kind and sweet. Few people know that the authors of this painting were two artists, Konstantin Savitsky (who painted the bear cubs) and Ivan Shishkin (who depicted a forest landscape), but a collector named Tretyakov erased Savitsky’s signature and Shishkin alone is considered the author of the painting.

By the way, on our website there is a fascinating article with very beautiful ones. We recommend viewing.

"Birch Grove" (1878)

The artist simply could not help but embody on canvas the Russian folk beauty, a slender, tall birch tree, so he painted this work, where he depicted not just one black and white beauty, but an entire grove. The forest seemed to have just woken up, and the clearing was filled with morning light, the sun's rays play among the white trunks, and passersby walk along the winding path leading into the forest, admiring the beautiful morning landscape.

"A Stream in a Birch Forest" (1883)

Ivan Shishkin’s paintings can rightfully be considered real masterpieces, because he so skillfully conveyed in them all the subtleties of nature, the glare of the sun’s rays, tree species and, it seems, even the sound of leaves and birdsong. This canvas also conveys the murmuring of a stream in a birch grove, as if you yourself found yourself among this landscape and admiring this beauty.

"In the Wild North" (1890)

Master adored snowy winter, that’s why his collection of paintings also includes winter landscapes. A beautiful spruce tree is covered with snow in the wild north in a huge snowdrift, standing beautifully in the middle of the winter desert. When you look at this winter beauty I want to drop everything, grab a sled and set off down a slippery slide in the cold snow.

"Amanitas" (1878-1879)

Look at how naturally the fly agaric mushrooms are depicted in this picture, how accurately the colors and curves are conveyed, as if they are very close to us if we just stretch out our hand. Beautiful fly agarics, oh what a pity they are so poisonous!

"Two Female Figures" (1880)

Women's beauty cannot be hidden from male gaze, and even more so from an artist. So the painter Shishkin depicted on his canvas two graceful female figures in fashionable outfits(red and black) with umbrellas in their hands, walking along a forest path. It is noticeable that these charming ladies are in high spirits, because the beauty of nature and the fresh forest air are sure to encourage this.

"Before the Storm" (1884)

Looking at this picture, the fact that all this was drawn from memory, and not from life, amazes the imagination. Such precise work requires a lot of time and effort from the artist, and the elements can play out in a matter of minutes. Look how many shades of blue and green there are and how accurately the mood of the approaching thunderstorm is depicted, so that you seem to feel the full weight of the humid air.

"Foggy Morning" (1885)

Ivan Shishkin often saw this landscape in person, since everyone in the village woke up before dawn. The way the morning fog fell on the meadows and fields filled him with complete delight and amazement; it seemed as if a milk river was spreading over the entire surface, enveloping forests and lakes, villages and all the outskirts. Sky, earth and water - the three most important elements, harmoniously complementing each other - here main idea paintings. It’s as if nature wakes up from sleep and washes itself with the morning dew, and the river again starts its winding path, reaching the depths, that’s what comes to mind when you look at this Shishkin painting.

“View of Yelabuga” (1861)

Ivan Shishkin never forgot where he came from and loved his native land very much. That's why he often drew his hometown Yelabug. This picture executed in black and white, and in the genre of a sketch or sketch, sketched with a simple pencil, it would seem unusual for a master of the brush, but, as we see, Shishkin painted not only with oils and watercolors.

Every natural phenomenon did not go unnoticed by the artist, even light and fluffy clouds, which he loved to observe, and even more so to draw. It would seem that the eternally floating blue feather beds could tell, but the painter was able to tell the story of movement and life path fabulously beautiful celestial bodies.

"Bull" (1863)

The landscape artist loved to draw animals, which he loved very much since childhood. This genre in the art of drawing is called “animalism”. How natural the little bull turned out, looking at this canvas you want to go up to him and pat him on the back, but unfortunately, this is just a drawing.

"Rye" (1878)

One of the most famous landscapes Shishkina after the painting “Morning in a Pine Forest”. Everything is very simple: a sunny summer day, golden rye is earing in the field, and tall giant pines are visible in the distance, the field is divided by a winding road leading into the depths of the forest. The landscape is very familiar to everyone who was born in a rural area; looking at it, it seems that you are at home. Beautiful, natural and very realistic.

"Peasant Woman with Cows" (1873)

Living in the outback and seeing everything with his own eyes, the painter could not help but depict the complexity of peasant life and hard peasant labor. The work is drawn in sketch style black and white pencil, which gives it a certain age or antiquity. Peasants have long been connected to the land, cattle breeding and crafts, but this only elevates them in our eyes, and artists help us see all the connection and beauty by depicting beautiful and realistic paintings.

As we can see, the painter knew how to beautifully depict not only his favorite forest landscapes, but also portraits, which, unfortunately, are almost non-existent in his collection. This work is dedicated, I would say, to a plump, rosy-cheeked Italian boy and his spotted calf. It is a pity that the year the work itself was written and its further fate is unknown.

The very name of the painting says what the artist wanted to convey to us; seeing such paintings in person, Ivan Ivanovich was very upset, because he adored the trees and nature around him. He was against the fact that man invades nature and destroys everything around him. With this work, he tried to reach out to humanity and stop the cruel process of deforestation.

"The Herd Under the Trees" (1864)

It seems to me that cows are our painter’s most favorite animals, because in addition to forest groves and forest edges, among his works where there are animals only cows are found, however, not counting the bears on famous painting, but as we already know, they were painted by another artist, not Shishkin. Living in a village, I often observed a similar picture, when a herd of cows came for lunch milking and, waiting for their mistresses, made themselves comfortable under the leaning trees. Apparently, Ivan Shishkin observed something similar at one time.

"Landscape with a Lake" (1886)

Often the artist is dominated by all sorts of shades of green, but this work is an exception to the rule, here the center of the landscape is a deep blue, transparent lake. As for me, a very beautiful and successful landscape with a lake, it’s a pity that Shishkin painted rivers and lakes very rarely, but how wonderfully he did them!

"Rocky Shore" (1879)

In addition to his native land, the master of landscapes loved the sunny Crimea, where every landscape is a real paradise. Shishkin has a whole collection of paintings painted on the sunny peninsula called Crimea. This work is very bright and lively, there is a lot of light, shades and color, just like everywhere else in Crimea.

How ugly this word sounds and how skillfully and beautifully our master of landscapes depicted this natural phenomenon. One work contains all the shades of brown and dark green (marsh, so to speak) colors. It is cloudy and dim, there is not a single cloud in the sky, the sun's rays do not cut through the space, and only two lonely herons came to the water.

"Ship Grove" (1898)

The latest and greatest big job Shishkina completes a real epic of forest landscapes throughout his life, showing the true heroic strength and beauty of Russian mother nature. By drawing forest expanses, Shishkin tried to exalt and show everyone the boundless Russian lands - the real national wealth of his homeland.

Even during his lifetime, Ivan Shishkin was dubbed the “King of the Forest” and it is clear why, because among his many paintings, most of them are forest landscapes at different times of the year. Why the artist painted mainly forest groves is unclear, because there are so many natural paintings, but this is his choice, it’s like Aivazovsky once decided for himself to paint only the sea. Ivan Ivanovich Shishkin is deservedly considered one of the most talented and beloved Russian artists, and all his works were performed on top level. The artist’s contribution to Russian art is truly colossal, limitless and truly priceless.