Overwhelming and powerful paintings by Russian Artists
I am not a painting connoisseur but more of an art lover. As an artist, I explore the works of other artists for worldview and inspiration. Inspiration comes from my sensations and my emotions.
Today I wanted to share these works of art, which, among so many masterpieces, have particularly attracted my attention because they unexpectedly created a deep impression and a fascinating desire for contemplation.
All these paintings are exposed at the Tretyakov Gallery, in Moscow.
Let’s start !
The most striking and emotional paintings :
UNKNOWN, (1883), Ivan Kramskoy
MOON NIGHT
PORTAIT OF V.A. PEROVSKY (1837), Karl Bryullov
UNEQUAL MARRIAGE (1862), Vasily Pukirev.
IVAN THE TERRIBLE AND HIS SON IVAN November 16, 1581 (1885) Ilya Repin
ALLEGORY FOR THE VICTORY OF CATHERINE II OVER THE TURKS AND TATARS (1772), Torelli
THE APPEARANCE OF CHRIST TO THE PEOPLE (1837-1857), Ivanov Alexander
THE DEFEATED (1878-79), Vasily Vereshchagin
NIKITA PUSTOSVIAT. DISPUTE ABOUT FAITH (1880-1881), Vasily Perov
SIEGE OF PSKOV BY THE POLISH KING STEPHAN BATHORY IN 1581, Karl Bryullov.
This is the Portrait by the artist Karl Pavlovich Bryullov of Vasily Alekseevich Perovsky, a famous military figure and participant in the War of 1812.
In this painting, the low point of view chosen by the artist makes the model’s figure significant: Perovsky looks down on the viewer. Closed eyebrows, a stern look and a tight award uniform demonstrate the military achievements of the military man, emphasizing his bearing, internal organization and determination. And lush curly hair, bravo curled mustache and sensual lips betray a passionate romantic nature.
What we know from him is that he was the illegitimate son of Count A.K. Razumovsky, led a secluded life, was superbly educated, knew several foreign languages, loved music, was fond of poetry, appreciated and understood art, and collected antiquities.
It seems to me that this is one of the most beautiful male portraits I have ever seen because of its strength, virility, sensuality and delicate beauty.
UNKNOWN, (1883) is one of the most popular portraits not only in Kramskoy’s work, but also in the entire Russian school of the second half of the 19th century.
The lady is dressed very fashionably, wearing a “Francis” hat (“the last cry” of the 1883 season), “Swedish” gloves, and a “Skobelev” coat. In the highest circles of society, adherence to fashion was excluded, which means that she does not belong to high society.
The ethical ideals of the 1860–1870s, consider that external beauty remains a devilish obsession, seen as a danger of temptation. The feminine seems to be an element hostile to personality, reason, and conscience; sensuality is the opposite of the spiritual. Is beauty on the side of good or bad, on the Devil's side or God’s side?
What beauty is, how beauty and morality are related, and how to merge the ethical and aesthetic in art are the subjects of Kramskoy’s constant thoughts and the triad “beauty, kindness, and truth” resonates with the works of F. Dostoevsky, L. Tolstoy, V. Solovyov, K. Leontiev, S. Bulgakov.
This painting is not only a portrait; it carries a social, psychological and philosophical reflection of this era.
I was fascinated by the intensity of this woman; she gives an impression of freedom and almost unconventionality.
MOON NIGHT is perhaps the most spectacular of Kramskoy's “nocturnes,” revealing the painter's main aspiration: the transmission of night lighting, unusual and mysterious, transforming nature and man.
The experience of nature is in line with the romantic tradition of the Russian landscape of the 19th century.
There is always a deeper idea in Kramskoy's work, connected with the ultimate questions of human existence. In this composition, he brought to light the fragility and illusory nature of earthly beauty and earthly human values.
Many contemporary critics of Kramskoy tend to regard “Moonlit Night” as the most banal work in his legacy, where he most panders to the tastes of the public.
I found it so captivating and dreamy.
One of the most dramatic paintings in the Tretyakov Gallery collection, UNEQUAL MARRIAGE, is the work of Vasily Pukirev, depicting the moment of a church wedding with a young bride, pale as death, wearing a snow-white dress, and the smug old general, skillfully hiding his excitement.
She is illuminated by the scarlet flame of a church candle, like an innocent victim with a bloody glow. The subject chosen, popular in painting and literature of that time, is about marriages of convenience, not love, very often with a large age difference, which were quite common in the middle of the 19th century: rich merchants' intermarriages with the impoverished nobility to gain status, and the latter's improvement of their financial situation. The tragic intonations that permeate the painting forced us to look at the problem as a misfortune for society, as a humiliating commercial deal, and as a gross interference in a person’s destiny.
The figures are almost life-size, which enhances the impression of life-like authenticity and makes the viewer feel like a participant of what is happening in the temple.
The tragic image of the bride awakens in the viewer sympathy for the story of unfulfilled female happiness. It is a painting filled with deep and striking sadness.
IVAN THE TERRIBLE AND HIS SON IVAN from Ilya Repin is a painting that depicts the murder of Emperor Alexander II, by the hands of his own father, Ivan the Terrible, in the spring of 1881, showing through the utmost clarity this accident and the impressions of life that follow: repentance and pain.
This work never stopped exciting the imagination of generations of viewers, critics, and researchers, because of its controversial dimension and has been vandalized twice, in 1913 and again in 2018.
The composition expresses an extreme intensity of feelings, thanks to the variety of the palette. The sense of tragedy is given by the lighting effect and the contrast in tones. Kramskoy called the painting a “real orchestra”.
It's a powerful and magnetic painting that leads to a deep reflection on morality and actions.
The ALLEGORY FOR THE VICTORY OF CATHERINE II OVER THE TURKS AND TATARS by Stefano Torelli portrays the empress as the happy winner of the Turks in the war of 1768–1774 and the conqueror of the Novorossiysk region.
The painting is a decorative extravaganza and is a synthesis of a group portrait and a historical painting. It combines images of specific historical figures with the artist’s free imagination, conventional elegant coloring, decorative composition and documented precise details.
Catherine II appears before the viewer in the image of the goddess Minerva, who in Roman mythology was the patroness of wisdom and the arts. She sits on a triumphal chariot, surrounded by allegorical images of the grateful people who inhabited the southern borders of the Russian Empire.
The Italian master was first a teacher at the Imperial Academy of Arts, and then, in 1768, he became the court painter of Empress Catherine II. Accepting all her wishes, he became a typical master of the light and elegant court Rococo style.
Among Russian painters, he distinguished himself thanks to his impeccable command of mythological subjects and the ability to handle allegorical themes.
I found particularly interesting in this painting the contrast between the victorious and the expression of the defeated, especially this strong warrior in the right corner.
THE APPEARANCE OF CHRIST TO THE PEOPLE is a monumental canvas and the central work of Ivanov Alexander.
In the desert, a crowd of people - naked, dressed and clothed, emerges from the water of the sacred river and listens to the passionate speeches of the prophet, John the Baptist. They are the future disciples of Christ.
In the distance, the artist depicted a lonely figure of Christ walking toward Jordan; all eyes are already directed towards Him, even though he has not yet approached.
Looking for a universal subject never chosen by other painters, Ivanov saw this appearance as a key moment in world history: the beginning of the spiritual transformation of humanity. Through the difference in emotional reactions of the characters in the picture - young and old, ready to believe and doubters, future followers and persecutors of Christ—among whom a special place is given to the well-fed rich man and the humiliated slave.
This is, for these reasons, such an interesting painting because she shows not only the usual representative aspect of Christ but also a psychological and social aspect of this apparition.
The defeated. Dirge is perhaps Vereshchagin's most powerful philosophical work.
The painting depicts a memorial service for killed Russian soldiers taking place in the open air. The viewer does not immediately distinguish the bodies stretched out on the ground, but looking closer, he sees in horror the mutilated, naked corpses of soldiers covering the earth.
Vereshchagin served as a military artist at the headquarters of the Russian army during the Russian-Turkish War (1877–1878) in the Balkans and saw evidence of the Turks’ abuse of the bodies of fallen Russian rangers. He also lost his brother in the war.
These Impressions deeply influenced his paintings, which became a symbolic memorial service for all the souls that the war took.
I found this painting touching and powerful. It encourages us to reflect on the relationship between life and death and leaves this impression of emptiness, of a timeless moment.
NIKITA PUSTOSVIAT. DISPUTE ABOUT FAITH (1880-1881) depicts the moment when schismatics led by Nikita Pustosvyat, accompanied by archers, came to the Faceted Chamber of the Moscow Kremlin with demands to restore the “old piety” in Rus'.
The dispute, which was not only religious, but also political in nature, took on an acute form and resulted in a fight. After the end of the dispute, Pustosvyat would be executed at the Execution Ground on Red Square, the schismatics would be exiled to monastic imprisonment, and the archers would swear allegiance to Sophia.
Vasily Perov was a recognized genre and portrait painter, and, unlike his contemporaries (Kramskoy, Yaroshenko, Makovsky), he did not paint pictures of “current” populist subjects but images of fighters against power in Russia’s past.
Among the most significant works on this topic are “Princess Sophia” by Repin, “The Morning of the Streltsy Execution” by Surikov, Mussorgsky’s opera “Khovanshchina”, and Leo Tolstoy’s unfinished novel “Beginnings”.
What is really intense in this painting is the contrast between the open emotion of Pustosvyat’s furious despair and, on the other side, the motionless, unshakable princess's reaction.
The SIEGE OF PSKOV BY THE POLISH KING STEPHAN BATHORY represents the decisive battle between the Moscow army defending the city and the army of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth that took place in Pskov from August 18, 1581, to February 4, 1582. The conflict ended with the signing of a peace treaty unfavorable for Russia.
The idea for the painting came to Karl Bryullov while reading the works of the writer N.M. Karamzin and its realization was possible after collecting a large amount of factual material (artifacts, costumes, and military equipment) with an archaeologist, visiting Pskov and examining the ruins of the fortress wall of the battle. Dissatisfaction from the painter led to the picture remaining unfinished.
The artist focused on conveying the patriotic spirit of the Russian warrior (heroes like peasants and women), and the artist paid the greatest attention to representatives of the clergy, with the compositional center of the picture being a monk on a horse, clutching a highly raised cross in his hands.
I saw this large painting as a real symbol of Russian power and faith.
