This painting is known to everyone, young and old, because the work itself of the great landscape painter Ivan Shishkin is the most notable painting masterpiece in the artist’s creative heritage.
We all know that this artist loved the forest and its nature very much, admired every bush and blade of grass, moldy tree trunks decorated with branches sagging from the weight of foliage and pine needles. Shishkin reflected all this love on an ordinary linen canvas, so that later the whole world could see the unsurpassed skill of the great Russian master.
At the first acquaintance in the Tretyakov Hall with the painting Morning in pine forest, the indelible impression of the viewer’s presence is felt, the human mind is completely immersed in the atmosphere of the forest with marvelous and mighty giant pine trees, which reek of pine aroma. I want to breathe deeper in this air, its freshness mixed with the morning forest fog covering the surrounding forest.
The visible tops of centuries-old pines, their branches bent from the weight of their branches, are gently illuminated by the morning rays of the sun. As we understand, all this beauty was preceded by a terrible hurricane, the mighty wind of which uprooted and felled the pine tree, breaking it in two. All this contributed to what we see. Bear cubs frolic on the ruins of a tree and their mischievous play is guarded by the mother bear. This plot can be said to have very clearly enlivened the picture, adding atmosphere to the whole composition. everyday life forest nature.
Despite the fact that Shishkin rarely wrote animals in his works, still giving preference to the beauties of earthly vegetation. Of course, he painted sheep and cows in some of his works, but apparently this bothered him somewhat. In this story, the bears were written by his colleague Savitsky K.A., who from time to time was engaged in creativity together with Shishkin. Perhaps he suggested working together.
Upon completion of the work, Savitsky also signed the painting, so there were two signatures. Everything would be fine, everyone really liked the picture, including famous philanthropist Tretyakov, who decided to buy the canvas for his collection, however, demanded that Savitsky’s signature be removed, citing the fact that the bulk of the work was executed by Shishkin, who was more familiar to him, who had to fulfill the collector’s demand. As a result, a quarrel arose in this co-authorship, because the entire fee was paid to the main performer of the film. Of course, there is practically no accurate information on this matter; historians shrug their shoulders. One can, of course, only guess how this fee was divided and what unpleasant feelings there were among the artists’ colleagues.
The subject of the painting Morning in a Pine Forest became widely known among contemporaries; there was a lot of talk and speculation regarding the state of nature depicted by the artist. The fog is shown very colorfully, decorating the airiness of the morning forest with a soft blue haze. As we remember, the artist already painted the painting “Fog in pine forest"And this airiness technique came in handy in this work as well.
Today the picture is very common, as written above, it is known even to children who love candy and souvenirs, often it is even called the Three Bears, perhaps because three bear cubs catch the eye and the bear is as if in the shadows and is not entirely noticeable, in the second case in The USSR was the name for candy, where this reproduction was printed on candy wrappers.
Also today, modern masters draw copies, decorating various offices and representative social halls, and of course our apartments with the beauties of our Russian nature. This masterpiece can be seen in the original by visiting the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow, which is not often visited by many.
“The Nun” by Ilya Repin
Ilya Repin. Nun. 1878. State Tretyakov Gallery / Portrait under an X-ray
From the portrait, a young girl in strict monastic clothes looks thoughtfully at the viewer. The image is classic and familiar - it probably would not have aroused interest among art critics if not for the memoirs of Lyudmila Alekseevna Shevtsova-Spore, the niece of Repin’s wife. They revealed interesting story.
Sofia Repina, née Shevtsova, posed for Ilya Repina for The Nun. The girl was the artist’s sister-in-law - and at one time Repin himself was seriously infatuated with her, but he married her younger sister Vera. Sophia became the wife of Repin’s brother Vasily, an orchestra member of the Mariinsky Theater.
This did not stop the artist from repeatedly painting portraits of Sophia. For one of them, the girl posed in a formal ball gown: a light elegant dress, lace sleeves, and a high hairstyle. While working on the painting, Repin had a serious quarrel with the model. As you know, anyone can offend an artist, but few can take revenge as creatively as Repin did. The offended artist “dressed” Sophia in the portrait in monastic clothes.
The story, similar to an anecdote, was confirmed by an x-ray. The researchers were lucky: Repin did not remove the original paint layer, which allowed them to examine the heroine’s original outfit in detail.
"Park Alley" by Isaac Brodsky
Isaac Brodsky. Park alley. 1930. Private collection / Isaac Brodsky. Alley of the park in Rome. 1911
No less interesting riddle left for researchers by Repin's student, Isaac Brodsky. The Tretyakov Gallery houses his painting “Park Alley,” which at first glance is unremarkable: Brodsky had many works on “park” themes. However, the further you go into the park, the more colorful layers there are.
One of the researchers noticed that the composition of the painting was suspiciously reminiscent of another work of the artist - “Park Alley in Rome” (Brodsky was stingy with original titles). This painting was considered lost for a long time, and its reproduction was published only in a rather rare edition in 1929. With the help of x-rays, the Roman alley that had mysteriously disappeared was found - right under the Soviet one. The artist did not clean up the finished image and simply made a number of simple changes to it: he dressed passers-by in the fashion of the 30s of the 20th century, “took away” the serso from the children, removed marble statues and modified the trees a little. So, with a couple of light movements of the hand, the sunny Italian park turned into an exemplary Soviet one.
When asked why Brodsky decided to hide his Roman alley, they did not find an answer. But it can be assumed that the depiction of the “modest charm of the bourgeoisie” in 1930 was no longer inappropriate from an ideological point of view. Nevertheless, of all Brodsky’s post-revolutionary landscape works, “Park Alley” is the most interesting: despite the changes, the picture retained the charming grace of Art Nouveau, which, alas, no longer existed in Soviet realism.
“Morning in a Pine Forest” by Ivan Shishkin
Ivan Shishkin and Konstantin Savitsky. Morning in a pine forest. 1889. State Tretyakov Gallery
A forest landscape with bear cubs playing on a fallen tree is perhaps the most famous work artist. But the idea for the landscape was suggested to Ivan Shishkin by another artist, Konstantin Savitsky. He also painted a bear with three cubs: the forest expert Shishkin had no luck with bears.
Shishkin had an impeccable understanding of forest flora; he noticed the slightest mistakes in the drawings of his students - either the birch bark was depicted incorrectly, or the pine looked like a fake one. However, people and animals have always been rare in his works. This is where Savitsky came to the rescue. By the way, he left several preparatory drawings and sketches with bear cubs - I was looking for suitable poses. “Morning in a Pine Forest” was not originally “Morning”: the painting was called “Bear Family in the Forest,” and there were only two bears in it. As a co-author, Savitsky also put his signature on the canvas.
When the canvas was delivered to the merchant Pavel Tretyakov, he was indignant: he paid for Shishkin (ordered an original work), but received Shishkin and Savitsky. Shishkin, how honest man, did not attribute authorship to himself. But Tretyakov followed the principle and blasphemously erased Savitsky’s signature from the painting with turpentine. Savitsky later nobly renounced copyright, and the bears were attributed to Shishkin for a long time.
“Portrait of a Chorus Girl” by Konstantin Korovin
Konstantin Korovin. Portrait of a chorus girl. 1887. State Tretyakov Gallery / Reverse side of the portrait
On the back of the canvas, researchers found a message from Konstantin Korovin on cardboard, which turned out to be almost more interesting than the painting itself:
“In 1883 in Kharkov, a portrait of a chorus girl. Written on a balcony in a commercial public garden. Repin said when S.I. Mamontov showed him this sketch that he, Korovin, was writing and looking for something else, but what is it for - this is painting for painting’s sake only. Serov had not yet painted portraits at this time. And the painting of this sketch was found incomprehensible??!! So Polenov asked me to remove this sketch from the exhibition, since neither the artists nor the members - Mr. Mosolov and some others - liked it. The model was not a beautiful woman, even somewhat ugly.”The “Letter” was disarming with its directness and daring challenge to the entire artistic community: “Serov had not yet painted portraits at that time,” but he, Konstantin Korovin, painted them. And he was allegedly the first to use techniques characteristic of the style that would later be called Russian impressionism. But all this turned out to be a myth that the artist created intentionally.Konstantin Korovin
The harmonious theory “Korovin is the forerunner of Russian impressionism” was mercilessly destroyed by objective technical and technological research. On the front side of the portrait they found the artist’s signature in paint, and just below in ink: “1883, Kharkov.” The artist worked in Kharkov in May - June 1887: he painted scenery for performances of the Mamontov Russian Private Opera. In addition, art historians have found that the “Portrait of a Chorus Girl” was made in a certain artistic manner- a la prima. This technique oil painting allowed me to paint a picture in one session. Korovin began to use this technique only in the late 1880s.
After analyzing these two inconsistencies, employees Tretyakov Gallery came to the conclusion that the portrait was painted only in 1887, and Korovin added an earlier date to emphasize his own innovation.
“The Man and the Cradle” by Ivan Yakimov
Ivan Yakimov. Man and cradle.1770. State Tretyakov Gallery / Full version of the work
For a long time, Ivan Yakimov’s painting “Man and Cradle” puzzled art critics. And the point was not even that this kind of everyday sketches are absolutely not typical for painting XVIII centuries - the rocking horse in the lower right corner of the picture has a rope that is too unnaturally stretched, which logically should be lying on the floor. And it was too early for a child to play with such toys from the cradle. Also, the fireplace did not even fit half onto the canvas, which looked very strange.
The situation was “clarified” - in the literal sense - by an x-ray. She showed that the canvas was cut on the right and top.
The Tretyakov Gallery received the painting after the sale of the collection of Pavel Petrovich Tugoy-Svinin. He owned the so-called “Russian Museum” - a collection of paintings, sculptures and antiques. But in 1834, due to financial problems, the collection had to be sold - and the painting “Man and Cradle” ended up in the Tretyakov Gallery: not all of it, but only its left half. The right one, unfortunately, was lost, but you can still see the work in its entirety, thanks to another unique exhibit of the Tretyakov Gallery. The full version of Yakimov’s work was found in the album “Collection of excellent works by Russian artists and curious domestic antiquities,” which contains drawings from most of the paintings that were part of Svinin’s collection.
Ivan Ivanovich Shishkin’s painting “Morning in a Pine Forest” is perhaps the most famous painting by this Russian landscape artist. The canvas depicts a mother bear with three small cubs playing on a fallen pine tree. The painting is made in Shishkin’s characteristic style: warm shades, skillfully drawn details, soft light breaking through the branches sunlight. But the main highlight of the canvas is the mischievous bear cubs. They are depicted so cheerful, carefree, so “alive” that it immediately becomes clear that the artist treated the forest and its inhabitants with great love and awe. Or, more precisely, artists.
How “Morning in a Pine Forest” was created
The history of the creation of the painting “Morning in a Pine Forest” is quite interesting - for example, not everyone knows that Shishkin is not the only author of the painting. The idea for the painting was suggested to him by Konstantin Savitsky, who became a co-author of the painting and personally painted all the bears. But his name was erased from the canvas by the philanthropist Tretyakov, who bought the masterpiece.
He noted that in the picture “everything speaks about the manner of painting, about creative method, characteristic of Shishkin." Of course, such a description of Shishkin’s painting “Morning in a Pine Forest” probably flattered the great painter, but after the incident Shishkin and Savitsky managed not to quarrel, but to remain friends for a long time. for many years. Konstantin Savitsky even became godfather for Shishkin's son. They were brought together by many things, so the erased signature could not affect strong friendship and positive relationships.
Although Savitsky and Shishkin’s painting “Morning in a Pine Forest” owes much of its popularity to Tretyakov, a significant contribution to its fame was made by the German confectioner Ferdinand von Einem, who placed the plot from this painting on the wrapper of his chocolates"Teddy Bear." Of course, the image on the wrapper was very simplified, but people quickly fell in love with the bear cubs. And soon not a single holiday would be complete without the famous chocolates with wafer inside. Among the people, the painting was secretly called “Three Bears” (which, however, is not entirely true, because there are four bears on it). But, apparently, the consonance with folk tale“Masha and the Bears”, where there were really three bears. Sometimes the canvas is also called “Morning in a Pine Forest,” but this is a misnomer.
These candies with a wafer inside continued to be produced after October Revolution- however, it was no longer von Einem’s confectionery that was doing this, but the Red October enterprise. But that didn’t make me love sweets any less.
This painting remains popular to this day - its reproductions can be seen in many apartments. After all, its warm, soulful atmosphere can bring warmth, tranquility, and comfort into the house. The original today has become a decoration of the St. Petersburg Tretyakov Gallery. Many art connoisseurs come to admire this great work of Russian fine arts.
CategoryPerhaps the most famous painting the outstanding Russian landscape painter I. I. Shishkin - “Morning in a pine forest.” The painting was painted in 1889.
It is believed that the idea for the painting was suggested to Shishkin famous artist Savitsky K.A. By the way, the bear and the playing cubs were painted by the hand of this artist. However, Tretyakov, who acquired the painting, decided to assign Shishkin’s authorship to it, since he believed that the main work was done by him.
Perhaps it was the entertaining plot of the painting that contributed to its popularity, but the real value of the canvas is determined by the accurately conveyed state of nature. Before us is not just a pine forest, but a deep thicket that begins to awaken in the early morning. The sun is just rising. Its bold rays have already gilded the tops of huge trees and penetrated deep into the thicket, but the damp fog has not yet cleared over the deep ravine.
The inhabitants of the thicket woke up - three bear cubs and a she-bear. It looks like the kids are full and happy. They carelessly and clumsily fumble on the broken trunk of a fallen pine tree, and the bear carefully watches their play, sensitively reacting to the rustling of the awakening forest. A mighty pine tree, which a hurricane once uprooted, and a family of bears frolicking on it - all this gives us a feeling of deafness and remoteness of this corner of the wild.
The painting “Morning in a Pine Forest” shows how skillfully Shishkin solves the problem of the interaction of color and light in painting. The coloring of the background of the canvas is transparent, indefinite, and the foreground is deep, colorful, well-developed. The painting, which is deservedly considered a model of landscape for many generations, fully conveys the artist’s admiration for the beauty and richness of pristine nature.
In addition to the description of the painting by I. I. Shishkin “Morning in a Pine Forest”, our website contains many other descriptions of paintings by various artists, which can be used both in preparation for writing an essay on the painting, and simply for a more complete acquaintance with the work of famous masters past.
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Ivan Shishkin glorified not only his hometown(Elabuga) for the whole country, but also for the entire vast territory of Russia and for the whole world. His most famous painting is “Morning in a Pine Forest.” Why is it so famous and why is it considered practically the standard of painting? Let's try to understand this issue.
Shishkin and landscapes
Ivan Shishkin - famous landscape artist. His unique style of work originates from the Düsseldorf School of Drawing. But, unlike most of his colleagues, the artist passed the basic techniques through himself, which made it possible to create a unique style, not inherent in anyone else.
Shishkin admired nature all his life; she inspired him to create numerous masterpieces of a million colors and shades. The artist always tried to depict the flora as he sees it, without various exaggerations and decorations.
He tried to choose landscapes untouched by human hands. Virgin like the forests of the taiga. combine realism with a poetic view of nature. Ivan Ivanovich saw poetry in the play of light and shadow, in the power of Mother Earth, in the fragility of one Christmas tree standing in the wind.
The versatility of the artist
It's hard to imagine such a thing genius artist the head of the city or school teacher. But Shishkin combined many talents. Coming from a merchant family, he had to follow in the footsteps of his parent. In addition, Shishkin’s good disposition quickly endeared him to people throughout the city. He was elected to the post of manager and helped develop his native Elabuga as best he could. Naturally, this was also manifested in painting. Shishkin’s pen is “History of the City of Elabuga”.
Ivan Ivanovich managed to draw pictures and participate in exciting archaeological excavations. He lived abroad for some time, and even became an academician in Düsseldorf.
Shishkin was an active member of the Itinerants Society, where he met other famous Russian artists. He was considered a real authority among other painters. They tried to inherit the master’s style, and the paintings inspired both writers and painters.
He left behind a legacy of numerous landscapes that have become decorations in museums and private collections around the globe.
After Shishkin, few people managed to depict all the diversity of Russian nature so realistically and so beautifully. No matter what happened in the artist’s personal life, he did not allow his troubles to be reflected on the canvases.
Background
The artist treated forest nature with great trepidation; it literally captivated him with its countless colors, variety of shades, and the rays of the sun breaking through the thick pine branches.
The painting “Morning in a Pine Forest” became the embodiment of Shishkin’s love for the forest. It quickly gained popularity, and was soon used in pop culture, on stamps, and even on candy wrappers. To this day it is carefully kept in the Tretyakov Gallery.
Description: “Morning in a pine forest”
Ivan Shishkin managed to capture one moment from an entire forest life. He conveyed with the help of a drawing the moment of the beginning of the day, when the sun was just beginning to rise. An amazing moment of the birth of a new life. The painting “Morning in a Pine Forest” depicts an awakening forest and still sleepy cubs that are getting out of a secluded dwelling.
In this painting, as in many others, the artist wanted to emphasize the immensity of nature. To do this, he cut off the tops of the pine trees at the top of the canvas.
If you look closely, you will notice that the roots of the tree on which the cubs are frolicking have been torn out. Shishkin seemed to emphasize that this forest is so uninhabited and deaf that only animals can live in it, and the trees fall on their own, from old age.
Shishkin indicated the morning in a pine forest with the help of the fog that we see between the trees. Thanks to this artistic move, the time of day becomes obvious.
Co-authorship
Shishkin was an excellent landscape painter, but rarely took on images of animals in his works. The painting “Morning in a Pine Forest” was no exception. He created the landscape, but the four cubs were painted by another artist, an expert on animals, Konstantin Savitsky. They say that it was he who suggested the very idea for this painting. While painting a morning in a pine forest, Shishkin took Savitsky as a co-author, and the painting was initially signed by the two of them. However, after the painting was transferred to the gallery, Tretyakov considered Shishkin’s work more extensive and erased the name of the second artist.
Story
Shishkin and Savitsky went into nature. This is how the story began. The morning in the pine forest seemed so beautiful to them that it was impossible not to immortalize it on canvas. To search for a prototype, they went to Gordomlya Island, which stands on Lake Seliger. There they found this landscape and new inspiration for the painting.
The island, completely covered with forests, contained the remnants of virgin nature. For many centuries it stood untouched. This could not leave artists indifferent.
Claims
The painting was born in 1889. Although Savitsky initially complained to Tretyakov that he had erased his name, he soon changed his mind and abandoned this masterpiece in favor of Shishkin.
He justified his decision by the fact that the style of the painting fully corresponds to what Ivan Ivanovich did, and even the sketches of the bears originally belonged to him.
Facts and Misconceptions
Like any famous painting, the painting “Morning in a Pine Forest” arouses great interest. Consequently, it has a number of interpretations and is mentioned in literature and cinema. They say about this masterpiece as in high society, and on the streets.
Over time, some facts have been changed, and general misconceptions have become firmly entrenched in society:
- One of the common mistakes is the opinion that Vasnetsov created “Morning in a Pine Forest” together with Shishkin. Viktor Mikhailovich, of course, knew Ivan Ivanovich, since they were members of the Itinerants club together. However, Vasnetsov could not possibly be the author of such a landscape. If you pay attention to his style, he is not at all similar to Shishkin, they belong to different art schools. These names are still mentioned together from time to time. Vasnetsov is not that artist. “Morning in a Pine Forest,” without any doubt, was painted by Shishkin.
- The title of the painting sounds like “Morning in a Pine Forest.” Boron is simply a second name that people apparently found more appropriate and mysterious.
- Unofficially, some Russians still call the painting “Three Bears,” which is a grave mistake. There are not three, but four animals in the picture. It is likely that the canvas began to be called that because of the popular Soviet era sweets called “Teddy bear”. The candy wrapper depicted a reproduction of Shishkin’s “Morning in a Pine Forest.” People gave the candy the name “Three Bears”.
- The picture has its “first version”. Shishkin painted another canvas of the same theme. He called it “Fog in the Pine Forest.” Few people know about this picture. She is rarely remembered. There is no canvas on site Russian Federation. To this day it is kept in private collection in Poland.
- Initially, there were only two bear cubs in the picture. Later Shishkin decided that the image should include four clubfooted people. Thanks to the addition of two more bears, the genre of the film changed. It began to be located on the “borderland”, as some elements of the game scene appeared on the landscape.