Aivazovsky - the master of the sea. We are writing an essay based on the painting "The Storm" (Aivazovsky) and
The famous Russian writer Maxim Gorky has always surprised and delighted me. philosophical depth and precision of expression. Once Gorky remarked: “An artist is the sensibility of his country, his class, his ear, eye and heart; he is the voice of his era.” Very well, these words characterize the life and work of our Crimean artist I. K. Aivazovsky, a well-known marine painter, collector and philanthropist. I always look at his paintings with excitement and feel a sense of sincere admiration for the artist's talent and his deep patriotism. The works of the Crimean marine painter are permeated quivering love to our country, rich history, peculiar nature.
One of my favorite paintings is The Battle of Chesme, painted in 1848. It is quite large: the size of the canvas is 195 by 185 cm. When visiting the Feodosia Art Gallery, I stand by this painting for a long time. Battle canvas dedicated to one of important episodes Russian-Turkish war 1768-1774 During the night from 25 to 26 June 1770 the ships Russian fleet were able to destroy most of the Turkish fleet.
I. K. Aivazovsky convincingly showed on the canvas the undeniable victory of the Russian squadron. The picture is permeated with dynamics and, despite the tragic content, with pride in the Russian fleet.
"Chesmensky fight" attracts the attention of the audience with a combination of red, yellow and black tones. Contrasting canvas will not leave anyone indifferent. In the center is the silhouette of the flagship of the Russian flotilla. Burning Turkish ships are depicted in the depths of the bay. The flame is so bright that for several minutes it is impossible to take your eyes off this part of the picture. It seems that you not only see, but also hear the screams of people, volleys of cannons, the crackle of burning and flying fragments of masts, parts of ships that turn into a huge fire above the water. The flame blazes so brightly that the faces of Turkish sailors are visible, miraculously surviving and trying to escape. They cling to the rubble and cry for help. But there is no salvation for ships or people. Everyone is doomed...
The bright flames on the sea grow into gray smoke and mix with the clouds, because of which the frozen moon watches the battle indifferently. It seems that water, fire and air are mixed together. Terrible, bringing death and destruction unprecedented fireworks in Chesme Bay, which symbolizes the victory of the Russian flotilla.
The sea on this canvas by Aivazovsky is alive, jubilant. It is not just a background for the unfolding battle between Russian ships and the Turkish fleet, it is a witness and participant in what is happening in the Chesme Bay. The sea is many-sided and colorful. In the foreground of the picture - dark green, then - lead, in the background - red-yellow. It seems that it is worried and looking forward to the outcome of the battle. The transitions from one color to another are made by the artist so skillfully that the sea seems to have many faces.
Why do I love this picture? First of all, because it is permeated with pride, joyful excitement, intoxication with the brilliant victory won by Russian sailors. You understand all this when you stand in front of the canvas in the hall and admire the amazing technique of execution, inherent only to the great marine painter I.K. Aivazovsky, a true patriot and citizen of our great Motherland.
I am sure that the painting "The Battle of Chesme" is rightly called one of the best paintings, glorifying the glorious pages in the history of the Russian fleet. And I. K. Aivazovsky, who created it, can be safely called “the sensible of his country”, subtly feeling the importance of what is happening and skillfully reflecting on his canvases with the colors and brush of the great master.
For many, Aivazovsky's paintings of the sea are an indispensable part of the mosaic picture of the world that everyone has been collecting for themselves since childhood. Like a dream about a holiday and traveling to distant lands, and like a scary fairy tale - creepy, but impossible to tear yourself away. Or as a romance - maybe naive and slightly cloying, but still excites, subjugates.
Already during his lifetime, the fame of the famous artist Ivan Aivazovsky rapidly and widely surrounded him with real world fame. Since 1846, one hundred and twenty (!) of his solo exhibitions have been held abroad and in Russia. Aivazovsky Ivan Konstantinovich was an honorary member of European art academies: Rome, Amsterdam, Paris, Florence and others. The Florentine Academy offered him to paint a self-portrait (previously, only Kiprensky had received such an honor from Russian artists). The Pope expressed a desire to purchase his painting "" for the Vatican,
and the famous artist from England, William Turner, admiring the work of Aivazovsky, dedicated to the canvas “ Moonlight night» poems in Italian.
The list of successes can be continued indefinitely, because, according to one of Aivazovsky's biographers, his life was "one of the happiest human lives", "a real fairy tale, rich in events and beautiful, like a wonderful captivating dream. Indeed, the fate of the artist, who was born in 1817 in the seaside Feodosia, was extremely successful, although it began in a rather peculiar way. His childhood drawings on the fences of the historical port city of Feodosia attracted the attention and interest of the Tauride governor A.I. Kaznacheev, who helped to enter Aivazovsky to the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts, where very soon Nicholas I himself became his admirer and patron.
Nevertheless, the artist did not look much like a fairy-tale magician with magic wand. One of the most important components of Aivazovsky's success was exceptional performance and productivity. Throughout his life, Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky created about six thousand paintings. anticipating the practice contemporary masters from haute couture houses, artist Aivazovsky acted like a big firm that has an exclusive for the rich, there is a mass production, and also something for those who want to have a shard famous name, but do not have a lot of money for this. In addition to his paintings of large and medium size, there was also the so-called “gift” option, which was a photographic card of the maestro at the easel, where instead of a picture, a canvas the size of postage stamp, but with the same initial "A" in the corner.
Such a huge number of paintings could be written, if only if there were skills in the technique of quick writing. This speed was legendary. It is known, for example, that a huge canvas " The moment of the universe" (1864), a variant of the repetition of "", was written in one day. Aivazovsky himself somewhat flaunted his abilities and even occasionally demonstrated to admirers creative process as a kind of trick: he began to paint a picture from a blank canvas and, in front of the audience amazed by the impressions, completed it completely in an hour or two. So, in the presence of General A.P. Yermolov within about two hours was created " View of the Caucasian rocks near the Black Sea coast».
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1883. Oil on canvas. |
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The amazing memory of Aivazovsky contributed to the speed of work. It is known that at the beginning creative way Ivan Aivazovsky tried to paint landscapes from nature: it turned out to be both long and boring, while the views painted from memory turned out to be fresh and emotional. Therefore, the artist very quickly abandoned work on field studies and sketches, making only cursory sketches in the album. Such a system assumed the utmost concentration and concentration of attention.
I got the need to write from memory Aivazovsky theoretical justification. Aivazovsky was often copied and forged. The antique market is flooded with fake Aivazovskys. And although the plot external features the artist's manners are easily accessible to copyists, the secrets of his rather sophisticated technology remain hidden from them, and his confident craftsmanship is inaccessible. Aivazovsky's imitators are especially far from his professional accuracy in depicting ship rigging. Summer 1838 young Ivan Konstantinovich Ivan Konstantinovich took part in the maneuvers of the military fleet off the coast of the former possession of the Dadians - Mingrelia. At that time, he met the vice-admiral of the Russian fleet, the hero of the Crimean War V.A. Kornilov, the Russian naval commander and navigator Admiral M.P. Lazarev and an excellent sailor, who considered service in the Navy the only meaning and purpose of his life - Admiral P.S. Nakhimov. They eagerly explained to the painter how the ships are arranged. His knowledge of how a ship heels in the wind, sinks or burns, was accurate, not approximate. Even the secret details of the designs of Russian warships of that time were familiar to him. A rich collection of sailboat models was assembled in Aivazovsky's house in Feodosia, and the artist experienced the death of the Russian fleet during the unsuccessful Crimean campaign as a personal grief.
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1858. Oil on canvas. |
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1871. Oil on canvas. |
As a vast legacy, Aivazovsky gave to all mankind both portraits and genre painting, and flat landscapes, and compositions on biblical themes. However, his work remained highly specialized. "Land" Aivazovsky, as a rule, was much inferior to his own seascapes. The main merit of Aivazovsky can be considered laying the foundation for the development of the motive, which before him did not pay much attention to Russian artists and was thoroughly forgotten Western European masters, - the sea as a self-sufficient element, the sea as a theme. In the 19th century, artists mainly painted the sea off the coast. “Aivazovsky ... works quickly, but well: he is exclusively engaged in marine species, and since there is no artist of this kind here (in Italy - A.S.), he was glorified and praised,” - So Alexander Ivanov explained the reason for the grandiose Aivazovsky's success.
The brilliant artist did not change the found theme all his life, developing it with unflagging enthusiasm. The sea for him acquired the meaning of a symbol, a comprehensive metaphor. It is the scene of action and recent historical dramas and events biblical history. As a metaphor for poetic inspiration (it’s not without reason that Pushkin, Dante, Sappho appear in the paintings against the background of the sea), its sea is associated with quotes from school anthologies: from “A lonely sail turns white ...” to “Farewell, free element ...”, and the masterpieces of Russian poetry seems to reinforce, support the landscapes of the marine painter. Sea Aivazovsky is also a metaphor human life, vicissitudes of fate (analogous to the medieval wheel of fortune). No wonder Kramskoy introduces the image of one of the best works of Aivazovsky - "" - into his painting " Inconsolable grief"- as a sign of fate with its ups and downs.
As a true romantic, Ivan Konstantinovich needed a huge scale, he was attracted by nature itself with its sensations: floods, waterfalls, storms, wrecks. The artist forever kept in his soul the shock received from " last day Pompeii" by Karl Bryullov. The secret of the impact of Aivazovsky's paintings is in the direct emotional connection of the viewer. In his the best works - «», «», «», « Among the waves- the sea is surprisingly real.
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1850. Oil on canvas |
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I recall the horror of the first viewers of cinema, who were frightened by the sight of a train rushing towards them, forcing them to bow their heads. The hearts of contemporaries also sank before the paintings of Aivazovsky: what if it covers, and if you choke, and if you drown? General A.P. perfectly described the feelings of the ingenuous spectators in his letter to the artist. Ermolov. From the words of this letter it is clear that Aivazovsky's paintings bring the feelings of the viewer into panic fear before the elements of nature, from storms and waves, not finding salvation from death. But, at the same time, his other masterpieces make the amazed viewer spend an unforgettable, fabulous and delightful night on the shore, enjoying the calm of the sea under the light of a fantastic moon.
Indeed, Aivazovsky liked to work in contrast: a formidable storm, a cold wind and - the gentle peace of the hour before sunset or the silence of the night. Often he made paired paintings of the same size with the opposite mood, for example, from the collection of the Feodosia Art Gallery, which bears his name - "" and "".
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Depicting the water element, Aivazovsky by no means limited himself to the Black Sea, beloved and familiar from childhood. After Vereshchagin, he is the second tireless traveler in Russian art. The geography of his travels, which he reflects in his works on the landscape theme, is very striking. Aivazovsky quickly responded to various outstanding events of his century: in 1869 he attended the opening ceremony of the Suez Canal (then a picture would be painted on this story); canvas "" - a response to the events that agitated the Christian world related to the struggle of the population of the island of Crete with the Turks in 1866.
The social temperament of the artist is also striking. He was a true benefactor of his region: at his own expense he built an archaeological museum, a concert hall in his beloved seaside Feodosia, financed archaeological excavations, founded the Feodosia art gallery and library, organized an art school called " General workshop».
IN creative life genius Aivazovsky has paradoxes. He was a Russian artist, although he was an Armenian by upbringing and a Turk by origin. All his life he wrote "free elements", was considered the largest master late romanticism- and was the favorite brilliant artist Nicholas I. He wore a uniform as a "painter of the Main Naval Staff." He communicated with Bryullov and his "brothers", but did not like to participate in their revelry and generally did not accept the bohemian lifestyle. The romanticism of Aivazovsky's work coexisted without conflict with pragmatism and practicality in life. As a result, his personality was overgrown with real and invented anecdotes with elements of farce. The case with the herd of sheep belonging to Aivazovsky is very indicative. Frightened by the storm, the sheep threw themselves into the sea from a cliff and died. Then Aivazovsky painted a picture on this plot, successfully sold it and acquired a new herd with the proceeds. . The political situation changed before his eyes, aesthetic trends were born and died. But they didn't seem to touch him. His sea is stormy and worried, his sailboats are ruffled by the wind and the storm breaks into chips, but he himself is unshakable like a rock. Incredibly popular during his lifetime, Aivazovsky and for modern viewers of our time causes genuine delight among the audience, museums, auctions and private collectors “hunt” for his works. On the international art market, Aivazovsky is one of the most valued and expensive Russian painters.
Novosibirsk Medical Institute. Department of Cultural Studies. 1997
COMPOSITION
based on the work of Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky
Performed by a student of the medical faculty of the third year of the ninth group Gerasenko A.A.
Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky is one of the greatest Russian painters of the 19th century.
From childhood, he developed a passion for drawing. He grew up in Feodosia, and the most vivid impressions were connected with the sea; Navkrnoe therefore he devoted all his work to the image of the sea.
Aivazovsky studied at the Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg, and already his first seascapes stood out on academic exhibitions. At one of these exhibitions, the artist met with Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin, who expressed his approval to him. “Since then, the poet I already loved has become the subject of my thoughts and inspiration,” said Aivazovsky. Subsequently, the artist created a number of paintings associated with the image of Pushkin, including the famous canvas “Pushkin's Farewell to the Sea” (the figure of the poet was painted by I. E. Repin). This work is surprisingly in tune with Pushkin's lines:
Farewell, free element.
IN last time in front of me
You roll blue waves
And you shine with proud beauty ...
For success in painting, Aivazovsky was reduced by two years of the course at the Academy and in 1837 was awarded the highest award- Big gold medal.
In the early 1840s, the young artist was sent abroad as a pensioner of the Academy. Seascapes, written by him in Naples and Venice, have become widely known. In Amsterdam, Aivazovsky was awarded the honorary title of academician, and in Paris he received a gold medal. At the same time, the English landscape painter D. Turner was impressed by Aivazovsky's painting depicting the Gulf of Naples moonlit night, composed a sonnet in honor of its author, in which he wrote: “Forgive me, great artist if I was mistaken in taking the picture for reality, but your work fascinated me, and delight took possession of me. Your art is lofty and powerful, because you are inspired by Genius.” These lines are all the more valuable because they belong to a world-renowned marine painter, a man who is stingy with praise.
Upon his return to Russia, Aivazovsky received the title of academician and painter of the Main Naval Staff. In 1844 - 1845 he completed a large state order for a series of paintings showing Russian fortress ports on the Baltic Sea. The canvases "Sveaborg" and "Revel" give an idea of this series.
Despite the many lucrative orders offered in the capital, Aivazovsky leaves for his homeland, in the Crimea. There, in Feodosia, in the autumn of 1846, he celebrated the tenth anniversary of his work. A squadron of Black Sea Fleet ships under the command of Admiral V. A. Kornilov arrived to congratulate the artist on his anniversary. It was not by chance that the sailors gave the artist high honors. Aivazovsky has repeatedly been in the combat campaigns of the squadron. He participated in the landing of Russian troops at Subashi and captured this event.
The painting “Peter I at Krasnaya Gorka” is also dedicated to the history of the Russian fleet. Aivazovsky portrayed sailing ships with all their complex equipment: in the painting “The Russian Squadron in the Sevastopol Roadstead”, the formation of warships ready for the parade is conveyed with deep knowledge.
Sensitive to the events of our time, Aivazovsky immediately responded to them with his work. So, he created a number of works about the Crimean War of 1853-1856. The artist not only visited the besieged Sevastopol, but also brought an exhibition of his paintings there. Among them was the “Battle of Sinop” (victory over the Turkish fleet on November 18, 1853). The canvas was created on the basis of the stories of the participants in the battle. “This picture is so striking that it is difficult to tear oneself away from it,” wrote one of the sailors who saw it in the besieged Sevastopol. The words spoken then by Admiral P. S. Nakhimov are also known: “The picture is extremely well done.”
One of the most popular works artist is "The Ninth Wave". Aivazovsky depicted a raging sea at sunrise. Foaming huge waves, co terrible force the “ninth wave” comes up. The artist contrasted the fury of the elements with the courage and bravery of people fleeing on a wreck of a mast after a shipwreck. Aivazovsky built his picture in such a way and introduced the brightest and most sonorous colors into it that, despite the drama of what was happening, he made me admire the beauty of the raging sea. There is no sense of doom or tragedy in the picture.
Amazing artistry. With equal force and persuasiveness, he was able to convey a violent storm and the calm expanse of the sea, the brilliance of the sun's rays sparkling on the water and the ripples of rain, the transparency of the sea depth and the snow-white foam of the waves. “The movement of living elements is elusive for the brush,” said Aivazovsky, “to write lightning, a gust of wind, a splash of a wave is unthinkable from nature. For this, the artist must remember them and these accidents, as well as the effects of light and shadows, furnish his picture. He was convinced that “a person who is not endowed with memory, preserving the impressions of wildlife, can be an excellent copyist, a living photographic apparatus, but true artist- never".
Aivazovsky worked hard and with inspiration, improvising freely, putting all his feelings and richness of observations into his work. “I can’t write quietly, I can’t pore over a picture for a whole month,” he confessed.
The creative path of the master was difficult. romantic traits were gradually replaced in his art by realistic ones. From the bright colorful range and lighting effects that prevailed in early work, Aivazovsky switched to more restrained and truthful color relationships. This is especially noticeable in the painting "Black Sea" and one of the largest canvases - "Wave". The artist created more than six thousand works, and one of them is presented in the collection of the Novosibirsk art gallery- "Shipwreck".
The painting depicts a ship that has run aground, a lifeboat, on which the entire crew is sailing to the shore from the crash site. From the shore, fishermen are watching everything, clearly interested in what is happening. But looking at this picture, you do not see the tragedy of the crash, all experiences seem to fade into the background. This effect is achieved thanks to a special image of the action. The colors are chosen light, bright, saturated. In addition, the landscape environment quite peaceful: the sky is clear, gently blue color, the sea is completely calm, the surface of the sea is like a mirror, not a single wave is visible. In addition, the ship itself is in the distance and looks like some kind of small, toy. All this creates a feeling of peace of mind, which allows you to simply admire the picture without thinking about the plot.
Aivazovsky reached great heights in the image of the sea, to which he dedicated his whole life. He made a huge contribution to world culture and culture of Russia.
23.09.2019For those who are wondering: how to write a conclusion on the final essay?
The conclusion, like other compositional parts of the essay, can be both standard and original.
The information is relevant for 2019-2020!
- Everything about the final 2019-2020: directions, topics, arguments, literature
The conclusion should correspond to the introduction / topic / main text of the essay in terms of content.
Before writing the conclusion, you need to re-read the introduction, remembering the problems posed in it, and make sure that the conclusion necessarily echoes the introduction, since the lack of connection between the introduction and the conclusion is one of the most common content-compositional errors.
In conclusion, you can:
- sum up the whole discussion
- use a relevant quote containing the essence main idea essays
- give a concise and precise answer to the question of the topic.
The volume of the conclusion: no more than 15% of the entire essay.
Conclusion TRADITIONAL
There are several standard ways to end an essay:
- Conclusion.
It is customary to conclude an essay with a conclusion from all of the above. This is probably the most common way to end an essay. However, it is also the most the hard way, because it is difficult, on the one hand, not to duplicate in the conclusion what has already been said, and, on the other hand, not to go away from the topic of the essay.
- Call.
This is another fairly common ending. Here it is advisable NOT to use 2nd person verbs such as “take care”, “respect”, “remember”. Why? Yes, everything is very simple: each essay has an addressee - the one who will read it and to whom the calls will be addressed. In our case, this is the teacher who will check the work. It turns out that we are calling on him to cherish, remember, and so on. To be honest, it's not very ethical. Therefore, it is better to use the word "let's": "let's protect nature", "let's remember veterans", etc.
- Expression of hope.
This is one of the most winning options for the final part, because. avoids duplication of thought, ethical and logical errors. Important: you need to express hope for something positive. To write: “I would like to hope that nature will avenge itself and all people will die,” it’s not worth it, you yourself understand.
Conclusion Options
- Conclusion
So, how are people alive? I think love. People live by love for their loved ones and friends, love for native land and nature. They are led through life by a dream, hope for the best, faith in their own strength. And help you go through life good feelings: sympathy, mercy, sensitivity, responsiveness. This is something without which our life is unthinkable.
- call
In conclusion, I would like to urge people not to forget that nature is our mother, which gives us everything we need for life. Without it, we would not be able to exist. And so it is our duty to repay her kindness for kindness. Let's take care of its preservation, take care of everything that surrounds us.
- Expression of hope
Summing up what has been said, I would like to express the hope that harmony and mutual understanding will reign in every family. I would like to believe that love, care, sensitivity will become the main thing in relations between generations.
Conclusion ORIGINAL
A quote that makes sense. You can stock up in advance with quotes for all thematic areas maybe one will fit. Important: the meaning of the quote must necessarily correspond to the main idea of the essay. You can't use a quote just because it contains keyword, (for example, in an essay about nature, a quote with the word "nature") and not take into account its general meaning.
- A sketch that takes you back to the intro
I look at the illuminated windows of houses and think about how good it would be if there was no loneliness behind them, if everyone who lives there was surrounded by care.
Going through old front-line letters, I dream that the world will never have more wars tearing families apart.
- Quote
Thus, friendship is of great importance in a person's life. No wonder Cicero said: “In the world there is nothing better and more pleasant than friendship; excluding friendship from life is like depriving the world of sunlight.
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"The Ninth Wave"
Galina Churak
Exhibition curator and head of the painting department of the second half of the 19th and early 20th centuries
When we unpacked The Ninth Wave on the eve of the opening of the exhibition, everyone began to take pictures next to this picture. It seems that everyone knows both the work and the artist - whether we love him or not, but this is still one of Aivazovsky's hits. There has always been a certain attitude of the spectator towards him: there is an ingenuous spectator who likes everything. And there is a snobbish and critical viewer. It may seem that there was too much commerce in Aivazovsky, the works are focused on the public and on success - hence the long-established rejection of Aivazovsky.
Art developed in its own complex and often contradictory way, and Aivazovsky, as it were, was born a romantic and remained one for the rest of his life. He had an interest in the freedom of the elements, and this is the romantic state that many of us experience in our youth.
I love Aivazovsky for his devotion to the theme and the great skill of the artist, which did not betray him until old age. "Wave", for example, was written at the age of 70, and he still stood without fear in front of a huge canvas, his hand and eye unmistakably determined the right stroke. The work makes us come closer and closer, we are fascinated by the pattern of the waves, the shape and depth of the abyss. In such works, the dramas of humanity and the world are played out - reaching almost to cosmism.
The researchers of his writing each time say that the artist's techniques are clear, he does not use so many colors, but he knows how to put them in layers with such skill, which creates an abyss and a variety of shades, light and color. His paintings carry a sense of the power of light streams - the illumination of the crest of a wave, the boiling and aspiration of water, and notice how, among all this, he can incredibly accurately set a counterpoint, a color stroke that collects a different energy.
"Black Sea"
A familiar picture from Tretyakov Gallery The “Black Sea” at one time struck Kramskoy with the fact that there is nothing in it except the sky and waves, but there is an ocean, boundless and boundless, forever moving, forever swaying, like the breath of the world and a symbol of human destiny. It is no coincidence that in Kramskoy's painting "Inconsolable Grief" a woman who has lost a child appears against the background of this very picture - as a symbol of fate and human destiny, a symbol of perseverance. Kramskoy said that among the 3000-4000 paintings by Aivazovsky, there are several dozen that are absolutely perfect in their execution.
"Inconsolable grief", Ivan Nikolaevich Kramskoy
I treated Aivazovsky differently, but now I understand that he is much richer than just a depiction of the sea. In each picture, his skill is combined with deep feelings and serious thoughts - and all this creates that image of the world.
Aivazovsky is not the first Russian artist who turned to the image of the sea - but no one painted before him the way he began to depict it. Shchedrin, a remarkable artist of the beginning of the century, was older - and for Aivazovsky he became an idol. He also painted the sea, but mostly coastal scenes - he did not like the open sea, he considered the movement of the waves too sloppy. The main merit of Aivazovsky is that he put the image of the sea on a par with serious historical painting. The landscape has always been underestimated in our country, and Aivazovsky equalized it and brought it to the same level of significance with large historical canvases.
"View of Venice. San Giorgio"
If I could take any work home, I would choose View of Venice. San Giorgio. Seascape written on the board, and the basis itself gives the artist the opportunity for absolute smooth writing. This picture is remarkable in that it has absolute clarity, purity and peace: the place is so well chosen and remarkably correlates foreground with calm water, expanse of sky and calm clouds. By the way, in addition to the sea, we will also show several portraits at the exhibition - this is an uncharacteristic thing for Aivazovsky, he did not paint them so often. Among them is an absolutely wonderful portrait of the traveler Platon Chikhachev, painted in Italy. An absolutely romantic image: a dreamy pose, a red cap on the head, the deck of a sailboat, the sea and a receding perspective.
We are not just trying to rehabilitate Aivazovsky, but with this exhibition we want to show his diversity and depth. Yes, during his lifetime he was a commercial artist, he thought over where and how to organize exhibitions, but most of them he spent for charitable purposes - he gave money for admission to poor students and young artists, peasants who suffered from crop failure. He was a worthy man - and our first artist to receive the Order of the French Legion - and twice. Having incredible fame in Europe, he lived all his life in Feodosia, where he was born. For the inhabitants of this then still small provincial town, he built a water pipe, which supplied him with 50,000 buckets of water per day. He opened a library and built an archaeological museum. He donated money to Armenian schools and churches, gave paintings to decorate Armenian churches.
Of course, a person cannot be perfect in every way. In the memoirs of him, you can find such a funny moment: Aivazovsky was very fond of when he was awarded orders. He has such a large portrait that we could not even get it: on it he depicts himself in a full admiral's uniform with all the orders that he only had.
