Fresh breeze. Volga

Isaac Levitan traveled to the Volga for four years in a row - from 1887 to 1890. ^[8] The artist’s first impression of the great Russian river was close to disappointment - in 1887 he wrote to Anton Chekhov : “I was waiting for the Volga as a source of strong artistic impressions, and in return it seemed so dreary and dead to me that my heart ached and thought appeared whether to leave back? ” ^[9] Nevertheless, later the situation changed:“ Volga “defeated” Levitan, and Levitan “defeated“ Volga ” ^[10] . Based on his impressions of the Volga trips, he created such famous landscapes as “Evening on the Volga” (1888), “ Evening. Golden Reach "(1889)," After the Rain. Ples ”(1889) and others ^[11] .

In 1890, Levitan spent summer and autumn on the Volga, having visited during this time in Plyos , Yuryevets and Kineshma ; along with him was his companion, the artist Sofya Kuvshinnikova ^{[12] [13]} . Researchers of Levitan’s work suggest that the idea of ​​the painting is “Fresh wind. Volga ”was born to the artist during this trip, when he was in Plyos ^{[2] [3]} (according to other sources, during a trip from Plyos to Rybinsk ^[14] ). In particular, in the year 1890 a small study for the future painting, painted in oil on wood, is dated ^{[2] [7]} .

Apparently, the first version of the painting “Fresh Wind. Volga ”was written in 1891 - this is confirmed by the semi-erased original date“ 91 ”in the artist’s signature, which was subsequently replaced by“ 95 ” ^{[1] [2]} . The fact that Levitan worked on the painting for several years is also evidenced by the nature of the painting, which contains repeated repeated registrations of the original colorful layer ^[1] .

The painting was completed in 1895. Together with nine other works by Levitan, including “ March ”, “ Golden Autumn ”, “Twilight”, “Ferns in the Bor”, “Nenufara” and others, the painting “Fresh Wind. Volga ”(called“ Volga, windy ” ^[15] or“ Volga - windy ” ^[16] ) was exhibited at the 24th exhibition of the Association of Traveling Art Exhibitions (“ Wanderers ”), which opened on February 11, 1896 in St. Petersburg, and in March of the same year she moved to Moscow ^{[15] [17]} . According to some sources, the painting did not participate in the Moscow part of the Wanderers exhibition ^[15] , according to others - it was from the exhibition in Moscow that it was bought from the author by the philanthropist and collector Mikhail Morozov ^[16] . The canvas was also presented at the All-Russian Industrial and Art Exhibition of 1896 in Nizhny Novgorod ^{[16] [18]} .

The first owner of the painting, Mikhail Morozov, died in 1903. Seven years later, in 1910, in accordance with the will of Morozov, part of the paintings from his collection was transferred to the Tretyakov Gallery by his widow Margarita Morozova . Among the donated paintings, in addition to Fresh Wind, there were also the Fortune Teller and The Swan Princess by Mikhail Vrubel , The Three Princesses of the Underworld Victor Vasnetsov , Hammerfest. Aurora Borealis ”by Konstantin Korovin , as well as the sketch of Vasily Surikov “ Head of the Noblewoman Morozova ” ^[19] .

The painting depicts the Volga River on a sunny windy day. Above the river there is a blue sky with bright clouds running across it, white gulls fly low over the water. On the right side in the foreground are towed self-propelled barges with masts , on one of which a large white sail flutters ^{[7] [20]} . On one of the barges is the Russian flag , and on the other is the Persian flag . According to art historian Sofya Prorokova , the image of these two tricolors is a symbol of the fact that the Volga is “a broad international highway connecting the East with Russia, a long trade route” ^[21] . A white passenger ship moves towards the barges. From the pipes of the tugboat and the steamer, streaks of steam stretch - apparently, the ships greet each other with beeps. Also in the foreground is a boat with a lone rower, and in the distance in the background is a city ^{[7] [20]} .

The painting used "clean and sonorous colors with a thick pasty writing ." The group of barges contains a rich gamut of brown flowers of various shades - from greenish brown to bright red. The variety of flowers in this group is expanded by the transfer of paintings and decorations on the stern and sides of the bark . Sound and beautiful colors were also used in the image of blue water with dark spots of shadows from the waves and pink-purple reflexes , including reflections of barges and sails. Bright spots on the background of the water stand out a white ship and a yellowish boat in which a man in a pink shirt sits. The shores are executed in green and sand tones, and the clouds contain pinkish-purple hues. All this goes well with the color of the barges and the white and pink sail, the shadows on which are written using bluish and brownish tones. According to art historian Alexei Fedorov-Davydov , this work contains “the same vivid and definite colorfulness, the same color brilliance and the same subtle development with a clear designation of each color as in Golden Autumn , the same color construction based on combinations and contrasts of warm and cold tones ” ^[6] .

In 1890, Levitan wrote a small pictorial sketch for the future painting “Fresh Wind. Volga ” ^{[2] [7]} (wood, oil, 9 × 16 cm , private collection ^[22] ; according to information for 1966, it was in the collection of P. N. Krylov ^[2] ). In general, this sketch has already outlined the main ideas for building the future canvas - according to art critic Alexei Fedorov-Davydov, in the final version Levitan “only streamlined the composition and added some details.” The color of mahogany , on the plank of which the sketch is written, “shines through the liquid-laid paint of the strokes between them and gives a general tone to the whole colorful gamut” ^[2] .

A number of pencil sketches for the picture are in Levitan's album with sketches of 1890-1895 ^[2] , which is stored in the State Tretyakov Gallery ( inv. 25233). Among the drawings from this album, executed by pencil on paper, is a sketch “Fresh wind. Volga "( 9 × 15 cm , inv. 25233/43 about. ) ^[23] , as well as the drawings “Aft of the barge” ( 9 × 15 cm , inv. 25233/40 ) ^[24] , “Mast” ( 15 × 9 cm , inv. 25233/43 ) ^[25] , “Barges” ( 9 × 15 cm , inv. 25233/44 ) ^[26] , “Steamboat” ( 15 × 9 cm , inv. 25233/30 ) ^[27] , “The upper part of the mast. Detail of a barge "( 15 × 9 cm , inv. 25233/39 about. ) ^[28] , “Barge with masts and tug” ( 9 × 15 cm , inv. 25233/42 about. ) ^[29] and others. According to Fedorov-Davydov, “the sketches of barges and their details are interesting in that they carefully studied Levitan's nature and sought to accurately reproduce the objects depicted, in this case barges” ^[2] .

The artist Mikhail Nesterov wrote that the sketches and paintings brought by Levitan from his Volga trips were amazing "with completely new techniques and great skill." According to Nesterov, such works included the sketch-painting “Windy Day” “with elegant barges in the foreground,” which was not easy for the artist, but was finally completed after hard work. Comparing "Windy Day" with other works, Nesterov noted that, "perhaps, not a single painting, except for Repin's " Burlakov ", gives such a vivid, accurate description of the Volga" ^{[30] [31]} .

In the introductory article to the album dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the birth of Levitan, art critic Vladimir Prytkov wrote that in the film “Fresh Wind. Volga ”the artist with the greatest force manifested a new interpretation of Russian nature. According to Prytkov, this picture "is all fanned by the breath of the fresh Volga wind, sweeping clouds in the sky, raising strong ripples on the river, blowing the sail of the barge" ^[4] . The dynamism of the composition, the movement in which “takes place both in the depths of the picture and the viewer”, the colorful and joyfully sonorous color of the embroideries , the sparkling snow-white steamer and the white-winged gulls - all this, according to Prytkov, “creates a life-affirming, nationally characteristic image of the great Russian a river brisk with human activity ” ^[32] .

In a monograph on the work of Levitan, published in 1966, art critic Aleksey Fedorov-Davydov wrote that the painting “Fresh wind. Volga "is a" model of long-term bearing of the plan ": in contrast to the relatively quickly written" Marta ", the artist kept the" Fresh Wind "in his workshop for several years ^[2] . Fedorov-Davydov noted that this work conveys a “festive picture of being”, in it “everything is full of life, its cheerful and strong breath, its rhythm, which expresses this fresh wind in the middle of the water” ^[6] . According to the researcher, the fact that the artist reflects nature “not only in connection with the life of people”, but also “in its modern fluidity”, makes it possible to call this painting ““ industrial landscape ”of the Levitan era” ^[2] .

The art critic Faina Maltseva wrote that for the painting “Fresh Wind” Levitan managed to choose “a motive in which the mighty beauty of the Volga landscape was revealed in all its sparkling brilliance.” According to Maltseva, in contrast to the earlier Volga landscapes, this canvas “clearly shows the active principle”, and the “jubilant image of nature” is perceived “as a call, calling forward” ^[7] . Based on this, Maltseva believed that the picture “Fresh wind. Volga ”should not be reckoned among the series of Volga landscapes shown at traveling exhibitions of 1890-1891, but to a later period of the artist's work ^[33] .

• List of paintings by Isaac Ilyich Levitan

• Warsaw S.P.I. I. Levitan . "Fresh breeze. Volga ”// Wonderful paintings. - L .: Artist of the RSFSR , 1966. - S. 290-294.
• Karpova T. L. Museum and collectors // Russian art . - 2013. - No. 4 (40) . - S. 6-9 .
• Levitan I. I. Letters, documents, memoirs / A. A. Fedorov-Davydov . - M .: Art , 1956. - 335 p.
• Maltseva F.S. Masters of the Russian landscape. The second half of the XIX century. Part 4. - M .: Art , 2002. - 84 p. - ISBN 9785210013484 .
• Nesterov M.V. Long days / K.V. Pigarev . - M .: Art , 1959. - 400 p.
• Petrov V.A. Isaac Levitan. - M .: White City, 2000. - ISBN 5-7793-0250-2 .
• The Prophet S.A. Levitan. - M .: Young Guard , 1960 .-- 240 p. - (The life of wonderful people ).
• Prytkov V.A. Isaac Ilyich Levitan. To the 100th anniversary of his birth. - M .: Soviet artist , 1960. - 70 p.
• Fedorov-Davydov A.A. Isaac Ilyich Levitan. Life and art. - M .: Art , 1966. - 403 p.
• Fedorov-Davydov A. A. Russian and Soviet art: articles and essays . - M .: Art , 1975 .-- 739 p.
• Chizhmak M.S. Chronicle of the life and work of Isaac Levitan // Tretyakov Gallery . - 2010. - No. 3 . - S. 58-71 .
• State Tretyakov Gallery - collection catalog / Y. V. Brook , L. I. Iovleva . - M .: Red Square, 2001. - T. 4: Painting of the second half of the 19th century, book 1, A — M. - 528 s. - ISBN 5-900743-56-X .
• Isaac Ilyich Levitan. Documents, materials, bibliography / A. A. Fedorov-Davydov . - M .: Art , 1966. - 240 p.

• Levitan Isaac Ilyich - Fresh wind. Volga, 1895 (unopened) (HTML). www.art-catalog.ru. Date of treatment November 22, 2018.
• Isaac Ilyich Levitan - The best pictures, landscapes - Fresh wind. Volga, 1895 (unopened) (HTML). isaak-levitan.ru. Date of treatment July 5, 2012. Archived on October 6, 2012.
• Fresh breeze. Volga (Isaac Ilyich Levitan) (neopr.) (HTML). www.rodon.org. Date of treatment July 5, 2012. Archived on October 6, 2012.