The magic of one masterpiece. Kuindzhi

« Moonlight night on the Dnieper" (1880) - one of the most famous paintings Arkhip Kuindzhi. This work made a splash and gained mystical fame. Many did not believe that the light of the moon could be conveyed in this way only artistic means, and looked behind the canvas, looking for a lamp there. Many silently stood for hours in front of the picture, and then left in tears. Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich bought "Moonlight Night" for his personal collection and took it everywhere with him, which had sad consequences.

Which? This is what we now find out...

In the summer and autumn of 1880, during a break with the Wanderers, A.I. Kuindzhi worked on new picture. Rumors about the enchanting beauty of the "Moonlight Night on the Dnieper" spread throughout the Russian capital. For two hours on Sundays, the artist opened the doors of his studio to those who wished, and the St. Petersburg public began to besiege her long before the completion of the work. This painting gained truly legendary fame. I.S. Turgenev and Y. Polonsky, I. Kramskoy and P. Chistyakov, D. I. Mendelev came to the workshop of A. I. Kuindzhi, the well-known publisher and collector K. T. Soldatenkov asked the price of the painting. Directly from the workshop, even before the exhibition, “Moonlight Night on the Dnieper” was bought for huge money by the Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich. And then the picture was exhibited in St. Petersburg. It was the first exhibition of one painting in Russia.

The house in St. Petersburg, in which Kuindzhi's apartment is located, is often called the "House of Artists", since here in different time many Russian painters lived: A. Beggrov, E. Volkov, M. Klodt, I. Kramskoy, the Chernetsov brothers.

The work was exhibited in a separate hall of the Society for the Encouragement of Artists on Bolshaya Morskaya. At the same time, the hall was not illuminated, only a bright electric beam fell on the picture. The image from this "deepened" even more, and the moonlight became simply dazzling. And decades later, the witnesses of this triumph continued to recall the shock experienced by the audience, who “got it” to the picture. It was the “worthy ones” - during the exhibition days, Bolshaya Morskaya was densely packed with carriages, and a long queue lined up at the doors to the building and people waited for hours to see this extraordinary work. To avoid a crush, the audience was allowed into the hall in groups.

Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich

Roerich still found the servant Maxim alive, who received rubles (!) from those who tried to get to the picture out of turn. The performance of the artist with a solo exhibition, and even consisting of just one small painting, was an unusual event. Moreover, this picture interpreted not some unusual historical plot, but a landscape of a very modest size. But AI Kuindzhi knew how to win. The success exceeded all expectations and turned into a real sensation.




A.I. Kuindzhi was always very attentive to the exposure of his paintings, placed them so that they were well lit, so that neighboring canvases did not interfere with them. This time, "Moonlight Night on the Dnieper" hung on the wall alone. Knowing that the effect moonlight fully manifested under artificial lighting, the artist ordered to drape the windows in the hall and illuminate the picture with a beam of electric light focused on it. Visitors entered the semi-dark hall and, spellbound, stopped in front of the cold radiance moonlight. Before the audience a wide space stretching into the distance opened up; the plain, crossed by a greenish ribbon of a quiet river, almost merges at the horizon with a dark sky covered with rows of light clouds. Above, they parted a little, and the moon peered through the resulting window, illuminating the Dnieper, the huts and the web of paths on the near bank.

And everything in nature fell silent, enchanted by the wonderful radiance of the sky and the Dnieper waters. The sparkling silvery-greenish disk of the moon flooded the earth immersed in night peace with its mysterious phosphorescent light. He was so strong that some of the spectators tried to look behind the picture to find a lantern or lamp there. But there was no lamp, and the moon continued to radiate its bewitching, mysterious light. The waters of the Dnieper reflect this light like a smooth mirror, the walls of Ukrainian huts turn white from the velvety blue of the night. This majestic spectacle still immerses viewers in thoughts about eternity and the enduring beauty of the world. So before A.I. Kuindzhi, only the great N.V. Gogol sang about nature. The number of sincere admirers of the talent of A.I. Kuindzhi grew, a rare person could remain indifferent to this picture, which seemed like witchcraft.

AI Kuindzhi depicts the celestial sphere majestic and eternal, striking the audience with the power of the Universe, its immensity and solemnity. Numerous attributes of the landscape - huts creeping along the slope, bushy trees, gnarled stalks of the tartar - are absorbed by darkness, their color is dissolved in a brown tone. The bright silvery light of the moon is shaded by depth of blue color. By its phosphorescence it transforms traditional motif with the moon into such a rare, significant, attractive and mysterious that it is transformed into a poetic and excited delight. There were even suggestions about some unusual colors and even strange artistic techniques that the artist allegedly used. Rumors of a secret artistic method A.I. Kuindzhi, the secret of his colors was known during the life of the artist, some tried to convict him of tricks, even in connection with evil spirit.Perhaps this happened because A.I. Kuindzhi concentrated his efforts on the illusory transmission of the real effect of lighting, on the search for such a composition of the picture that would allow the most convincing expression of a feeling of wide spatiality.



Famous artist Arkhip Kuindzhi, 1907

And with these tasks he coped brilliantly. In addition, the artist defeated everyone in distinguishing the slightest changes in color and light ratios (for example, even during experiments with a special device, which were carried out by D.I. Mendeleev and others). Some have argued for the use of phosphorus-based chemistries. However, this is not entirely true. A decisive role in creating an impression is played by the unusual color structure of the canvas. Using complementary colors in the picture that reinforce each other, the artist achieves an incredible effect of the illusion of moonlight. True, it is known that the experiments still took place. Kuindzhi intensively used bituminous paints, but did not use phosphorus. Unfortunately, due to the careless mixing of chemically incompatible paints, the canvas darkened greatly.

Creating this canvas, A.I. Kuindzhi applied a complex pictorial technique. For example, he contrasted the warm reddish tone of the earth with cold silvery shades and thereby deepened the space, and small dark strokes in the illuminated places created a feeling of vibrating light. All newspapers and magazines responded to the exhibition with enthusiastic articles, reproductions of Moonlight Night on the Dnieper were distributed in thousands of copies throughout Russia. The poet Y. Polonsky, a friend of A. I. Kuindzhi, wrote then: “I positively do not remember that people stagnated in front of any picture for so long ... What is it? Picture or reality? In a golden frame or through an open window, did we see this month, these clouds, this dark distance, these “trembling lights of sad villages” and these play of light, this silvery reflection of the month in the jets of the Dnieper, bending around the distance, this poetic, quiet, majestic night? » The poet K. Fofanov wrote the poem "Night on the Dnieper", which was later set to music.





I. Kramskoy foresaw the fate of the canvas: “Perhaps Kuindzhi combined together such colors that are in natural antagonism with each other and after a certain time they will either go out, or change and decompose to the point that the descendants will shrug their shoulders in bewilderment: from what they came to the delight of the good-natured spectators? Here, in order to avoid such an unfair attitude in the future, I would not mind drawing up, so to speak, a protocol that his “Night on the Dnieper” is all filled with real light and air, and the sky is real, bottomless, deep.”

Unfortunately, our contemporaries cannot fully appreciate the initial effect of the picture, since it has reached our times in a distorted form. And the reason for everything is the special attitude to the canvas of its owner, Grand Duke Konstantin.




Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich, who bought the painting, did not want to part with the canvas, even going on a trip around the world. I.S. Turgenev, who was in Paris at that time (in January 1881), was horrified by this thought, about which he wrote indignantly to the writer D.V. Grigorovich: “There is no doubt that the picture ... will return completely ruined , thanks to the salty vapors of the air, etc.” He even visited the Grand Duke in Paris, while his frigate was in the port of Cherbourg, and persuaded him to send a picture to a short time in Paris.

I.S. Turgenev hoped that he would be able to persuade him to leave the painting at the exhibition in the Zedelmeyer Gallery, but he failed to persuade the prince. Humid, salt-soaked sea air, of course, had a negative effect on the composition of paints, and the landscape began to darken. But the lunar ripples on the river and the radiance of the moon itself are conveyed by the brilliant A.I. Kuindzhi with such force that, looking at the picture even now, the audience immediately falls under the power of the eternal and Divine.

1. Kuindzhi worked on the painting Moonlit Night on the Dnieper for about six months. A few months before the completion of the work, rumors spread around St. Petersburg about the incredible beauty of this work. Long queues lined up under the windows of his workshop. Everyone wanted at least a glimpse of this work of art. Kuindzhi went to meet the Petersburgers and lifted the veil of secrecy. Every Sunday, the artist opened the doors of his workshop for everyone for exactly 2 hours.

2. During this time, many great people of that time became guests of his workshop - I.S. Turgenev, D.I. Mendeleev, Ya.P. Polonsky, I.N. Kramskoy, P.P. Chistyakov. One Sunday, a modest man came to the artist Marine officer and inquired about the cost of the painting. Arkhip Ivanovich called an incredible amount for those times - 5 thousand rubles. He didn't expect him to agree. But the officer replied, “Okay. I'm leaving behind." It turned out that it was Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich Romanov, who bought the painting for his collection.

3. "Moonlight Night on the Dnieper" was exhibited on Bolshaya Morskaya Street in St. Petersburg, in the hall of the Society for the Encouragement of Artists. It is important that this was the first exhibition of one painting in Russia. And people stood in queues for hours to see the work of the “artist of light”. That is how fans of his work began to call Kuindzhi.

4. Arkhip Kuindzhi approached the exhibition of his painting responsibly. The idea came to him in a dream: in order to achieve a greater effect, the artist asked to curtain all the windows in the hall and illuminate the picture with a beam focused on it. When visitors entered the semi-dark hall, they could not believe their eyes - the sparkling silvery-greenish disk of the moon flooded the entire room with its deep bewitching light. Many of them looked behind the picture in the hope of finding a lamp there in order to convict the author of charlatanism. But she wasn't.

5. In this picture, Kuindzhi managed to show all the beauty of the nature of a calm and serene Ukrainian night - the majestic Dnieper, dilapidated huts and the cold glow of moonlight. I.E. Repin recalled how dozens of people stood in front of the canvas “in prayerful silence” with tears in their eyes: “This is how the poetic spell of the artist acted on the chosen believers, and they lived in such moments better feelings souls and enjoyed the heavenly bliss of the art of painting.

6. There were rumors that Kuindzhi paints with "magic moon" paints from Japan. Envious people contemptuously argued that it was not necessary to draw them with great intelligence. The superstitious did accuse the master of being in cahoots with evil spirits.

7. The secret of the "artist of light" was the artist's fantastic ability to play on contrasts and long experiments on color reproduction. In the process of creating a picture, he mixed not only paints, but also added to them chemical elements. In this Kuindzhi helped him close friend- D.I. Mendeleev.

8. The new owner, Grand Duke Konstantin, liked the painting so much that he decided not to part with it even when traveling. He placed the canvas on his yacht and went to sea. I.S. Turgenev was horrified by this. He wrote to D.V. Gigorovich: "There is no doubt that the picture ... will return completely ruined." He even personally persuaded the prince to leave the picture, but he was adamant. Of course, dampness, wind and salt-soaked air had a negative impact on the condition of the canvas. The paint is cracked and faded. But, despite this, the picture still captivates the viewer.

9. The painting was hugely popular. This prompted Kuindzhi to create two more author's copies of Moonlit Night on the Dnieper. They were written 2 years later - in 1882. The first is kept in the State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow, the other is in the Livadia Palace in Yalta.

10. The glory that fell on Kuindzhi after “Moonlight Night on the Dnieper” almost “crushed” the artist. In the prime of his creative powers, the great creator took an unexpected step. He closed the doors of his workshop and ceased exhibition activities. He explained his act as follows: “... an artist needs to perform at exhibitions, as long as he, as a singer, has a voice. And as soon as the voice subsides - you have to leave, not show up, so as not to be ridiculed. For 30 years of "silence" there was not a day that the artist did not pick up a brush or pencil. Even before his death, he remained faithful to the cause of his life. Not having the strength to get out of bed, he lay down drawing pencil sketches.

11. The museum-apartment of a talented master is located in the famous "artist's house" in Birzhevoy Lane. The initiative to create a museum-apartment was made by Kuindzhi's student - Nicholas Roerich. Unfortunately, the exposition was opened only in 1991, on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the artist.

REFERENCE KP

Arkhip Ivanovich Kuindzhi Born January 27, 1842 in the family of a poor shoemaker. The surname Kuindzhi was given to him by the nickname of grandfather, which in Tatar means "goldsmith". In the 60s, the novice artist “failed” the exam 2 times and entered the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts only the third time. There he became friends with V.M. Vasnetsov and I.E. Repin, met I. N. Kramskoy, the ideologist of leading Russian artists. Early work the artist were written under the influence of the manner of Aivazovsky. Over time, he begins to think about themes, the style of writing, independently studying paints, color, lighting effects, and by the age of forty becomes famous. In the early 90s, Kuindzhi began a period of “silence” and for almost 30 years he painted “on the table”. In the period 1894-1897, Kuindzhi led the higher art school at the Academy of Arts. His students were A. Rylov, N. Roerich, K. Bogaevsky. In 1909 Kuindzhi organized the Society of Artists. He donated his money, land and paintings to this organization. The "Artist of Light" died in St. Petersburg on July 11, 1910.

"Moonlight Night on the Dnieper" (1880) is one of the most famous paintings by Arkhip Kuindzhi. This work made a splash and gained mystical fame. Many did not believe that the light of the moon could be conveyed in this way only by artistic means, and looked behind the canvas, looking for a lamp there. Many silently stood for hours in front of the picture, and then left in tears. Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich bought the "Moonlight Night" for his personal collection and took it everywhere with him, which had sad consequences.


Famous artist Arkhip Kuindzhi.
Photo: pravkonkurs.ru and abmortitua.xyz

The artist worked on this painting in the summer and autumn of 1880. Even before the exhibition began, rumors spread that Kuindzhi was preparing something completely incredible. There were so many curious people that on Sundays the painter opened the doors of his workshop and let everyone in there. Even before the start of the exhibition, the painting was bought by Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich.

V. Vasnetsov. Portrait of A. I. Kuindzhi, 1869. Fragment.
Photo: artcontext.info

Kuindzhi has always been very zealous about exhibiting his paintings, but this time he surpassed himself. It was a personal exhibition, and it showed only one work - "Moonlight Night on the Dnieper". The artist ordered to drape all the windows and illuminate the canvas with a beam of electric light directed at it - in daylight, the moonlight did not look so impressive. Visitors entered the dark hall and, as if under hypnosis, froze in front of this magical picture.

I. Kramskoy. Portraits of A. I. Kuindzhi, 1872 and the late 1870s.
Photo: artcontext.info and tanais.info

In front of the hall of the Society for the Encouragement of Artists in St. Petersburg, where the exhibition was held, there was a queue for days on end. The public had to be allowed into the premises in groups to avoid a crush. There were legends about the incredible effect of the picture. The glow of the moonlight was so fantastic that the artist was suspected of using some unusual mother-of-pearl paints brought from Japan or China, and even accused of having links with evil spirits. And skeptical viewers tried to find with reverse side linen hidden lamps.

I. Repin. Portrait of the artist AI Kuindzhi, 1877. Fragment |
Photo: artscroll.ru

Of course, the whole secret lay in the extraordinary artistic skill of Kuindzhi, in the skillful construction of the composition and in such a combination of colors that created the effect of radiance and caused the illusion of flickering light. The warm reddish tone of the earth contrasted with the cold silvery hues, thereby deepening the space. However, even professionals could not explain the magical impression that the picture made on the audience by skill alone - many left the exhibition in tears.

Famous artist Arkhip Kuindzhi, 1907.
Photo: newconcepts.club

I. Repin said that the audience froze in front of the picture “in prayerful silence”: “This is how the poetic spell of the artist acted on the chosen believers, and they lived at such moments with the best feelings of the soul and enjoyed the heavenly bliss of the art of painting.” The poet Y. Polonsky was surprised: “I positively do not remember that people stagnated for so long in front of any picture ... What is it? Picture or reality? And the poet K. Fofanov, impressed by this canvas, wrote the poem "Night on the Dnieper", which was later set to music.

The colors have darkened over time.
Photo: www.rubooks.org

I. Kramskoy foresaw the fate of the canvas: “Perhaps Kuindzhi combined together such colors that are in natural antagonism with each other and after a certain time they will either go out, or change and decompose to the point that the descendants will shrug their shoulders in bewilderment: from what they came to the delight of the good-natured spectators? Here, in order to avoid such an unfair attitude in the future, I would not mind drawing up, so to speak, a protocol that his “Night on the Dnieper” is all filled with real light and air, and the sky is real, bottomless, deep.”

The colors have darkened over time.
Photo: art-assorty.ru

Unfortunately, our contemporaries cannot fully appreciate the initial effect of the picture, since it has reached our times in a distorted form. And the reason for everything is the special attitude to the canvas of its owner, Grand Duke Konstantin. He was so attached to this picture that he took it with him on a trip around the world. Upon learning of this, I. Turgenev was horrified: "There is no doubt that the picture will return completely ruined, thanks to the salty vapors of the air." He even tried to persuade the prince to leave the painting for a while in Paris, but he was adamant.

Kuindzhi's painting also inspires contemporary photographers.
Photo: flickr.com

Unfortunately, the writer turned out to be right: the salt-soaked sea air and high humidity had a detrimental effect on the composition of the paints, and they began to darken. Therefore, now “Moonlight Night on the Dnieper” looks completely different. Although the moonlight still acts magically on the audience today, the landscape philosophy of the famous artist is of constant interest.

The tragic fate of "Moonlight Night on the Dnieper" October 18th, 2016

"Moonlight Night on the Dnieper" (1880) is one of the most famous paintings by Arkhip Kuindzhi. This work made a splash and gained mystical fame. Many did not believe that the light of the moon could be conveyed in this way only by artistic means, and looked behind the canvas, looking for a lamp there. Many silently stood for hours in front of the picture, and then left in tears. Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich bought the "Moonlight Night" for his personal collection and took it everywhere with him, which had sad consequences.

Which? This is what we now find out...

In the summer and autumn of 1880, during a break with the Wanderers, A.I. Kuindzhi worked on a new painting. Rumors about the enchanting beauty of the "Moonlight Night on the Dnieper" spread throughout the Russian capital. For two hours on Sundays, the artist opened the doors of his studio to those who wished, and the St. Petersburg public began to besiege her long before the completion of the work. This painting gained truly legendary fame. I.S. Turgenev and Y. Polonsky, I. Kramskoy and P. Chistyakov, D. I. Mendelev came to the workshop of A. I. Kuindzhi, the well-known publisher and collector K. T. Soldatenkov asked the price of the painting. Directly from the workshop, even before the exhibition, “Moonlight Night on the Dnieper” was bought for huge money by the Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich. And then the picture was exhibited in St. Petersburg. It was the first exhibition of one painting in Russia.

The work was exhibited in a separate hall of the Society for the Encouragement of Artists on Bolshaya Morskaya. At the same time, the hall was not illuminated, only a bright electric beam fell on the picture. The image from this "deepened" even more, and the moonlight became simply dazzling. And decades later, the witnesses of this triumph continued to recall the shock experienced by the audience, who “got it” to the picture. It was the “worthy ones” - during the exhibition days, Bolshaya Morskaya was densely packed with carriages, and a long queue lined up at the doors to the building and people waited for hours to see this extraordinary work. To avoid a crush, the audience was allowed into the hall in groups.

Roerich still found the servant Maxim alive, who received rubles (!) from those who tried to get to the picture out of turn. The performance of the artist with a solo exhibition, and even consisting of just one small painting, was an unusual event. Moreover, this picture interpreted not some unusual historical plot, but a landscape of a very modest size. But AI Kuindzhi knew how to win. The success exceeded all expectations and turned into a real sensation.

A.I. Kuindzhi was always very attentive to the exposure of his paintings, placed them so that they were well lit, so that neighboring canvases did not interfere with them. This time, "Moonlight Night on the Dnieper" hung on the wall alone. Knowing that the effect of moonlight would be fully manifested under artificial lighting, the artist ordered the windows in the hall to be draped and the picture to be illuminated with a beam of electric light focused on it. Visitors entered the semi-dark hall and, spellbound, stopped in front of the cold glow of moonlight. Before the audience a wide space stretching into the distance opened up; the plain, crossed by a greenish ribbon of a quiet river, almost merges at the horizon with a dark sky covered with rows of light clouds. Above, they parted a little, and the moon peered through the resulting window, illuminating the Dnieper, the huts and the web of paths on the near bank.

And everything in nature fell silent, enchanted by the wonderful radiance of the sky and the Dnieper waters. The sparkling silvery-greenish disk of the moon flooded the earth immersed in night peace with its mysterious phosphorescent light. He was so strong that some of the spectators tried to look behind the picture to find a lantern or lamp there. But there was no lamp, and the moon continued to radiate its bewitching, mysterious light. The waters of the Dnieper reflect this light like a smooth mirror, the walls of Ukrainian huts turn white from the velvety blue of the night. This majestic spectacle still immerses viewers in thoughts about eternity and the enduring beauty of the world. So before A.I. Kuindzhi, only the great N.V. Gogol sang about nature. The number of sincere admirers of the talent of A.I. Kuindzhi grew, a rare person could remain indifferent to this picture, which seemed like witchcraft.

AI Kuindzhi depicts the celestial sphere majestic and eternal, striking the audience with the power of the Universe, its immensity and solemnity. Numerous attributes of the landscape - huts creeping along the slope, bushy trees, gnarled stalks of the tartar - are absorbed by darkness, their color is dissolved in a brown tone. The bright silvery light of the moon is shaded by the depth of blue. With his phosphorescence, he turns the traditional motif with the moon into such a rare, significant, attractive and mysterious that it transforms into a poetic and excited delight. There were even suggestions about some unusual colors and even about strange artistic techniques that the artist allegedly used. Rumors about the secret of the artistic method of A.I. Kuindzhi, about the secret of his colors went around during the life of the artist, some tried to convict him of tricks, even in connection with evil spirits. Maybe this happened because A.I. Kuindzhi concentrated his efforts on the illusory transmission of the real effect of lighting, on the search for such a composition of the picture that would allow the most convincing expression of a sense of wide spatiality.

Famous artist Arkhip Kuindzhi, 1907

And with these tasks he coped brilliantly. In addition, the artist defeated everyone in distinguishing the slightest changes in color and light ratios (for example, even during experiments with a special device, which were carried out by D.I. Mendeleev and others). Some have argued for the use of phosphorus-based chemistries. However, this is not entirely true. A decisive role in creating an impression is played by the unusual color structure of the canvas. Using complementary colors in the picture that reinforce each other, the artist achieves an incredible effect of the illusion of moonlight. True, it is known that the experiments still took place. Kuindzhi intensively used bituminous paints, but did not use phosphorus. Unfortunately, due to the careless mixing of chemically incompatible paints, the canvas darkened greatly.

Creating this canvas, A.I. Kuindzhi applied a complex pictorial technique. For example, he contrasted the warm reddish tone of the earth with cold silvery shades and thereby deepened the space, and small dark strokes in the illuminated places created a feeling of vibrating light. All newspapers and magazines responded to the exhibition with enthusiastic articles, reproductions of Moonlight Night on the Dnieper were distributed in thousands of copies throughout Russia. The poet Y. Polonsky, a friend of A. I. Kuindzhi, wrote then: “I positively do not remember that people stagnated in front of any picture for so long ... What is it? Picture or reality? In a golden frame or through an open window, did we see this month, these clouds, this dark distance, these “trembling lights of sad villages” and these play of light, this silvery reflection of the month in the jets of the Dnieper, bending around the distance, this poetic, quiet, majestic night? » The poet K. Fofanov wrote the poem "Night on the Dnieper", which was later set to music.

The audience was delighted with the illusion of natural moonlight, and people, according to I.E. Repin, who stood in “prayerful silence” in front of the canvas by A.I. Kuindzhi, left the hall with tears in their eyes: believers, and they lived in such moments with the best feelings of the soul and enjoyed the heavenly bliss of the art of painting. The poet Y. Polonsky was surprised: “I positively do not remember that people stagnated for so long in front of any picture ... What is it? Picture or reality? And the poet K. Fofanov, impressed by this canvas, wrote the poem "Night on the Dnieper", which was later set to music.

I. Kramskoy foresaw the fate of the canvas: “Perhaps Kuindzhi combined together such colors that are in natural antagonism with each other and after a certain time they will either go out, or change and decompose to the point that the descendants will shrug their shoulders in bewilderment: from what they came to the delight of the good-natured spectators? Here, in order to avoid such an unfair attitude in the future, I would not mind drawing up, so to speak, a protocol that his “Night on the Dnieper” is all filled with real light and air, and the sky is real, bottomless, deep.”

Unfortunately, our contemporaries cannot fully appreciate the initial effect of the picture, since it has reached our times in a distorted form. And the reason for everything is the special attitude to the canvas of its owner, Grand Duke Konstantin.

Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich, who bought the painting, did not want to part with the canvas, even going on a trip around the world. I.S. Turgenev, who was in Paris at that time (in January 1881), was horrified by this thought, about which he wrote indignantly to the writer D.V. Grigorovich: “There is no doubt that the picture ... will return completely ruined , thanks to the salty vapors of the air, etc.” He even visited the Grand Duke in Paris, while his frigate was in the port of Cherbourg, and persuaded him to send the painting to Paris for a short time.

I.S. Turgenev hoped that he would be able to persuade him to leave the painting at the exhibition in the Zedelmeyer Gallery, but he failed to persuade the prince. Humid, salt-soaked sea air, of course, had a negative effect on the composition of paints, and the landscape began to darken. But the lunar ripples on the river and the radiance of the moon itself are conveyed by the brilliant A.I. Kuindzhi with such force that, looking at the picture even now, the audience immediately falls under the power of the eternal and Divine.

In fairness, it should be noted that due to the huge popularity of the painting, Kuindzhi created two more copies of the Moonlit Night, the first painting is stored in the State Tretyakov Gallery, the other is in the Livadia Palace in Yalta and the third in the State Russian Museum in St. Petersburg.

sources

The name of Arkhip Ivanovich Kuindzhi became famous as soon as the public saw his paintings “After the Rain” and “ Birch Grove". But at the Eighth Exhibition of Wanderers, the works of A.I. Kuindzhi were absent, and this was immediately noticed by the audience. P. M. Tretyakov wrote to I. Kramskoy from Moscow that even those few who had not previously treated the artist’s works were grieving over this.
In the summer and autumn of 1880, during a break with the Wanderers, A.I. Kuindzhi worked on a new painting. Rumors about the enchanting beauty of the "Moonlight Night on the Dnieper" spread throughout the Russian capital. For two hours on Sundays, the artist opened the doors of his studio to those who wished, and the St. Petersburg public began to besiege her long before the completion of the work.
This picture has gained a truly legendary fame. I.S. Turgenev and Y. Polonsky, I. Kramskoy and P. Chistyakov, D. I. Mendelev came to the workshop of A. I. Kuindzhi, the well-known publisher and collector K. T. Soldatenkov asked the price of the painting. Directly from the workshop, even before the exhibition, “Moonlight Night on the Dnieper” was bought for a huge amount of money by the Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich.
In his book about the artist O.P. Voronova describes the purchase of the painting as follows: “Soldatenkov wanted to buy Moonlit Night on the Dnieper, but it turned out that it no longer belonged to Arkhip Ivanovich. It was sold still smelling of fresh paint, right in the workshop. One Sunday, a naval officer inquired about its price. “Yes, why do you? Kuindzhi shrugged. “After all, don’t buy it anyway: it’s expensive.” – “And yet?” “Yes, five thousand,” Arkhip Ivanovich called an incredible amount for those times, almost a fantastic amount. And suddenly he heard in response: “Good. I leave behind." And only after the officer left, the artist found out that Grand Duke Konstantin had visited him.
And then the picture was exhibited on Bolshaya Morskaya Street in St. Petersburg, in the hall of the Society for the Encouragement of Artists. The performance of the artist with a solo exhibition, and even consisting of just one small painting, was an unusual event. Moreover, this picture did not interpret some unusual historical plot, but was a very modest landscape in size. But AI Kuindzhi knew how to win. The success exceeded all expectations and turned into a real sensation. St. Petersburg was full of rumors, they say, for huge money, special paints with mother-of-pearl were brought to the artist Kuindzhi from Japan or China, and now his picture radiates light.
Long queues lined up on Bolshaya Morskaya Street, and people waited for hours to see this extraordinary work. To avoid a crush, the audience was allowed into the hall in groups.
A.I. Kuindzhi was always very attentive to the exposure of his paintings, placed them so that they were well lit, so that neighboring canvases did not interfere with them. This time, "Moonlight Night on the Dnieper" hung on the wall alone. Knowing that the effect of moonlight would be fully manifested under artificial lighting, the artist ordered the windows in the hall to be draped and the picture to be illuminated with a beam of electric light focused on it.
Visitors entered the semi-dark hall and, spellbound, stopped in front of the cold glow of moonlight. The effect of the painting was amazing. Even artists were at a loss, not understanding how he painted the moon and glitter on the water. It seemed to everyone that the moon shone with its true light. I.N. Kramskoy, an authority recognized in artistic circles, did not hide his emotions: “What a storm of enthusiasm Kuindzhi raised! A kind of fellow - charm.
Ivan Bunin.
My night will come...
My night will come, a long, silent night,
Then the Lord who works miracles commands
A new luminary to ascend to heaven.-
Shine, shine, moon, lifting higher and higher
Your face, given by the Sun.
Let the world know
That my day has burned out, but my trace
in the world is.
Before the audience a wide space stretching into the distance opened up; the plain, crossed by a greenish ribbon of a quiet river, almost merges at the horizon with a dark sky covered with rows of light clouds. Above, they parted a little, and the moon peered through the resulting window, illuminating the Dnieper, the huts and the web of paths on the near bank. And everything in nature fell silent, enchanted by the wonderful radiance of the sky and the Dnieper waters.
The sparkling silvery-greenish disk of the moon flooded the earth immersed in night peace with its mysterious phosphorescent light. He was so strong that some of the spectators tried to look behind the picture to find a lantern or lamp there. But there was no lamp, and the moon continued to radiate its bewitching, mysterious light.
The waters of the Dnieper reflect this light like a smooth mirror, the walls of Ukrainian huts turn white from the velvety blue of the night. This majestic spectacle still immerses viewers in thoughts about eternity and the enduring beauty of the world. So before A.I. Kuindzhi, only the great N.V. Gogol sang about nature.
The number of sincere admirers of the talent of A.I. Kuindzhi grew, a rare person could remain indifferent to this picture, which seemed like witchcraft. AI Kuindzhi depicts the celestial sphere majestic and eternal, striking the audience with the power of the Universe, its immensity and solemnity. Numerous attributes of the landscape - huts creeping along the slope, bushy trees, gnarled stalks of the tartar - are absorbed by darkness, their color is dissolved in a brown tone.
The bright silvery light of the moon is shaded by the depth of blue. With his phosphorescence, he turns the traditional motif with the moon into such a rare, significant, attractive and mysterious that it transforms into a poetic and excited delight. There were even suggestions about some unusual colors and even about strange artistic techniques that the artist allegedly used. Rumors about the secret of the artistic method of A.I. Kuindzhi, about the secret of his colors went around during the life of the artist, some tried to convict him of tricks, even in connection with evil spirits.
Perhaps this happened because A.I. Kuindzhi concentrated his efforts on the illusory transfer of the real effect of lighting, on the search for such a composition of the picture that would allow the most convincing expression of the feeling of wide spatiality. And with these tasks he coped brilliantly. In addition, the artist defeated everyone in distinguishing the slightest changes in color and light ratios (for example, even during experiments with a special device, which were carried out by D.I. Mendeleev and others).
Creating this canvas, A.I. Kuindzhi applied a complex pictorial technique. For example, he contrasted the warm reddish tone of the earth with cold silvery shades and thereby deepened the space, and small dark strokes in the illuminated places created a feeling of vibrating light.
All newspapers and magazines responded to the exhibition with enthusiastic articles, reproductions of Moonlight Night on the Dnieper were distributed in thousands of copies throughout Russia. The poet Y. Polonsky, a friend of A. I. Kuindzhi, wrote then: “I positively do not remember that people stagnated in front of any picture for so long ... What is it? Picture or reality? In a golden frame or through an open window, did we see this month, these clouds, this dark distance, these “trembling lights of sad villages” and these play of light, this silvery reflection of the month in the jets of the Dnieper, bending around the distance, this poetic, quiet, majestic night? » The poet K. Fofanov wrote the poem "Night on the Dnieper", which was later set to music.
The picture caused an ambiguous reaction and made a real sensation among the comrades-in-arms in the brush. Repin recalled: “Having scolded Kuindzhi loudly, the opponents could not help imitating and vied with passion, tried to jump forward with their fakes, passing them off as their personal paintings.” Couldn't resist this one famous landscape painter like Lagorio. He recreated the "Kuindzhi effect" in the landscape "Night on the Neva". But instead of glory, he only waited for the fact that they began to point the finger at him.
The audience was delighted with the illusion of natural moonlight, and people, according to I.E. Repin, who stood in “prayerful silence” in front of the canvas by A.I. Kuindzhi, left the hall with tears in their eyes: believers, and they lived in such moments with the best feelings of the soul and enjoyed the heavenly bliss of the art of painting.
F. Tyutchev
Vision
1829
There is a certain hour, in the night, of universal silence,
And in that hour of phenomena and miracles
Living chariot of the universe
Rolling openly into the sanctuary of heaven.
Then the night thickens like chaos on the waters,
Unconsciousness, like Atlas, crushes the land;
Only the Muses a virgin soul
In prophetic dreams the gods disturb!
AI Kuindzhi seemed to be trying to penetrate the world of the ideal, but stopped before its incomprehensibility. Reproducing the earthly appearance, the artist created perfect world harmony and beauty. In such a comparison, echoes of Christian philosophy are heard, according to which earthly life- only the lowest level of the sphere of ideal being that extends above it, created by a higher mind.
Kuindzhi strove for a way of being, where the thought of a person is absorbed above peaceful forces, dissolved in the philosophy of time and peace. In the view of the artist, being is motionless and majestic. Visual means correspond to the essence of the image. lines romantic works Kuindzhi are smooth and viscous, the color spreads over the canvas in a slow motion, the almost phosphorescent light is mysterious, the deep and spatial composition seems to prepare the ground for a breakthrough of the imagination into other worlds.
Kramskoy was stunned, fascinated. Flair true artist aroused in him anxiety for the fate of this extraordinary masterpiece; he wrote to Stasov: “Maybe Kuindzhi’s colors will wither or change and decompose to the point that descendants will shrug their shoulders in bewilderment: what kind-hearted viewers were delighted with ...” Kramskoy could not come to terms with this - the picture should live in the future! He decided that it was necessary to draw up a "protocol", where a few of the best contemporary artists confirmed that they saw with their own eyes "Night on the Dnieper", that in the picture "everything is filled with real light and air, the river really makes its majestic course and the sky is real bottomless and deep." Such a "protocol" was written, but it was not possible to print it.
Unfortunately, Kramskoy's fears came true much sooner than he expected. The painting was in trouble. Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich, who bought the painting, did not want to part with the canvas, even going on a trip around the world. I.S. Turgenev, who was in Paris at that time (in January 1881), was horrified by this thought, about which he wrote indignantly to the writer D.V. Grigorovich: “There is no doubt that the picture ... will return completely ruined, thanks to salty vapors of the air, etc.” He even visited the Grand Duke in Paris, while his frigate was in the port of Cherbourg, and persuaded him to send the painting to Paris for a short time. I.S. Turgenev hoped that he would be able to persuade him to leave the painting at the exhibition in the Zedelmeyer Gallery, but he failed to persuade the prince.
Humid, salt-soaked sea air, of course, had a negative effect on the composition of paints, and the landscape began to darken. Now we cannot see many details of the landscape in the picture. But the lunar ripples on the river and the radiance of the moon itself are conveyed by the brilliant A.I. Kuindzhi with such force that, looking at the picture even now, the audience immediately falls under the power of the eternal and Divine.