All paintings by Kandinsky on the theme of creativity. Famous paintings by Vasily Kandinsky
When it comes to abstractionism, many people far from art immediately come up with their categorical verdict: daub. This is followed by the phrase that any toddler will probably draw better than these artists. Moreover, the very word "artists" will certainly be uttered with demonstrative contempt, which in some cases will even border on disgust.
AiF.ru, within the framework of a cultural educational program, says that one of the most famous abstractionists was trying to display on his canvases Wassily Kandinsky.
Painting "Composition VI"
Year: 1913
Exhibited in the museum: Hermitage, St. Petersburg
Initially, the painting "Composition VI" Kandinsky wanted to call "The Flood", since in this work the painter intended to depict a catastrophe of a universal scale. Indeed, looking closely, we can see the outlines of the ship, animals and objects, as if drowning in the swirling masses of matter, as if in the waves of a stormy sea.
Kandinsky himself later, speaking about this canvas, noted that "there would be nothing more wrong than sticking the label of the original plot on this picture." The master pointed out that in this case the original motive of the painting (the Flood) was dissolved and passed on to an internal, purely pictorial, independent and objective existence. “A grandiose, objectively occurring catastrophe is at the same time an absolute and independent sounding hot song of praise, similar to the hymn of a new creation that follows the catastrophe,” Kandinsky explained. As a result, the painter decided to assign a numbered name to the canvas, since any other could cause unnecessary associations in art connoisseurs that would ruin them the emotions that the painting should evoke.
Painting "Composition VII"
Painting "Composition VII". Photo: reproduction
Year: 1913
"Composition VII" is called the pinnacle of Kandinsky's artistic creativity in the period before the First World War. Since the painting was created very painstakingly (it was preceded by more than thirty sketches, watercolors and oil works), the final composition is a combination of several biblical themes: resurrection from the dead, the Day of Judgment, the Flood and the Garden of Eden.
The idea of a person's soul is displayed in the semantic center of the canvas, a cycle outlined by a purple spot and black lines and strokes next to it. It inevitably draws in itself, like a funnel, spewing out certain rudiments of forms, spreading in countless metamorphoses throughout the canvas. Colliding, they merge or, conversely, break against each other, setting in motion the neighboring ones ... It is like the very element of Life arising from Chaos.
Painting "Composition VIII"
"Composition VIII". Photo: "Composition VIII", Wassily Kandinsky, 1923
Year: 1923
Exhibited in the museum: Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
Composition VIII is fundamentally different from the previous work of this series, because instead of blurry outlines, for the first time there are clear geometric forms. The main idea as such is absent in this work; instead, the artist himself gives a specific description of the figures and colors of the painting. So, according to Kandinsky, horizontal lines sound "cold and minor", and verticals - "warm and high". Sharp corners are "warm, sharp, active and yellow," and straight corners are "cold, restrained and red." Green is "balanced and consistent with the delicate sounds of the violin", red "can give the impression of a strong drumbeat", and blue is present "in the depths of the organ." Yellow "has the ability to rise higher and higher, reaching heights unbearable for the eye and spirit." Blue "sinks into bottomless depths." Blue, on the other hand, "develops the sound of the flute."
Painting "Vague"
The painting "Vague". Photo: reproduction
Year: 1917
Exhibited in the museum: State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow
The name "Vague" was not chosen for the picture by chance. Uncertainty and "confusion" are reflected in Kandinsky's work as a dramatic clash of centripetal and centrifugal forces, as if breaking against each other in the center of the canvas. This causes a feeling of anxiety, which grows as you "get used to" the work. The mass of additional colors carries out a kind of orchestration of the main struggle, then pacifying, then exacerbating the turmoil.
Painting "Improvisation 20"
Painting "Improvisation 20". Photo: reproduction
Year: 1911
Exhibited in the museum: State Museum of Fine Arts named after A.S. Pushkin, Moscow
In his works of the "Improvisation" series, Kandinsky strove to show unconscious processes of an internal nature that arise suddenly. And in the twentieth work of this category, the artist depicted the impression of his "inner nature" from the running of two horses in the midday sun.
"Rapallo Boats", Wassily Kandinsky, year unknown.
“Moscow, Zubovskaya square. Etude ", Wassily Kandinsky, 1916.
"A Lesson with a Canal", Wassily Kandinsky, 1901.
"Old Town II", Wassily Kandinsky, 1902.
"Gabriel Munter", Wassily Kandinsky, 1905.
"Autumn in Bavaria", Wassily Kandinsky, 1908.
"The first abstract watercolor", Wassily Kandinsky, 1910.
"Composition IV", Wassily Kandinsky, 1911.
"Moscow I", Wassily Kandinsky, 1916
Probably, there are no people who, upon first acquaintance with the work of Kandinsky, would recognize his genius. The first glance at his “compositions”, “improvisations” and “impressions” provokes different thoughts: from “such a child could paint” to “what did the artist want to depict in this picture?”. And upon deeper acquaintance, it turns out that the artist was not going to depict anything, he wanted to make you feel.
The great discoverer of abstraction, Vasily Kandinsky, had absolutely no intention of becoming an artist, let alone a philosopher of the art world. On the contrary, his father - a well-known Moscow businessman of that time Vasily Silvestorovich Kandinsky - saw him as a successful lawyer, which led the future abstractionist to the law faculty of Moscow University, where he studied political economics and statistics. Of course, Kandinsky grew up in an intelligent family that did not deny the importance of art in human life, therefore, as a young man, Vasily received basic knowledge in the world of music and painting. But he returned to them only after he turned 30, which once again confirmed the simple truth - it is never too late to start. Despite the love for his homeland, in particular for Moscow, which will appear more than once on his canvases, in 1896, for the sake of his passion for painting, Kandinsky moved to Munich - a city famous at that time for its openness to new genres of art and hospitality for aspiring artists ... The impetus to abandon the usual way of life and go into the unknown was a reason that was completely unrelated to art - a very important event took place in the world of physics - the discovery of the decomposition of the atom. As Kandinsky himself wrote in his letters to his scientific advisor, this revolution in the world of physics aroused strange feelings in him: “Thick vaults have collapsed. Everything has become unfaithful, shaky and soft ... ".
The fact that the smallest particle is not integral, but consists of many still unexplored elements, led the future artist to a new worldview. Kandinsky realized that everything in this world can be decomposed into separate components, and he himself described this feeling as follows:
"It (the discovery) echoed in me, like the sudden destruction of the whole world.".
Another reason for the complete revolution of Kandinsky's consciousness was the exhibition of the French Impressionists, brought to Moscow. On it he saw a painting by Claude Monet "Haystack". This work amazed Vasily Vasilyevich with its pointlessness, since before that he was familiar exclusively with the realistic painting of Russian artists. Despite the fact that the plot is difficult to guess in the picture, it touches certain feelings, inspires and remains in memory. It is precisely such deep and moving works that Kandinsky decided to create.
In Germany, Wassily Kandinsky quickly mastered classical drawing, the technique of the Impressionists, Post-Impressionists and Fauves, and soon became a recognized avant-garde artist. In 1901 his first professional painting “Munich. Planegg 1 ", which combined the bright strokes of Van Gogh and the gentle sunlight of the Impressionists. Subsequently, Kandinsky in his work began to move away from detailing his creations, moving from realism to experiments with color.
"Munich. Planegg 1 "(1901) - Private Collection
The first step towards abstraction was the writing of a philosophical treatise "On the Spiritual in Art" in 1910. The book was well ahead of its time, so it was very difficult to find a publisher for it. An interesting fact is that the original was written by Kandinsky in German, and in Russian the book was published only in 1967 in New York thanks to the International Literary Commonwealth and the artist's wife, Nina Kandinsky. The book was published in its original language in Munich in 1911 and was an incredible success. It was published 3 times a year, and in Scandinavia, Switzerland and Holland, where the German language is widespread, the book was read by everyone who had at least some relation to art. Russian avant-garde artists had the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the contents of the treatise at the All-Russian Congress of Artists in December 1911 thanks to the report of N.I. Kulbin "On the Spiritual in Art". In it, he used several chapters of Kandinsky's book, including a chapter on the various possible geometric forms in abstract art, which greatly influenced the leading Russian artists of the time, including Kazimir Malevich. But Kandinsky's work is not a textbook. "On the Spiritual in Art" is a philosophical, very subtle and inspiring work, without which it is simply impossible to understand and feel the paintings of the great abstractionist. At the very beginning of the book, Kandinsky divides all artists into 2 types, based on the definitions of Robert Schumann and Leo Tolstoy. The composer believed that "the artist's vocation is to send light into the depths of the human heart", and the writer called the artist the person "who can draw and write everything." Kandinsky is alien to the second definition, he himself calls such people "artisans", whose work is not filled with meaning and has no value.
"There is a crack in our soul, and the soul, if it is possible to touch it, sounds like a cracked precious vase found deep in the earth."
Music has always had a great influence on the artist, since it is she who is the only absolutely abstract art that makes our imagination work, avoiding objectivity. Just as the notes add up to a beautiful melody, so Kandinsky's colors in their combination give rise to amazing pictures. The aspiring artist was most inspired by the overture of the opera by Richard Wagner. After meeting her, Kandinsky wondered if he would be able to create a picture of the same strong emotional content as the work of the great composer, "in which colors would become notes, and colors would become tonality?"
In search of an answer to this question, Kandinsky was helped by his acquaintance with the Austrian composer Arnold Schoenberg. In January 1911, in Munich, the artist heard the atonal works of his future friend and ally and was shocked. Thanks to Schoenberg's concert, a not yet fully abstract, but already almost pointless painting by the master, Impression III. Concert". The dark triangle in the picture symbolizes the piano, below you can see the crowd drawn by the music, and the color scheme perfectly reflects the vivid impression that Kandinsky received at the Schoenberg concert.
Kandinsky was sure that it was Schoenberg who would correctly perceive his philosophy of abstract creativity, and he was not mistaken. The composer supported the artist in his endeavors with color experiments and the search for "antilogical" harmony, in which feelings would come first, not a plot. But not all artists shared this point of view, which led to a split among artists and the creation of a community of like-minded abstract artists "Blue Rider". Teaming up with the artists August Macke, Franz Marc and Robert Delaney and, of course, the composer Arnold Schoenberg, Kandinsky finally finds himself in an environment conducive to the transition to complete abstraction in creativity, the search for new forms and color combinations.
“In general, color is a means that can directly influence the soul. The color is the keys; eye - hammer; the soul is a multi-string piano. An artist is a hand that, by means of this or that key, expediently vibrates the human soul. "
It is impossible to argue with Kandinsky in this statement, because a lot of modern research proves that color even affects our primitive desires and states: everyone knows that red stimulates appetite, green calms, and yellow adds vigor and energy to us. And by combining different colors and shapes in a picture, you can influence deeper feelings. This is what the great artist wanted to achieve. Kandinsky's experiments influenced many artists of the early 20th century, including Paul Klee, who, before meeting the founder of The Blue Horseman, was a graphic artist who avoided colors in his paintings, and afterwards was known for his delicate, in a sense, naive watercolors ... The Swiss shared the abstractionist's love for music and his idea that art should evoke strong emotions, help a person listen to his inner self and gain an understanding of the processes taking place in the environment.
"Art does not reproduce what is visible, but makes visible what is not always so." (c) Paul Klee
It was with this message that Kandinsky began to paint his paintings after 1911. For example, in our Tretyakov Gallery you can see one of the most significant and large-scale works of the artist, written in 1913 - "Composition VII". The artist does not give any clues to the plot: the painting has only color and form, distributed on a huge canvas (the work is considered the largest of all Kandinsky's work - 2x3m). The scale allowed us to place fragments of different intensity and color solution in the picture: acute-angled, thin, mostly dark elements in the center and smoother shapes and delicate colors around the perimeter allow us to experience different sensations when looking at the same picture. The gloomy tones on the right contrast with the light on this canvas, circles with indistinct edges are cut by hard straight lines. Kandinsky's compositions are a combination of the incompatible, the search for harmony in chaos, these are works that are more similar to music, since they are the most abstract. It is these works that are considered the main conductors of the artist's philosophy and the culmination of all his work.
Also realizing that most people need clues to understand his art, Kandinsky continues to write his "Improvisations", which traces a thin (and in some works, quite explicit) thread connecting abstraction with reality, thanks to specific elements. For example, in several paintings we can see images of boats and ships: this motif appears when the artist wants to tell us about how a person fights with the world around him, as if sailing ships resist waves and elements.
In some paintings we can hardly distinguish the masts, as, for example, in the painting "Improvisation 2 8 (Sea Battle)", created on the eve of the First World War, while on other canvases the image of the ship is visible at first glance, as in " Improvisation 209 ”, written in 1917, when the spirit of the revolution was felt throughout Russia.
Another common element found in Improvisations is the horsemen characterizing the aspirations of people. The image of warriors on horseback was of particular importance for Kandinsky as a person who constantly fights against established norms and canons for the sake of his convictions. It is no coincidence that this allegory is present in the name of the club of creative like-minded abstractionists.
While Kandinsky's "Compositions" are thought out to the smallest detail, and the arrangement of figures and the use of certain colors are absolutely conscious, when writing "Improvisations" the artist was guided by processes of an internal nature, showing his sudden unconscious emotions.
Noticeable changes in the creative path of Wassily Kandinsky occur during his return to Moscow in 1914. As a citizen of Russia, the artist was forced to leave Germany during the war and continue to pursue art in his homeland. From 1914 to 1921 he lived in Moscow and was engaged in promoting his ideas to the masses, collaborated with the government in preparing the museum reform, developed art pedagogy and was inspired by his hometown.
“Moscow: duality, complexity, the highest degree of mobility, collision and confusion of individual elements of the exterior ... I consider this external and internal Moscow to be the starting point of my searches. Moscow is my picturesque tuning fork "
During his stay in Russia, the artist tossed between different genres and even depicted Moscow in sufficient detail (relative to his entire work), and at some point he returned to impressionistic sketches.
Throughout the creative path of Wassily Kandinsky, we see many different genres, techniques and subjects. In the same year, the artist could create both a fairly specific work with a meaning understandable to the broad masses, and a complete abstraction. This fact emphasizes the versatility of his personality, the desire for new knowledge and techniques and, of course, the constant development of creative genius within himself. An artist, teacher, music connoisseur, writer and, of course, the philosopher of the art world, Wassily Kandinsky does not leave anyone indifferent, because his main task was to make people feel, feel, experience emotions. And he achieved this goal thanks to the cultural heritage that he left for future generations.
Where to see Kandinsky's paintings in Russia?
- Astrakhan Picture Gallery B. M. Kustodieva
- Yekaterinburg Museum of Fine Arts
- Krasnodar Regional Art Museum. F. Kovalenko
- Krasnoyarsk Museum of Fine Arts
- State Tretyakov Gallery on Krymsky Val, Moscow
- State Museum of Fine Arts. A.S. Pushkin, Moscow
- Nizhny Novgorod State Art Museum
- Ryazan State Regional Art Museum. I.P. Pity
- State Hermitage, General Staff Building, St. Petersburg
- Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
- Museum complex of the Tyumen region
Russian artist, art theorist and poet, one of the leaders of the avant-garde of the first half of the 20th century; became one of the founders of abstract art.
Born in Moscow on November 22 (December 4) 1866 in a businessman's family; belonged to the family of Nerchinsk merchants, descendants of Siberian convicts. In 1871-1885 he lived with his parents in Odessa, where he began to study music and painting during his school years. From 1885 he studied at Moscow University, dreaming of a career as a lawyer, but approx. 1895 decided to devote himself to art. Two points determined his choice: firstly, the impressions of Russian medieval antiquities and artistic folklore, received in an ethnographic expedition to the Vologda province (1889), and secondly, a visit to a French exhibition in Moscow (1896), where he was shocked by a painting by K. Monet's Haystack. In 1897 he came to Munich, where from 1900 he studied at the local Academy of Arts under the direction of F. von Stuck. He traveled extensively in Europe and North Africa (1903-1907), from 1902 he lived mainly in Munich, and in 1908-1909 in the village of Murnau (Bavarian Alps). Having organically entered the environment of German modernist bohemia, he also acted as an active organizer: he founded the groups "Phalanx" (1901), "New Munich Art Association" (1909; together with A.G. Yavlensky and others) and, finally, "The Blue Horseman "(1911; together with F. Mark and others) - a society that has become an important connecting link between symbolism and the avant-garde. He published art-critical Letters from Munich in the magazines World of Art and Apollo (1902, 1909), participated in exhibitions of the Jack of Diamonds.
From early, already quite bright and juicy impressionist paintings-etudes, he moved on to bravura, flowery and "folklore" compositions in color, which summed up the characteristic motives of Russian national modernism with its romanticism of medieval legends and old manor culture (Motley Life, 1907, Lenbachhaus, Munich ; Ladies in crinolines, 1909, Tretyakov Gallery). In 1910 he created the first abstract pictorial improvisations and completed the treatise On the Spiritual in Art (the book was published in 1911 in German). Considering the inner, spiritual content as the main thing in art, he believed that it is best expressed by the direct psychophysical influence of pure colorful accords and rhythms. His subsequent “impressions”, “improvisations” and “compositions” (as Kandinsky himself distinguished the cycles of his works) is based on the image of a beautiful mountain landscape, as if melting in the clouds, in cosmic nonexistence, as the contemplating author-spectator mentally soars. The dramaturgy of oil paintings and watercolors is based on the free play of color spots, dots, lines, individual symbols (such as a horseman, boat, palette, church dome, etc.). The master has always paid great attention to graphics, including wood engraving. In his German poetry album of poems Sounds (Klänge, 1913) strove for the ideal interconnection of non-objective visual-graphic images with text. The goals of the synthesis of arts were also set in the concept of the Yellow Sound performance, designed to unite color, light, movement and music (composer F.A. Hartmann; the performance, the text of which was placed in the almanac Blue Horseman, 1912, was not realized due to the outbreak of the First World War ).
In 1914 he returned to Russia, where he lived mainly in Moscow. A kind of "apocalyptic", aspirations of universal transformation-in-art, characteristic of its abstractions, acquire an increasingly alarming and dramatic character during this period (Moscow. Red Square, 1916, Tretyakov Gallery; Troubled, ibid; Twilight, Russian Museum; Gray oval, Picture Gallery, Yekaterinburg; all works - 1917). In 1918 he published an autobiographical book The Steps. Actively involved in public and humanitarian research, was a member of the People's Commissariat of Education, the Institute of Artistic Culture (Inkhuk) and the Russian Academy of Art Sciences (RAKhN), taught at the Higher Artistic and Technical Workshops (Vkhutemas), however, irritated by ideological squabbles, left Russia forever after he was sent on a business trip to Berlin (1921).
In Germany, he taught at the Bauhaus (from 1922, in Weimar and Dessau), focusing mainly on the general theory of shaping; outlined his pedagogical experience in the book Point and Line on a Plane, published in German in 1926. His cosmological fantasies (graphic series Malye Miri, 1922) acquire a more rational-geometric character during this period, approaching the principles of Suprematism and constructivism, but retaining their bright and rhythmic decorativeness (In a black square, 1923; Several circles, 1926; both paintings are in the Guggenheim Museum, New York). In 1924, the master formed, together with Jawlensky, L. Feininger and P. Klee, the association "Blue Four", arranging joint exhibitions with them. Acted as the artist of the stage version of the suite by M.P. Mussorgsky Pictures at an Exhibition at the Dessau Theater (1928).
After the Nazis closed the Bauhaus (1932) he moved to Berlin, and in 1933 - to France, where he lived in Paris and its suburb Neuilly-sur-Seine. Having experienced the significant impact of surrealism, he increasingly introduced into his paintings - along with the previous geometric structures and signs - biomorphic elements, similar to certain primary organisms floating in the interplanetary void (Dominant Curve, 1936, ibid; Blue Sky, 1940, Center J. Pompidou , Paris; Various acts, 1941, S. Guggenheim Museum, New York). With the beginning of the German occupation (1939), he intended to emigrate to the United States and spent several months in the Pyrenees, but eventually returned to Paris, where he continued to work actively, including on a comedy film-ballet project, which he intended to create together with the composer Hartmann.
In early December 2011, new price records were set at the Russian auction in London. Summing up the results of the year, we have compiled a list of the most expensive works by Russian artists based on the results of auction sales.
33 most expensive k. Source: 33 most expensive k.
According to the ratings, the most expensive Russian artist is Mark Rothko. His White Center (1950), sold for $ 72.8 million, in addition, ranks 12th in the list of the most expensive paintings in the world in general. However, Rothko was Jewish, was born in Latvia and left Russia at the age of 10. Is it fairwith a similar stretch chase behind the records? Therefore, Rothko, like other emigrants who left Russia before becoming artists (for example, Tamara de Lempicki and Chaim Soutine), we crossed out from the list.
No. 1. Kazimir Malevich - $ 60 million
The author of "Black Square" is too important a person for his works to be often found on the free market. So this picture got to the auction in a very difficult way. In 1927 Malevich, intending to arrange an exhibition, brought almost a hundred works from his Leningrad workshop to Berlin. However, he was urgently recalled to his homeland, and he left them for storage by the architect Hugo Hering. He saved the paintings during the difficult years of the fascist dictatorship, when they could well have been destroyed as "degenerate art", and in 1958, after Malevich's death, he sold them to the Stedelek State Museum (Holland).
At the beginning of the 21st century, a group of Malevich's heirs, almost forty people, began a trial - because Hering was not the legal owner of the paintings. As a result, the museum gave them this painting, and will give four more, which will surely cause a sensation at some auction. After all, Malevich is one of the most forged artists in the world, and the origin of the paintings from the Stedelek Museum is impeccable. And in January 2012, the heirs received another painting from that Berlin exhibition, taking it from a Swiss museum.
No. 2. Wassily Kandinsky - $ 22.9 million
The auction price of a work is influenced by its reputation. This is not only the great name of the artist, but also "provenance" (origin). An item from a famous private collection or a good museum always costs more than work from an anonymous collection. "Fugue" comes from the renowned Guggenheim Museum: once the director Thomas Krenz withdrew from the museum funds of this Kandinsky, a painting by Chagall and Modigliani, and put them up for sale. For some reason, using the money received, the museum acquired a collection of 200 works by American conceptualists. Krenz was condemned for a very long time for this decision.
This painting by the father of abstract art is curious because it set a record back in 1990, when the auction halls of London and New York were not yet filled with reckless Russian buyers. Thanks to this, by the way, it did not disappear in some very private collection in a luxurious mansion, but is on permanent display in the private Beyeler Museum in Switzerland, where anyone can see it. A rare occasion for such a purchase!
No. 3. Alexey Yavlensky - 9.43 million pounds
An unknown buyer paid about $ 18.5 million for a portrait of a girl from a village near Munich. Shokko is not a name, but a nickname. The model, coming to the artist's studio, each time asked for a cup of hot chocolate. So, "Shokko" took root behind her.
The painting sold is part of his famous cycle "Race", depicting the domestic peasantry of the first quarter of the twentieth century. And, right, depicting with such mugs that it's scary to look. Here, in the image of a shepherd, the peasant poet Nikolai Klyuev, the forerunner of Yesenin, appears. Among his poems are the following: "In the hot spot, the scarlet flower Degraded and faded - The daring light of a fellow From the sweetheart is far away."
No. 19. Konstantin Makovsky - 2.03 million pounds
Makovsky is a salon painter, known for the huge number of hawthorn heads in kokoshniks and sundresses, as well as for the painting "Children running from a thunderstorm", which at one time was constantly printed on gift boxes of chocolates. His sweet historical paintings are in steady demand among Russian buyers.
The theme of this painting- Old Russian "Kissing ceremony". Noble women in Ancient Russia were not allowed to leave the female half, and only for the sake of honored guests, they could go out, bring a glass and (the most pleasant part) allow themselves to be kissed. Pay attention to the picture hanging on the wall: this is an image of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, one of the first equestrian portraits that appeared in Russia. Its composition, although it was impudently copied from the European model, was considered unusually innovative and even shocking for that time.
No. 20. Svyatoslav Roerich - $ 2.99 million
Nicholas Roerich's son left Russia as a teenager. Lived in England, USA, India. Like his father, he was interested in Eastern philosophy. Like his father, he painted many paintings on Indian themes. In general, his father occupied a huge place in his life - he painted more than thirty portraits of him. This painting was created in India, where the clan settled in the middle of the century. Svetoslav Roerich's paintings rarely appear at auctions, and in Moscow the works of the famous dynasty can be seen in the halls of the Museum of the East, to which the authors donated them, as well as in the Museum of the International Center of the Roerichs, which is located in a luxurious noble estate right behind the Pushkin Museum. Both museums are not very fond of each other: the Oriental Museum claims both the building and the collection of the Roerich Center.
No. 21. Ivan Shishkin - 1.87 million pounds
The main Russian landscape painter spent three summers in a row on Valaam and left many images of the area. This piece is a little gloomy and not like the classic Shishkin. But this is explained by the fact that the painting belongs to his early period, when he did not feel his style and was strongly influenced by the Düsseldorf school of landscape, in which he studied.
We already remembered about this Dusseldorf school above, in the recipe for a fake "Aivazovsky". " Shishkins "are made according to the same scheme, for example, in 2004 on Sotheby "s" Landscape with a Stream "of the Dusseldorf period of the painter was exhibited. It was estimated at 1 million dollars and was confirmed by the expertise of the Tretyakov Gallery. An hour before the sale, the lot was removed - it turned out to be a painting by another student of this school, the Dutchman Marinus Adrian Kukkuk, bought in Sweden for 65 thousand dollars
No. 22. Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin - 1.83 million pounds
A portrait of a boy with an icon of the Virgin was found in a private collection in Chicago. After it was handed over to the auction house, experts began investigations trying to establish its origins. It turned out that the painting was on display in 1922 and 1932. In the 1930s, the artist's works traveled around the United States as part of an exhibition of Russian art. Perhaps it was then that the owners acquired this painting.
Note the empty space on the wall behind the boy. At first, the author thought to paint a window with a green landscape there. This would balance the picture both in composition and in colors - the grass would have something in common with the green tunic of the Mother of God (by the way, according to the canon, it should be blue). Why Petrov-Vodkin painted over the window is unknown.
No. 23. Nicholas Roerich - 1.76 million pounds
Before visiting Shambhala and starting to correspond with the Dalai Lama, Nicholas Roerich rather successfully specialized in the Old Russian theme and even made ballet sketches for Russian Seasons. The lot sold belongs to this period. The scene depicted is a miraculous phenomenon over the water, which is observed by a Russian monk, most likely Sergius of Radonezh. It is curious that the picture was painted in the same year as another vision of Sergius (then the youth Bartholomew), which appears in our list above. The stylistic difference is enormous.
Roerich painted many canvases and the lion's share of them in India. He donated several of them to the Indian Institute of Agricultural Research. Recently, two of them, "Himalayas, Kanchenjunga" and "Sunset, Kashmir ”Appeared at an auction in London. Only then did the junior researchers of the institute notice that they had been robbed. In January 2011, the Indians applied to a London court for permission to investigate the crime in England. Thieves' interest in Roerich's legacy is understandable, because there is a demand.
No. 24. Lyubov Popova - 1.7 million pounds
Lyubov Popova died young, so she failed to become famous as another Amazon avant-garde Natalia Goncharova. And her legacy is smaller - so it is difficult to find in the sale of her work. After her death, a detailed inventory of the paintings was compiled. For many years this still life was known only for black and white reproduction, until it surfaced in a private collection, becoming the most significant work of the artist in private hands. Pay attention to the Zhostovo tray - maybe this is a hint of Popova's taste for folk crafts. She came from the family of an Ivanovo merchant who was engaged in fabrics, and she herself created many sketches of agitation textiles based on Russian traditions.
No. 25. Aristarkh Lentulov - 1.7 million pounds
Lentulov went down in the history of the Russian avant-garde with a memorable image of the Cathedral of St. Basil the Blessed - either cubism or a patchwork quilt. In this landscape, he tries to divide the space according to a similar principle, but it turns out not so exciting. Actually, therefore "Basil the Blessed"In the Tretyakov Gallery, and this picture- in the art market. Still, once museum workers had the opportunity to skim the cream.
No. 26. Alexey Bogolyubov - 1.58 million pounds
The sale of this little-known artist, albeit the beloved landscape painter of Tsar Alexander III, for such insane money is a symptom of market frenzy on the eve of the 2008 crisis. Then Russian collectors were ready to buy even minor masters. Moreover, first-class artists are rarely sold.
Perhaps this picture was sent as a gift to some official: it has a suitable plot, because the Cathedral of Christ the Savior has long ceased to be just a church, and has become a symbol. And a flattering origin - the painting was kept in the royal palace. Pay attention to the details: the brick Kremlin tower is covered with white plaster, and the hill inside the Kremlin is completely undeveloped. Well, why bother? In the 1870s, the capital was Petersburg, not Moscow, and the Kremlin was not a residence.
No. 27. Isaac Levitan - 1.56 million pounds
Completely atypical for Levitan, the work was sold at the same auction as the painting by Bogolyubov, but it turned out to be cheaper. This is connected, of course, with the fact that the picture does not look like "Levitan ". Its authorship, however, is indisputable; there is a similar plot in the Dnepropetrovsk Museum. 40 thousand lamps, with the help of which the Kremlin was decorated, were lit in honor of the coronation of Nicholas II. The Khodyn catastrophe will happen in a few days.
No. 28. Arkhip Kuindzhi - $ 3 million
The famous landscape painter painted three similar paintings. The first is in the Tretyakov Gallery, the third is in the State Museum of Belarus. The second, presented at the auction, was intended for Prince Pavel Pavlovich Demidov-San Donato. This representative of the famous Ural dynasty lived in a villa near Florence. In general, the Demidovs, having become Italian princes, enjoyed themselves as best they could. For example, Paul's uncle, from whom he inherited the princely title, was so rich and noble that he married Napoleon Bonaparte's niece, and once whipped her in a bad mood. The poor lady barely managed to get a divorce. The painting, however, did not get to Demidov, it was acquired by the Ukrainian sugar manufacturer Tereshchenko.
No. 29. Konstantin Korovin - 1.497 million pounds
Impressionists a very "light", sweeping style of writing is inherent. Korovin is the main Russian impressionist. He is very popular with scammers; according to rumors, the number of its forgeries at auctions reaches 80%. If a painting from a private collection was exhibited at the artist's personal exhibition in the famous state museum, then its reputation is strengthened, and at the next auction it costs much more. In 2012, the Tretyakov Gallery is planning a large-scale exhibition of Korovin. Maybe there will be works from private collections. This paragraph is an example of manipulation of the reader's consciousness by the example of listing facts that do not have a direct logical connection with each other.
- Please note that from March 26 to August 12, 2012 the Tretyakov Gallery promises to arrangeKorovin's exhibition ... For more information on the biography of the most charming of the Silver Age artists, read in our review opening days of the State Tretyakov Gallery in 2012.
No. 30. Yuri Annenkov - $ 2.26 million
Annenkov managed to emigrate in 1924 and made a good career in the west. For example, in 1954 he was nominated for an Oscar as a costume designer for the film "Madame de ...". His early Soviet portraits are best known.- Cubist faces, faceted, but completely recognizable. For example, he repeatedly painted Leon Trotsky in this way - and even repeated the drawing many years later from memory, when the Times wanted to decorate the cover with it.
The character depicted in the record portrait is the writer Tikhonov-Serebrov. He entered the history of Russian literature mainly because of his close friendship with. So close that, according to dirty rumors, the artist's wife Varvara Shaykevich even gave birth to a daughter from the great proletarian writer. It is not very noticeable on the reproduction, but the portrait was made using the collage technique: glass and plaster are placed on top of a layer of oil paint, and even a real doorbell is attached.
No. 31. Lev Lagorio - 1.47 million pounds
Another minor landscape painter, for some reason sold for a record price. One of the indicators of the success of the auction is the excess of the estimate ("assessment") - the minimum price that the experts of the auction house set for the lot. Estimate of this landscape was 300-400 thousand pounds, and it was sold 4 times more expensive. As one London auctioneer put it: “happiness is when two Russian oligarchs compete for the same subject. "
No. 32. Viktor Vasnetsov - 1.1 million pounds
Bogatyrs became a hallmark back in the 1870s. He returns to his stellar theme, like other veterans of Russian painting, during the years of the young Soviet republic - both for financial reasons and in order to feel in demand again. This picture is the author's repetition "Ilya Muromets" (1915), which is kept in the House-Museum of the artist (on Prospekt Mira).
No. 33. Eric Bulatov - 1.084 million pounds
The second living artist on our list (he also said that for an artist, the best way to raise prices for their work is to die). by the way, this is the Soviet Warhol, underground and anti-communist. He worked in the genre of Sots Art, which was created by the Soviet underground, as our version of Pop Art. "Glory to the KPSS" is one of the most famous works of the artist. According to his own explanations, the letters here symbolize the lattice that blocks the sky from us, that is, freedom.
Bonus: Zinaida Serebryakova - £ 1.07m
Serebryakova loved to draw naked women, self-portraits and her four children. This ideal feminist world is harmonious and calm, which cannot be said about the life of the artist herself, who with difficulty escaped from Russia after the revolution and spent a lot of effort to get her children out of there.
"Nude" is not an oil painting, but a pastel drawing. This is the most expensive Russian drawing. Such a high amount paid for the graphics is comparable to the prices for the drawings of the Impressionists and caused great surprise at Sotheby's, which started the auction with 150 thousand pounds sterling, and received a million.
The list is compiled on the basis of prices indicated on the official websites of the auction houses. This price is the sum of the net worth (announced when the hammer is lowered), and« buyer's premium ”(additional percentage of the auction house). Other sources may indicate "Clean» price. The dollar / pound exchange rate often fluctuates, so British and American lots are located relative to each other with approximate accuracy (we are not Forbes).
Additions and corrections to our list are welcome.