Tsar Alexander III (reigned 1881–1894) strengthened the Pale of Settlement Laws and ensured the removal of all Jewish people living in large cities in Russia, especially Moscow, St Petersburg and Kiev. Clearly life for many Russian Jews in the late 1800s was miserable, including for the Levitans. So the family wanted to move to Moscow… but Moscow was not within the Pale!!
Autumn Day Sokolniki 1879
Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow
Still, Isaac and his brother’s artistic interests were encouraged and both boys enrolled in Moscow’s School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture - Adolf in 1871 and Isaac in 1873. Sadly the children lost mum in 1875 and dad in 1877. Isaac was left penniless and homeless, sleeping either with relatives or in the Moscow Art School’s classrooms. Fortunately the School waived the rest of his tuition fees.
His best teacher took him on as an apprentice, to provide monetary aid. Alexei Savrasov (1830–1897) was a patient teacher who headed the Landscape Dept at the Moscow School of Painting. He was also arguably the most expressive of the Russian landscape painters of the later C19th.
Another inspiration was Savrasov’s successor Vasily Polenov (1844-1927), whose serene lyrical landscapes rubbed off on the young Levitan. During his ten years at the Art School, Levitan was a regular visitor at Polenov’s country house. There he drew, painted and developed warm friendships.
Golden Autumn Slobodka, 1889
State Russian Museum, St Petersburg
Other key influences on Levitan’s style included the Russian teacher Vasily Perov (1834–82), French painters of the Barbizon school of landscape painting, and poetic classical realist Camille Corot (1796-1875). Examine eg Autumn Day Sokolniki 1879 where a woman was walking carefree in the country side near Moscow. Levitan’s attitude towards nature was akin to the works of Anton Chekhov, who had become his friend. Autumn Day Sokolniki, painted at 19, was bought by famous philanthropist-art collector Pavel Tretyakov.
Autumn Landscape with Church, 1890
State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
One of Levitan’s pastels featured beautiful autumn yellows against a dull backdrop of greys and other weak colours. The Autumn Landscape, painted in 1890, showed the church in the background. It was bought by Pavel Tretyakov.
Evening Church Bells 1892
Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow
Pastoral landscapes, human-free, were characteristic of his work. Though his late work displayed Impressionist elements, his palette was generally muted and Savrasovian. For examples of his landscapes, see Secluded Monastery 1890. The Road to Vladimir 1892 was a rare example of social historical landscape and see evocative works like Evening Church Bells 1892, Golden Autumn 1895, Spring Flood 1897 and the small painting Reindeer 1895. All were bought by Pavel Tretyakov and are in the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow, a treasury of Russian fine art.
Above Eternal Peace 1894
Tretyakov Gallery
Levitan was an active participant in artistic life; he taught at the Moscow School of Painting, where had trained, was actively involved the Moscow Club of Literature and Art, and exhibited regularly with the Munich Secession (1892).
Isaac Levitan’s career lasted for c20 years only, but within this short time he created more than other Russian landscape painters. Levitan’s most famous late 1890s paintings include Evening on Volga, Spring High Water and others. Levitan did not join modern art and remained true to realism. See his quiet twilights, moon lit nights and sleeping villages eg Haystacks Twilight 1899 and Sunny Day 1898.
If his earlier works were intimate and lyrical, his mature art became philosophical, expressing his meditation about man and the world. His last works were increasingly filled with light, reflecting tranquillity and the eternal beauty of his beloved Russian Motherland. These pictures were loved by the intellectuals of the time, for they represented the purest specimen of the Russian mood landscape.
Levitan was single, though many women liked him. In 1900 he died at 39 and was buried in Moscow's old Jewish cemetery. He left 40 unfinished paintings and 300 sketches.
Reindeer 1895
Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow
The Jewish population in Russia had grown to 5.6 million by the turn of the century, home of my own family. So I was always a Russian tragic, now even more so. The work of Isaac Levitan belonged to the Golden Age of Russian culture, comparable with the works of such classics like Anton Chekhov, Pyotr Tchaikovsky and Konstantin Stanislavsky. A Tel Aviv street was named after Isaac Levitan. Lots of his works, less known in Russia today, are now displayed in the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.
Still, Isaac and his brother’s artistic interests were encouraged and both boys enrolled in Moscow’s School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture - Adolf in 1871 and Isaac in 1873. Sadly the children lost mum in 1875 and dad in 1877. Isaac was left penniless and homeless, sleeping either with relatives or in the Moscow Art School’s classrooms. Fortunately the School waived the rest of his tuition fees.
His best teacher took him on as an apprentice, to provide monetary aid. Alexei Savrasov (1830–1897) was a patient teacher who headed the Landscape Dept at the Moscow School of Painting. He was also arguably the most expressive of the Russian landscape painters of the later C19th.
Another inspiration was Savrasov’s successor Vasily Polenov (1844-1927), whose serene lyrical landscapes rubbed off on the young Levitan. During his ten years at the Art School, Levitan was a regular visitor at Polenov’s country house. There he drew, painted and developed warm friendships.
State Russian Museum, St Petersburg
Other key influences on Levitan’s style included the Russian teacher Vasily Perov (1834–82), French painters of the Barbizon school of landscape painting, and poetic classical realist Camille Corot (1796-1875). Examine eg Autumn Day Sokolniki 1879 where a woman was walking carefree in the country side near Moscow. Levitan’s attitude towards nature was akin to the works of Anton Chekhov, who had become his friend. Autumn Day Sokolniki, painted at 19, was bought by famous philanthropist-art collector Pavel Tretyakov.
State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
Of course Levitan’s passion for poetry and music were very important. Plus throughout his short life he was prone to depression. Out of these complex experiences, Levitan’s "mood landscapes" took on a poetic and emotional quality.
Levitan first showed his work at an exhibition with Moscow’s Itinerant Wanderers, receiving his first recognition from the press. By 1884 the Wanderers had offered Levitan full membership in their group, so he could exhibit regularly.
Even though Savrasov was fired as a lecturer due to his alcoholism, Levitan continued to seek his advice. In 1883, Levitan was ready to graduate and expected to receive a first-class honour for one of his best landscape paintings. The diploma did not come but later Levitan began teaching landscape painting at the Moscow School of Painting.
Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow
In the mid 1880s Levitan’s finances improved. One of the best landscape artists among the progressive Itinerant Wanderers, his main contribution to Russian art was atmospheric landscape, mastering colour and shade. Although the depiction of light was crucial to his compositions, Levitan was a realist rather than an Impressionist.
Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow,
GW2RU
Levitan was interested in the writings of the new intellectual luminaries, writing to Sergei Diaghilev that he lay for days in a forest and read pessimistic German philosopher Schopenhauer. So we might have expected a hushed, almost melancholic reverie. Above the Eternal Peace 1894 showed the artist’s meditations about the transience of human being. Levitan painted the infamous road, along which convicts were marched to Siberia.
Tretyakov Gallery
Levitan was an active participant in artistic life; he taught at the Moscow School of Painting, where had trained, was actively involved the Moscow Club of Literature and Art, and exhibited regularly with the Munich Secession (1892).
Isaac Levitan’s career lasted for c20 years only, but within this short time he created more than other Russian landscape painters. Levitan’s most famous late 1890s paintings include Evening on Volga, Spring High Water and others. Levitan did not join modern art and remained true to realism. See his quiet twilights, moon lit nights and sleeping villages eg Haystacks Twilight 1899 and Sunny Day 1898.
If his earlier works were intimate and lyrical, his mature art became philosophical, expressing his meditation about man and the world. His last works were increasingly filled with light, reflecting tranquillity and the eternal beauty of his beloved Russian Motherland. These pictures were loved by the intellectuals of the time, for they represented the purest specimen of the Russian mood landscape.
Levitan was single, though many women liked him. In 1900 he died at 39 and was buried in Moscow's old Jewish cemetery. He left 40 unfinished paintings and 300 sketches.
Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow
The Jewish population in Russia had grown to 5.6 million by the turn of the century, home of my own family. So I was always a Russian tragic, now even more so. The work of Isaac Levitan belonged to the Golden Age of Russian culture, comparable with the works of such classics like Anton Chekhov, Pyotr Tchaikovsky and Konstantin Stanislavsky. A Tel Aviv street was named after Isaac Levitan. Lots of his works, less known in Russia today, are now displayed in the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.
Isaac Levitan, photographed 1880s.
You capture Levitan’s art as an act of quiet endurance, shaped by exile, loss, and lyric devotion to the Russian landscape
ReplyDeleteroentare
Deletethat is especially true when you compare Levitan's quiet poetry with Russian artists like Kazimir Malevich, Ilya Repin, Marc Chagall, Léon Bakst, El Lissitzky and Wassily Kandinsky.
The biggest collection of Isaac Levitan paintings in housed in the State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow, a gallery that holds a comprehensive collection of Russian art. Please could you add a photo of the gallery to your blog.
ReplyDeleteTretyakov Gallery
DeleteMany thanks. I added a photo of the gallery straight away. I wasn't sure if the design was turn of the century Russian Revival style , but it was impressive
Died way too young. I do like his paintings and especially 'Above Eternal Peace', or is the 'Over Eternal Peace'?
ReplyDeleteMargaret
Deleteboth prepositions are fine.
I cannot tell if the "eternal peace" refers to a] the never-ending extent of sea, horizon and sky; b] Levitan's sad mood or c] the spirit coming out of the church on the coast.
The Wikipaedia portrait of Levitan by Alexander Shurygin in 1889 showed a very good looking man in his late 20s. Why did he never marry?
ReplyDeleteDeb
DeleteHistorians mentioned he was a notorious womaniser. But the names of only a few women he chased were known: Chekhov’s sister Maria; and Sophia Kuvshinnikova, married painter and saloniste with whom Levitan openly had an affair from 1890-4; In the 1890s he had an episodic affair with an older married woman, artist Sofia Kuvshinnikova. Levitan also wrote to young Elena Karzinkina, a painter who enrolled in the Moscow School of Art after Levitan had graduated. Levitan’s letters from 1896-99 clearly showed he loved her, although in 1898 she married a writer in the very influential Moscow literary circle.
Perhaps he moved too often to keep a house and family stable.
His paintings are beautiful. I guess he wasn't the marrying kind, if that works as a code phrase or not.
ReplyDeleteAndrew
Deletenah.. no code phrase that I can see :)
The Art Story wrote: Isaac Levitan created some of the most beautiful works associated with the Peredvizhniki School and is credited, along with Ivan Shishkin, with ushering in a golden age of Russian landscape painting." I think that may have been overstating Levitan's importance, but have a look at some of his paintings on:
https://arthur.io/art/isaac-ilyich-levitan
Boa noite Helen. Infelizmente não tenho a resposta sobre a pergunta, sobre Rembrandt. As pinturas desse lituano também são lindas.
ReplyDeleteLuiz
Deletethank you. I only knew a handful of Levitan's paintings in the old days so I had to do a lot of reading in late 2025. And I couldn't find a single example of his work in all Australia :(
I was not familiar with this artist before your post Hels. Wow, I really like his work. The reindeer painting looks like a photograph...There are too many artists who need more exposure, even if it took years for them to become known worldwide. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteNever heard of him till now, but these paintings are really nice
ReplyDeleteJo-Anne
DeleteI thought I knew all the respected European artists created in the 1880-1900 era but clearly not. Only years later did I bump into the Association of Roving Exhibitions, whose mission was to create a democratic art for ordinary people. Levitan exhibited with them.
Erika
ReplyDeletethankfully many talented artists were recognised for their painting skills during the life time, or after death.
But often an artist enjoys little exposure for reasons that have nothing to do with talent eg the artist had no influential patron; the family had no money and couldn't pay for art school; a long national war diverted attention from cultural work for years; the artist was too depressed to talk.
Van Gogh struggled with mental illness and isolation, and his career was too short to create a market for his works. Levitan was often unseen in the Western world which was besotted with French Impressionism. And the potential buyers were not besotted with Russian politics.
I like the light in his paintings. It's so very hopeful which seems at odds with a 39 year lifespan but of course none of us know how long we have.
ReplyDeletekylie
Deleteall very gentle - the blue skies, the sunlight, light clouds, softly coloured trees and diversity in landscapes. In fact Levitan's 1890 painting Spring in Italy showed more snow than his Russian landscapes.
39 is heartbreakingly young, isn't it :(
Boa noite minha querida Helen. Uma excelente noite de segunda-feira. Grande abraço do Brasil. Obrigado pelo seu comentário sobre Rembrandt.
ReplyDeleteLuiz
DeleteI don't think Russia ever had a Golden Art Century quite like Netherlands had. But they certainly had some very impressive artists who influenced painters way beyond the Russian borders.