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Isaac Ilyich Levitan (October 3 (15), 1860 or August 18 (30), 1860 - July 22 (August 4), 1900) - Russian artist, master of "mood landscape". Academician of the Imperial Academy of Arts (1898).

Isaac Ilyich Levitan was born in the town of Kibarty, Mariampolsky district, Augustow province (since 1866 - Suwalki province), into an educated impoverished Jewish family. The date of birth is officially considered August 18 (30), 1860. Father Ilya (Elyashiv-Leib) Abramovich Levitan (1827-1877) came from a rabbinical family in the town of Kaidanova, notable for the coexistence of the Jewish and Scottish communities in Lithuania. Elyash studied at the yeshiva in Vilna. Being engaged in self-education, he independently mastered French and German. In Kovno, he taught these languages ​​and then worked as an interpreter during the construction of a railway bridge, which was carried out by a French company.

In November 2010, interesting archival records about the family of Isaac Levitan were discovered. The found documents said that the artist's great-grandfather was called Abram, the grandfather was Leib Abramovich Levitan (c. 1791 - 1841). In the birth certificates of the children of Elyash - the daughter of Mikhle (born 07/18/1859) and the son of Abel Leib (born 01/09/1861 according to the old style) - the name of their mother appears: Basya Girshevna Levitan (1830-1875; some sources report the everyday version Berta Moiseevna Levitan), daughter of Zundele Girsh.

In addition to Isaac, three more children grew up in the family: brother Abel Leib (later took the name Adolf), sisters Teresa (married Teresa Ilyinichna Berchanskaya, born in 1856) and Mikhle (Emma Ilyinichna, born 07/18/1859 according to the old style ).

According to M. A. Rogov, Isaac Levitan could not have been born to Elyash's wife, Basya, in August 1860, 5 months before the birth of Abel Leib - which, perhaps, explains the lack of an archival record of his birth in this family and the subsequent secrecy both brothers. Isaac Levitan in fact could not be the son of Elyash and Basya, but adopted as the youngest son (although his own son Abel was younger) nephew - the eldest son of Elyash's younger brother, Khatskel Levitan (born in 1834), and his wife Dobra, named Itzik Leib Levitan (born 10/03/1860 according to the old style). The birth record of Itzik-Leib Levitan, one of the sons of Khatskel Levitan and his wife Dobra, on 03.10.1860, is in the public domain, as well as other research data. On the contrary, there are no records of the birth of Teresa and Isaac Levitan in the family of Elyash Leib and Basya. Khatskel lived with his brother Elyash at least in 1868-1870.

One of the motives for indicating Abel to the elders and distorting the dates of birth could be the desire to guarantee his own son Abel exemption from military service according to the laws Russian Empire, as the eldest son in the family - especially after the tragic incident when, as a result of tougher recruiting in 1852, one of the cousins ​​​​of Isaac Levitan - Ber, the son of the butcher Herschel, who lived in the Kaganov's house, was taken into recruits.
The data on the birth of Isaac are not new: at the beginning of the 20th century, official art criticism believed that Isaac Levitan was born in 1861, but was the youngest son in the family: Adolf, who was called Levitan Sr. at the school, entered there two years earlier. In this case, as it seems to M. A. Rogov, the choice of the date of birth of the artist, indicated in the military document of the school (in which Abel and Isaac studied), in August is due to the requirement of his religious majority bar mitzvah by the beginning of the first school year, and how the date of birth was indicated on August 18, since documents for admission to the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture were submitted the day before, on August 17, in addition, on 18 - lucky number according to Jewish ideas. M. A. Rogov believes that the examples he found in documents about the Levitan family of naming children after living relatives testify to the Sephardic origin of the artist on the paternal side, and that the assimilation of Sephardim in Lithuania among the Ashkenazim in the 19th century led to the fact that Elyash refused rabbinical career.

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Isaac Ilyich Levitan became famous for his ability to sing the beauty of Russian nature. For a life full of ups and downs, the artist did not get a wife and children. The man devoted all his free time to painting, leaving to posterity pictures full of the magic of rivers, forests and steppe expanses.

Childhood and youth

The biography of Levitan originates in a small settlement in Lithuania, located near the railway station of Kybarty. The boy, born on August 18 (August 30), 1860, became the fourth child in a low-income Jewish family. Isaac's father, who independently mastered German and French, gave private lessons and worked as a controller at the station.

Due to lack of money and lack of prospects, the Levitan family moves to Moscow. Despite financial difficulties, parents allow older brother Isaac to enter the school of painting, sculpture and architecture. The younger Levitan, who was also interested in his brother's hobbies, spends a lot of time watching the work of famous artist-teachers.

Having reached the age of 13, the young man enters the same educational institution. Two years later, the mother dies. After another 2 years, after the beloved, the elder Levitan passes away. Left orphans, the young men did not give up the study of painting.

The fate of a handsome Jewish teenager worried teachers who noticed Isaac's innate talent. The teaching staff knocked out a cash allowance for Levitan, and classmates gave a friend brushes and paints.

Already in the 1870s, a student at the school realized that he loved to create in the landscape genre. At one of the first non-professional exhibitions, the artist noted the unusual style. The philanthropist acquired the painting “Autumn Day. Sokolniki.

Painting

Tretyakov's attention noticeably raised Levitan's self-esteem in his own eyes, but did not improve the young man's financial situation. To feed himself, Isaac draws illustrations for weeklies. The artist devotes his free time to works for the soul.

By 1880 Levitan finally mastered his own style, distinguished by scrupulous elaboration of details. In 1884, the artist's work was appreciated by colleagues. Isaac was accepted into the Association of Travelers art exhibitions. At the same time, Isaac quits his studies without completing the course and without receiving the title of "class artist".

Despite the well-deserved success, Levitan's emotional state is not stable. In 1885, the artist went to the Kiselyovs' estate to come to his senses after a suicide attempt. Isaac finds special support and help in the Chekhov family, whose members he met in childhood.

A separate era in the artist's work was marked by trips to the Volga. On the banks of the river, Levitan again felt the love of life. The works created by Isaac during this period are distinguished by a joyful mood. Relatives of the artist stated that a smile appeared on the canvases. After visiting the plein air, Levitan creates "On the Volga", for which he receives an award at the competition of the Moscow Society of Art Lovers.

Their best work Isaac creates in the workshop, which was provided to the artist by the philanthropist Sergei Timofeevich Morozov. The fame of Levitan's work has already spread throughout Moscow, so the financial part of a man's life has ceased to be deplorable.

Instead of joyful notes, philosophical echoes appeared in the works. A man who thought a lot about the place of man in the world, especially vividly reflected his own thoughts in the painting “Above Mortal Peace”. In personal notes, Levitan claimed that he put himself into the canvas.

Isaac spends the next 10 years traveling the world. Allowing himself to experiment, the artist loses the favor of his fans. The paintings "Lake Como", "In the North of Italy" and "The Mediterranean Sea" are not recognized. The artist again falls into the blues because of unpleasant reviews.

Mental anguish is exacerbated by physical. Problems in personal life cause a second suicide attempt, as unsuccessful as the previous one. Experiences spur inspiration, and in 1895 Levitan created "March" on the estate of his mistress. The life-affirming landscape will later be bought by Pavel Tretyakov, a longtime admirer of Isaac.

The rise in creativity again gives the painful Levitan the strength to create. In the "major" period, which lasted while Isaac was visiting the house of another beloved, " Golden autumn”, depicting the Syezha River. In the same state, the artist paints “Spring. Big Water”, made in the transition of blue, yellow and green shades.

In 1898, Levitan was appointed head of the workshop at the school, which the artist did not graduate from at the time. In Levitan's photo of this period, traces of the disease are already visible, but the artist does not slow down and still spends most of the daylight hours in his own studio.

Personal life

The first love of Levitan was the charming Maria Chekhova - sister famous writer. While visiting a friend in the village of Babkino, the artist talked for a long time with a girl who was passionate about painting. Once, plucking up courage, Levitan confessed his love to Mary, but the inexperienced beauty only burst into tears and ran away.

This answer upset Isaac. It took a long time for the young people to resume communication, deciding that they were not destined to be together. Tender friendship continued until the death of the artist. On his deathbed, Levitan confessed to Mary that if he ever decided to marry, then only to her.

Having become famous in Moscow circles, Isaac meets Sofia Kuvshinnikova. The woman kept a secular salon, where writers and artists gathered. The married charmer was 10 years older than Levitan, which did not hurt stormy romance. Under the pretext of drawing lessons, Isaac and Sophia often went to the Volga together.

The relationship was put to an end by rumors that spread around Moscow due to careless expressions of the mistress's feelings for the object of adoration. According to another version, the artists' romance ended because of Anna Nikolaevna Turchaninova.

The wife of a senator from St. Petersburg lived next door to the Kuvshinnikova estate, where lovers spent their summers. Anna - the same age as Sophia - suffered from idleness and was carried away by the charming Levitan. After a lengthy showdown, Kuvshinnikova returned to her husband, and Isaac moved to Turchaninova's house.

However, in connection with an attractive aristocrat and talented artist a third person intervened. The daughter of Anna Nikolaevna Varvara became interested in her mother's lover and threatened to reveal a secret affair or commit suicide. However, this did not stop the lovers. The close relationship continued until Levitan's death.

Death

Heart pains that Levitan suffered from young years, worsened with age. Against the background of general weakness, the artist often picked up diseases that destroyed his immunity. The second outbreak of typhoid also did not pass for the man without consequences.

Due to ailments and pains in his heart, Levitan even abandoned his favorite pastime - hunting. All this affected the mental state of Isaac. Relatives stopped recognizing the artist. The mood of the man changed from feverishly joyful to tearfully melancholy.

Faith in the future returned to Levitan after a trip to Yalta in the winter of 1889. At the resort, the artist spent a lot of time in the company of a sick person. Returning to Moscow, Isaac began to draw and teach with renewed vigor.

In the spring of 1900, in the open air in Khimki, Isaac Ilyich fell ill. A mild cold, complicated by low immunity and chronic heart disease, finally weakened the artist. Tuberculosis was added to excruciating pains in the heart.

After a painful half-forgetfulness on June 22 (August 4), 1900, Levitan died. Isaac Ilyich was buried not far from the Dorogomilovsky cemetery, in the area where representatives of the Jewish people were buried.

Artworks

• 1885-1889 - "Birch Grove"
• 1889 - "Golden Autumn"
• 1889 - “After the rain. Plyos»
• 1892 - "Evening bells"
• 1894 - "Over eternal rest»
• 1895 - "March"
• 1896-1897 - "Spring - big water"
• 1898 - "Silence"
• 1899 - "The last rays of the sun"
• 1900 - "Twilight"

Russian artist, master of "mood landscape"

Isaac Levitan

short biography

Isaac Ilyich Levitan(October 15, 1860 or August 30, 1860 - August 4, 1900) - Russian artist, master of "mood landscape". Academician of the Imperial Academy of Arts (1898).

Origin

Isaac Ilyich Levitan was born in the town of Kibarty, Mariampolsky district, Augustow province (since 1866 - Suwalki province), into an educated impoverished Jewish family. The official date of birth is August 30, 1860. Father Ilya (Elyashiv-Leib) Abramovich Levitan (1827-1877) came from a rabbinical family in the town of Kaidanova, notable for the coexistence of the Jewish and Scottish communities in Lithuania. Elyash studied at the yeshiva in Vilna. Being engaged in self-education, he independently mastered French and German. In Kovno, he taught these languages ​​and then worked as an interpreter during the construction of a railway bridge, which was carried out by a French company.

In November 2010, interesting archival records about the family of Isaac Levitan were discovered. The found documents said that the artist's great-grandfather was called Abram, his grandfather was Leib Abramovich Levitan(c. 1791 - 1841). In the birth certificates of the children of Elyash - daughter Mikhle (born 07/18/1859) and son Abel Leib (born 01/09/1861 according to the old style) - the name of their mother appears: Basya Girshevna Levitan(1830-1875; some sources report the everyday version of Berta Moiseevna Levitan), daughter of Zundele Girsh.

In addition to Isaac, three more children grew up in the family: brother Abel Leib (later took the name Adolf), sisters Teresa (married Teresa Ilyinichna Berchanskaya, born in 1856) and Mikhle (Emma Ilyinichna, born 07/18/1859 according to the old style ).

According to M. A. Rogov, Isaac Levitan could not have been born to Elyash's wife, Basya, in August 1860, 5 months before the birth of Abel Leib - which, perhaps, explains the lack of an archival record of his birth in this family and the subsequent secrecy both brothers. Isaac Levitan in fact could not be the son of Elyash and Basya, but adopted as the youngest son (although his own son Abel was younger) nephew - the eldest son of Elyash's younger brother, Khatskel Levitan (born in 1834), and his wife Dobra, named Itzik Leib Levitan (born 10/03/1860 according to the old style). The birth record of Itzik-Leib Levitan, one of the sons of Khatskel Levitan and his wife Dobra, on 03.10.1860, is in the public domain, as well as other research data. On the contrary, there are no records of the birth of Teresa and Isaac Levitan in the family of Elyash Leib and Basya. Khatskel lived with his brother Elyash at least in 1868-1870.

One of the motives for indicating Abel to the elders and distorting dates of birth could be the desire to guarantee his own son Abel exemption from military service according to the laws of the Russian Empire, as the eldest son in the family - especially after the tragic incident when, as a result of tightening recruitment in 1852, one of the cousins the brothers of Isaac Levitan - Ber, the son of the butcher Herschel, who lived in the house of the Kagans, were recruited. The data on the birth of Isaac are not new: at the beginning of the 20th century, official art criticism believed that Isaac Levitan was born in 1861, but was the youngest son in the family : Adolf, who was called Levitan Sr. at the school, entered there two years earlier. In this case, as it seems to M. A. Rogov, the choice of the date of birth of the artist indicated in the military document of the school (in which Abel and Isaac studied), in August, is due to the requirement of his religious majority bar mitzvah by the beginning of the first academic year, and as the date birth was indicated on August 18, since documents for admission to the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture were submitted the day before, on August 17, in addition, 18 is a lucky number according to Jewish ideas. M. A. Rogov believes that the examples he found in documents about the Levitan family of naming children after living relatives testify to the Sephardic origin of the artist on the paternal side, and that the assimilation of Sephardim in Lithuania among the Ashkenazim in the 19th century led to the fact that Elyash refused rabbinical career.

The nephews of Isaac Levitan, the sons of his sister Teresa Berchanskaya, are the artists Lev (eng. Leo Birchansky, 1887-1949) and Rafail (fr. Raphaël Birtchansky, 1883-1953) Berchansky.

early years

Ilya Levitan, in an effort to improve his financial situation and give his children an education, moved with his family to Moscow in the early 1870s. In 1871, Isaac's older brother, Abel Leib, entered the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. In the autumn of 1873, the thirteen-year-old Isaac also entered the school.

His teachers were the artists Perov, Savrasov and Polenov.

In 1875, Levitan's mother died and his father became seriously ill. Forced by illness to quit work railway, Levitan's father could not support four children by tutoring. The financial situation of the family was such that the school from time to time provided material assistance to the brothers, and in 1876 exempted them from tuition fees "due to extreme poverty" and as "having made great strides in art." On February 3, 1877, his father died of typhus. For Levitan, his brother and sisters, the time of extreme need has come. The artist then studied in the fourth "natural" class with Vasily Perov. Perov's friend, Alexey Savrasov, drew attention to Levitan and took him to his landscape class. In March 1877, two of Levitan's works exhibited at the exhibition were noted by the press, and the sixteen-year-old artist received a small silver medal and 220 rubles "for the opportunity to continue his studies."

“Everything was easy for Levitan, nevertheless, he worked hard, with great restraint”- recalled his friend, the famous painter Mikhail Nesterov.

In 1879, after the assassination attempt by Alexander Solovyov, who was by no means a Jew, on Tsar Alexander II, committed on April 2, a royal decree was issued prohibiting Jews from living in the "originally Russian capital." Eighteen-year-old Levitan was expelled from Moscow, and for the next couple of years, together with his brother, sister and son-in-law, he settled in a small dacha in Saltykovka near Moscow (near Balashikha). With the proceeds from the sale of the painting "Evening after the Rain" (1879, private collection), Levitan a year later rented a furnished room on Bolshaya Lubyanka.

In the summer months of 1880-1884 he painted from life in Ostankino. Works of this period include: Oak Grove. Autumn "(1880, Nizhny Novgorod Art Museum), "Oak" (1880, Tretyakov Gallery), “Pine Trees” (1880, private collection), “Way Stop” (early 1880s, House-Museum of I. Levitan in Plyos), the artist created landscapes in Savvinskaya Sloboda near Zvenigorod: “Last snow. Savvinskaya Sloboda (1884, Tretyakov Gallery), Bridge. Savvinskaya Sloboda "(1884, Tretyakov Gallery).

“A talented Jewish boy annoyed other teachers. The Jew, in their opinion, should not have touched the Russian landscape. It was the work of indigenous Russian artists"- wrote Konstantin Paustovsky.

In the spring of 1885, at the age of 24, Levitan graduated from college. He did not receive the title of artist - he was given a diploma calligraphy teachers.

Becoming an artist

Levitan left the Moscow School of Painting and Sculpture without a diploma. There was no money. In April 1885, he settled not far from Babkin, in the remote village of Maksimovka. In the neighborhood, in Babkino, the Chekhovs visited the Kiselev estate. A. S. Kiselyov, nephew of the diplomat Count P. D. Kiselyov, served in those places as a zemstvo chief; his wife is Maria Vladimirovna, daughter of V.P. Begichev. Levitan met A.P. Chekhov, friendship and rivalry with whom continued throughout his life.

In the mid-1880s, the artist's financial situation improved. However, a hungry childhood, a hectic life, hard work affected his health - his heart disease sharply worsened. A trip to the Crimea in 1886 strengthened his forces. Upon his return, Levitan organized an exhibition of fifty landscapes.

Above eternal rest (1894)

In 1887, the artist finally realized his dream: he went to the Volga, which his beloved teacher Savrasov portrayed so soulfully (he was almost ready to go there in the early 1880s, but could not because of his sister's illness). The first meeting with the Volga did not satisfy the painter. It was cold, cloudy weather, and the river seemed to him "dreary and dead." Levitan wrote to Chekhov: "Stunted bushes and, like lichen, cliffs ..."

The following year, he again decided to go to the Volga. In the spring of 1888, Levitan, together with fellow artists Alexei Stepanov and Sofya Kuvshinnikova, went on a steamboat along the Oka to Nizhny Novgorod and further up the Volga. During the trip, they unexpectedly discovered the beauty of the small, quiet town of Plyos. They decided to stay and live there for a while. As a result, Levitan spent three extremely productive summer seasons in Plyos (1888-1890). In the late 1880s - early 1890s, Levitan headed the landscape class at the School fine arts artist-architect A. O. Gunst.

About 200 works completed by him in three summers in Plyos brought Levitan wide fame, and Plyos became very popular with landscape painters.

There is an opinion that the painting “Above Eternal Peace” is the “most Russian” of all paintings ever written on the Russian theme.

At the end of 1889 - at the beginning of 1890, Levitan made his first trip to Western Europe visited France and Italy. He wanted to get to know contemporary painting widely presented at the World Exhibition held in Paris. Probably, he was especially interested in the retrospective exhibition of the artists of the Barbizon school, which he had long loved, and the works of the Impressionists. According to Nesterov, “There, in the West, where art is really free, he was convinced that the path he had outlined earlier was the right one”.

In March 1891, Isaac Levitan became a member of the Association of Traveling Art Exhibitions. The Moscow philanthropist Sergei Morozov, who was passionate about painting and was friends with Levitan, provided the artist with a very convenient workshop in Trekhsvyatitelsky Lane.

By the spring of 1892, Levitan completed the painting "Autumn" (begun in the autumn of 1891) and exhibited it at the XX Traveling Exhibition along with three more paintings: "At the Pool", "Summer" and "October".

In 1892, Levitan, as a "person of the Jewish faith," was forced to leave Moscow and lived for some time in the Tver and Vladimir provinces. Then, thanks to the efforts of friends, the artist "as an exception" was allowed to return. His canvas “Vladimirka” (1892) belongs to this period, which depicts the road along which convicts were driven to Siberia.

In 1892, in the history of friendship between Levitan and Chekhov, there was an episode that briefly overshadowed their relationship and was connected with the fact that in the plot of the story "The Jumper" the writer used some moments of the relationship between Levitan, his student Sofya Kuvshinnikova and her husband, doctor Dmitry Kuvshinnikov.

In 1892-93, Serov painted a well-known portrait of Levitan in a workshop in Tryokhsvyatitelsky Lane.

Valentin Serov paints a portrait of Isaac Levitan in his house-workshop. 2. Portrait of I. I. Levitan, Valentin Serov, (1893)

Levitan spent the summer of 1893 at the Panafidins' estate in the village of Kurovo-Pokrovskoye, Tver province. There he met V. N. Ushakov, the owner of the estate of Ostrovno, Vyshnevolotsky district (now the Porozhkinsky rural settlement).

In the summer of 1894, Levitan, together with Sofya Kuvshinnikova, again came to these places and settled with the Ushakovs in the Ostrovno estate, on the shores of the lake of the same name. There, on Lake Udomlya and Ostrovensky Lake, the plot of the painting “Above Eternal Peace” was formed.

A love drama broke out on the Ushakovs' estate. Tatyana Lvovna Shchepkina-Kupernik, invited by Sofya Petrovna, became an involuntary witness to this drama. Anna Nikolaevna Turchaninova came from St. Petersburg to the neighboring Gorka estate (one and a half kilometers from Ostrovno) with her two daughters, the family of the deputy mayor of St. Petersburg I. N. Turchaninov, who owned the Gorka estate. Levitan began an affair with Anna Nikolaevna Turchaninova. Frustrated, Kuvshinnikova returned to Moscow and never met Levitan again.

T. L. Shchepkina-Kupernik described the plot and development of subsequent events as follows:

The idyll of our life was broken by the middle of summer. Neighbors arrived, the family of a prominent St. Petersburg official / Ivan Nikolaevich Turchaninov /, who had an estate nearby. Having learned that a celebrity, Levitan, lives here, they made a visit to Sofya Petrovna, and a relationship began. It was a mother and two charming girls of our age. Mother was Sofya Petrovna's age, but very songni, with tinted lips (S.P. despised paint), in elegant, correct dresses, with the restraint and grace of a St. Petersburg coquette ... And so a struggle ensued.

We, the younger ones, continued our semi-childish life, and a drama was played out before our eyes ... Levitan frowned, more and more often he disappeared with his Vesta / dog / “on the hunt”. Sofya Petrovna walked with a burning face, and it all ended with the complete victory of the St. Petersburg lady and Levitan's break with Sofya Petrovna ...

But Levitan's further romance was not happy: it was complicated by the fact that the eldest daughter of the heroine fell in love with him without memory, and between her and her mother there was a dull struggle that poisoned everything. last years his life.

And many years later, when neither Levitan nor Kuvshinnikova were alive, I ... described their story in the story “The Elders”, published in Vestnik Evropy: now you can confess it!

Isaac Ilyich moved to the Turchaninov estate. At the confluence of the stream into the lake, which divided the lands of the Turchaninov estate, a two-story house was built especially for Levitan as a workshop, since the estate did not have large rooms for work (the workshop was jokingly called the "synagogue"). The workshop burned down, as they recall, even under the Turchaninovs in the early 1900s.

In January 1895, thanks to Shchepkina-Kupernik, Levitan reconciled with Chekhov. Shchepkina-Kupernik, on her way to Melikhovo to see the Chekhovs, stopped by Levitan's Moscow workshop to look at the Udomel sketches and persuaded him to go together. Friends met, embraced, and friendship was renewed.

In 1895 the artist traveled to Austria and France. In mid-March 1895, Levitan again came to Gorka. It was then that in several sessions he wrote from the Turchaninovs' house famous painting"March".

But "the strongest melancholy brought him to the most terrible state." On June 21, 1895, Levitan simulated a suicide attempt - he shot himself. The fact that the “suicide attempt” was a theatrical gesture is also evidenced by the message of the doctor I. I. Troyanovsky, who, recalling this, wrote on December 8, 1895: “... I didn’t see any traces of a wound in him, I heard about it from him, but I treated it as an attempt “with unsuitable means” or as a tragic comedy”. At the request of Levitan himself and the subsequent request of Anna Turchaninova, Chekhov came to Gorki and visited his friend. Anton Pavlovich was convinced that there was no danger to life, stayed for 5 days and returned to Moscow shocked by what had happened. After visiting the Gorka estate, Chekhov wrote the story "A House with a Mezzanine" and the play "The Seagull", which offended Levitan.

In August, Levitan wrote "Nenyufars", and in the autumn on the Syezha River, half a kilometer from the estate - "Golden Autumn".

Also in 1895, Levitan rewrote the painting “Fresh Wind. Volga.

Levitan's paintings "March", "Golden Autumn", "Nenyufars" and others were bought by P. M. Tretyakov.

In 1896, a joint exhibition of Isaac Levitan, Viktor Simov and Alexander Popov took place in Odessa.

Levitan traveled to Finland for several weeks, where he painted pictures: “Fortress. Finland” (Olavinlinna fortress in Savonlinna), “Rocks, Finland”, “Sea. Finland”, “Punka-Harju. Finland” (in a private collection). In 1897, the artist completed the painting “Remains of the past. Dust. Finland".

In 1896, after a secondary typhus, the symptoms of a heart aneurysm intensified. The disease became severe and incurable.

At the beginning of March 1897, the following lines appeared in one of Chekhov's letters: “I listened to Levitan. The thing is bad. His heart is not beating, but blowing. Instead of a knock-knock sound, a pf-knock is heard ... ". Levitan, in early March, was in Moscow, met with P. M. Tretyakov.

In May 1897, Levitan in Italy - in the town of Courmayeur, near Mont Blanc.

In 1898 Levitan was awarded the title of academician landscape painting. He began teaching at the same school where he studied himself. The artist dreamed of creating a "House of Landscapes" - a large workshop in which all Russian landscape painters could work. One of the students recalled: “Levitan's influence on us students was very great. This was due not only to his authority as an artist, but also to the fact that Levitan was a versatile educated person ... Levitan knew how to approach each of us creatively, like an artist; under his proofreading, the sketch, the paintings came to life, each time in a new way, as the corners of his native nature came to life at exhibitions in his own paintings, before him no one had noticed, not discovered ”.

In the winter of 1899, doctors sent Levitan to Yalta. Chekhov also lived in Yalta at that time. Old friends met aloofly. Levitan walked, leaning heavily on a stick, choking, talking about his imminent death. His heart was hurting almost continuously...

Yalta did not help. Levitan returned to Moscow and almost did not leave his house in Tryokhsvyatitelsky Lane. On May 8-17, 1900, Chekhov visited the seriously ill Levitan. All summer, from June, the artist's paintings were exhibited in the Russian department of the World Exhibition in Paris.

July 22 (August 4), 1900, at 8 hours 35 minutes, Isaac Levitan died. He did not live very long before his 40th birthday. About 40 unfinished paintings and about 300 sketches remained in his studio. His last work - "Lake" - also remained unfinished.

Isaac Levitan was buried on July 25, 1900 in the old Jewish cemetery, next to the Dorogomilovsky cemetery. The funeral was attended by artists Valentin Serov (who came to the funeral from abroad), Apollinary Vasnetsov, Konstantin Korovin, Ilya Ostroukhov, Nikolai Kasatkin, Leonid Pasternak, V.V. Pereplyotchikov, Konstantin Yuon, Vitold Byalynitsky-Birulya, art critic P. D. Ettinger; as well as students, acquaintances and admirers of the artist's talent.

In 1901, a posthumous exhibition of Levitan's works was held in St. Petersburg and Moscow. In addition to those previously exhibited, some works were exhibited there for the first time, among them - the unfinished painting "Lake" (1899-1900).

After 2 years, in 1902, Abel Levitan erected a monument on the grave of his brother.

On April 22, 1941, the ashes of Isaac Levitan were transferred to the Novodevichy cemetery. Since then, the grave of Isaac Levitan has been adjacent to the graves of his friends Chekhov and Nesterov.

Contrary to popular myth, Levitan did not adhere to the religious ban on depicting people. “Relatively well known are the graphic and pictorial self-portraits of Levitan (the first half of the 1880s; 1890s; both - the State Tretyakov Gallery) and those works that depict people closest to Levitan and their relatives - “Portrait of the artist Sofia Petrovna Kuvshinnikova” (1888, Museum -apartment of I. I. Brodsky, St. Petersburg), "Portrait of Anton Pavlovich Chekhov" (1885-1886, Tretyakov Gallery), "Portrait of Nikolai Pavlovich Panafidin" (1891, Tver Regional Art Gallery)". Other portraits by the famous landscape painter do not enjoy such attention from specialists and the public, mainly because the history of their creation and the people captured on them are unknown.

Levitan Isaak Ilyich (Isaak Levitan,), Russian artist. Born in Kybarty (now Kybartai, Lithuania) on August 18 (30), 1860 in the family of a railway employee. In 1873 he entered the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, where V.D. Polenov and A.K. Savrasov had the greatest influence on him; graduated from college in 1885. Lived mainly in Moscow. He also worked in Ostankino (1880-1883), in various places in the Moscow and Tver provinces, in the Crimea (1886, 1899), on the Volga (1887-1890).

He was a member of the Association of Wanderers. "Mood Landscapes" by Levitan contain a special psychological richness reflecting all facets human soul. Having adopted the innovations of impressionism, he, nevertheless, never gave himself up to a pure, joyful play of light and color, staying in the circle of his lyrical images. Already the early works of the artist are surprisingly lyrical (Autumn Day. Sokolniki, 1879, Mostik. Savvinskaya Sloboda, 1883). The mature period of Levitan as a master of landscape, able to turn a simple motif into an archetypal image of Russia, opens with a bright painting Birch Grove (1885–1889). The same poetics of subtle figurative generalization inspires the works of the “Volga period” (Evening on the Volga, 1888; Evening. Golden Ples, 1889; After the rain. Ples, 1889; Fresh wind. Volga, 1891-1895).

Levitan creates masterpieces of the “church landscape”, where temple buildings bring peace to nature (Evening bells, 1892, ibid.) or, on the contrary, a mournful sense of the frailty of everything earthly (Over Eternal Peace, 1893–1894, At the Pool, 1892, or in the famous Vladimirka, 1892, where only a tiny figure of a wanderer is visible near the roadside icon on the road along which the prisoners were escorted to Siberia.Later, the artist's colors acquire an increasingly major sound (March, 1895; Golden Autumn, 1895; Spring - high water, 1897); on the other hand, he is increasingly fascinated by the motifs of evening, twilight, summer night... The last, unfinished picture of Levitan (Lake. Rus, 1900, Russian Museum) is - despite a fatal illness - perhaps his most joyful work.

Isaac Ilyich Levitan- one of the outstanding Russian landscape painters, who discovered the simple beauty of Russian nature for art lovers at the end of the 19th century. For twenty years of his creative way the artist left a huge artistic heritage. One of his contemporaries called Isaac Levitan "a lucky loser." The great artist really didn't have much luck in his personal life...

There are various versions about the origin of Levitan. According to the official, he was born in a family of Lithuanian Jews Elyash and Basya Levitan, and the date of birth is August 18, 1860. The boy was the second child of four children in the family.

poor relative." This version explains that all his life Levitan "... he never said anything about his relatives and childhood. It turned out as if he had neither a father nor a mother at all. Sometimes it even seemed that he wanted to forget about their existence ... ".

https://static.kulturologia.ru/files/u21941/219414441.jpg" alt="(!LANG: Isaac Levitan. (1879). Author: Abel (Adolf) Ilyich Levitan." title="Isaac Levitan. (1879).

And Isaac at that time was working hard on landscapes, not being able to show anyone his work. Since there was nothing even to go to the railway station: from the shoes there was only one sole, which he tied to his feet with ropes. The jacket and trousers were worn to holes.

At the school, Levitan was one of the most talented students. His teachers Savrasov and Polenov predicted a great future for him as a landscape painter. But for many reasons, including national factor, Levitan was released from the school in 1884 with the title of "non-class artist", which gave the right to teach only calligraphy.

"Talented Jewish boy, - wrote K. Paustovsky, - annoyed other teachers. The Jew, in their opinion, should not have touched the Russian landscape. It was the work of native Russian artists."

https://static.kulturologia.ru/files/u21941/219410408.jpg" alt="(!LANG: Portrait of I.I. Levitan. (1891). Author: Vasily Polenov" title="Portrait of I.I. Levitan. (1891).

After 30 years, Levitan became very painful: the beggarly student life from hand to mouth made itself felt. Many of the acquaintances claimed that the artist, being a student, sometimes lived on three kopecks a day. And having lost their homes and fleeing the cold in winter frosts, secretly spent the night at the school.

Twice in his life the artist had been ill with typhus. After the second time, he received an exacerbation of heart disease, which caused the death of the artist, who did not live to be forty years old.

In addition, Levitan suffered from melancholy, depression, and a suicidal state: he twice tried to commit suicide. And all because of unfulfilled love, dissatisfaction with oneself and personal disorder. Isaak Ilyich shot himself twice. But, fortunately, the attempts were unsuccessful. “My melancholy reached the point that I shot myself. I survived, but for a month now the doctor has been coming to me to wash the wound and put tampons ...” he wrote.

https://static.kulturologia.ru/files/u21941/219413411.jpg" alt="(!LANG: Portrait of I. I. Levitan. (1900s). Author: Valentin Serov." title="Portrait of I. I. Levitan. (1900s).

(This graphic portrait was painted by Valentin Serov a year after the death of the great landscape painter.)

"Пейзажи Левитана ближе к музыке, чем к живописи"!}

https://static.kulturologia.ru/files/u21941/219412317.jpg" alt="(!LANG: At the pool. (1892).

The master had a unique gift to "make the landscape speak" itself. For this, he did not need"ни люди, ни животные, ни даже птицы". Его преподаватель А.Саврасов говорил: !} "You must learn to paint in such a way that the lark on the canvas is not visible, but his singing is heard." What Levitan embodied in his "mood landscapes"

https://static.kulturologia.ru/files/u21941/219416329.jpg" alt="(!LANG: Birch Grove. (1885-1889).