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In the great history of Russian painting, it is difficult to find a more tragic figure than the most talented landscape painter Alexei Kondratievich Savrasov.
A deep and talented artist who created several hundred brilliant paintings that glorified the Russian landscape throughout the world, for the general modern public, for the most part, is known as the author of one painting – “The Rooks Have Arrived».
His entire earthly path is an interweaving of dramas in his personal life and great achievements in art. Savrasov created a special genre of domestic landscape: he depicted views familiar to the middle zone of the Russian Empire, breathing special poetry into them.
In addition to his personal contribution to Russian art, Savrasov, as a teacher at the Moscow School of Painting and Sculpture, raised a whole galaxy of talented Russian artists.
We present the top 10 most famous paintings by Alexei Kondratievich Savrasov with photographs and the names of the best works of the famous artist.
10 grave
The famous painting by Savrasov called “graveAt first glance, it brings sadness and longing to the viewer. Looking at her, tears can involuntarily well up in her eyes.
There is a very thin line between life and death here. The winter landscape around the grave personifies the dream of nature and the eternal sleep of the dead resting in the cemetery.
Silence reaches the viewer through the canvas. It seems that lonely trees are crying over the gravestone.
The dullness of the canvas is given mainly by the gray scale, and the fact that the sky has darkened with sadness. Everything seemed to freeze or fall asleep.
On the cross of the grave there is a barely visible funeral wreath with fresh flowers, which slightly dispels sadness and despondency, and speaks of death as a transition to eternity.
The snow surface “swallowed” the whole earth for a long sleep. The environment is crying.
9. Chickens in the backyard
Canvas “Chickens in the backyard” was founded in 1874. An everyday fragment of village life was displayed by the artist in this picture.
In a small area of the garden, not far from an old wooden house, hens graze under the supervision of a strict rooster with a mottled tail. From the road, this area is fenced with a crossbar of wide rods.
Chickens look for grains among large burdocks, fluffy dandelions, coltsfoot stems. Near this idyll, a wide bush is depicted.
A wide old wooden board is laid along the site, probably large puddles accumulate here during heavy rains. The grass here is sparse and low.
8. Rainbow
The painting titled “Rainbow“does not have the panorama effect and details inherent in sentimentalism.
The realistic style of creating a Russian landscape, the choice of a simple and rich compositional solution with a road washed out from the rain and a village visible on a hill create the feeling of a torn fragment of living nature that appeared for a moment in front of the viewer.
Virtuoso tonal transitions, a slightly muted color palette and the painter’s hypersensitivity in conveying the emotional state of nature turn the picture into a colorful story about the eternal relationship of the soul of our fatherland and the whole soul of a person who loves her.
7. Winter
A narrow, snow-covered road conditionally divided the canvas “Winter” into two asymmetrical parts. The forest is visible on the left side. A group of young birch trees near the edge of the road and twigs of bushes. On the right is a gloomy void, if you do not take into account two dry trunks and a young pine.
Snow is loose, so in the colors used by the painter, it does not have frosty freshness and purity. Therefore, it is easy to guess that we are facing a thaw.
The road that goes into the distance merges into one track and disappears before reaching the sky. Somewhere in the distance, a river still covered with ice.
6. Country road
On the painting “Country road” depicts a country road broken by a downpour, which has turned into an almost continuous puddle.
Probably, the rain has stopped quite recently – the gray sky is still covered with darkness, and the wind is still pulling the trees along the road.
The sun’s rays timidly break through the clouds, and a bright spot of fresh green grass can be seen to the left of the road.
The canvas instills in the viewer a feeling of longing and universal loneliness, periodically familiar to every artist, and to some extent reflects the difficult emotional state in which Savrasov was at the time of its creation.
Although small patches of light speak of hope still lingering in the heart of the master.
5. Caves Monastery near Nizhny Novgorod
“Caves Monastery near Nizhny Novgorod” – one of the earliest paintings by Savrasov from a series of paintings dedicated to the views of the Volga.
In size, this is one of the largest paintings by the master. The soft combination of colors instills serene calmness in the soul of the viewer, reflecting the mystery and majesty of the Volga landscapes.
The canvas depicts a monastery, which is located near the confluence of the Oka.
4. View in the vicinity of Oranienbaum
In the central part of the canvas, Savrasov depicted a clearing illuminated by rich sunlight. To the right of it is a group of trees and boulders, which are overgrown with moss and grass.
Behind two huge stones you can see an oak tree, the leaves of which shimmer with the sun’s rays. At the far end is a figure of a woman.
In the distance, under the sky blue hidden by clouds, a small piece of the sea is visible.
Canvas «View in the vicinity of Oranienbaumwas purchased by Tretyakov in 1858. It became the first painting by Savrasov, which was acquired by a well-known collector.
3. rural view
The picture contains a rare wealth of panoramic solutions. Here the artist worked with an extremely complex color scheme, the general structure of which is extremely emotional.
Every detail of the landscape is conveyed with incredible scrupulousness. The similarity in the writing of apple trees in bloom, hedges, a dilapidated hut, the figure of a beekeeper, bent over a smoking fire not far from bee hives, looks very organic here with a breathtaking sense of the immensity of open spaces, revealing rural view.
2. Moose Island in Sokolniki
This canvas depicts a pine forest, in front of which there is a field with a herd of cows grazing on it. The gray sky with many clouds, as well as the puddles depicted in the foreground, evoke melancholy on the viewer.
From the picture literally breathes the cold of rain. Despite this, the painting itselfMoose Island in Sokolniki” is very poetic and filled with realism – starting with the display of the forest and ending with an almost jewelry drawing of grass and shrub branches.
1. The Rooks Have Arrived
This painting is rightfully considered the most famous work of the famous master, and its very appearance by experts is perceived as a serious stage in the development of domestic landscape painting.
To this day, in the understanding of the layman, the name of Savrasov is associated precisely with the canvas “The Rooks Have Arrived“. And this is no accident, because this picture combines all the most characteristic features of the style of the great painter.
Here, in the foreground, the artist depicted birches located in the back of the church fence. A dry tree, near which a dry stump sticks out, also attracts the attention of spectators.
Rooks are circling near the birches, some of them have sat on the branches near the already built nests. There is still snow, but thawed patches are already clearly visible on it, indicating the imminent onset of spring.
The trees in the picture are depicted asymmetrically, which enhances the effect of the bustling movement of birds at their nests.