Kuindzhi moon. “Moonlit Night on the Dnieper”: the mystical power and tragic fate of Arkhip Kuindzhi’s painting

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

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

Which? This is what we are about to find out...

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

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

Roerich also found Maxim’s servant alive, who received rubles (!) from those who tried to get to the painting out of turn. Artist's performance with personal exhibition, and even consisting of only one small painting, was an unusual event. Moreover, this picture did not interpret some unusual historical plot, but a landscape of a very modest size. But A.I. Kuindzhi knew how to win. The success exceeded all expectations and turned into a real sensation.

A.I. Kuindzhi was always very attentive to the display of his paintings, placing them so that they were well lit, so that they were not disturbed by neighboring paintings. This time “Moonlit Night on the Dnieper” hung on the wall alone. Knowing that the effect of moonlight would be fully manifested under artificial lighting, the artist ordered the windows in the hall to be draped and the painting illuminated with a beam of electric light focused on it. Visitors entered the dimly lit hall and, spellbound, stopped in front of the cold radiance moonlight. A wide space stretching into the distance opened up before the audience; The plain, crossed by a greenish ribbon of a quiet river, almost merges at the horizon with a dark sky covered with rows of light clouds. In the heights they parted slightly, and the moon looked through the resulting window, illuminating the Dnieper, the huts and the web of paths on the near bank.

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

A.I. Kuindzhi depicts the celestial sphere as majestic and eternal, striking viewers with the power of the Universe, its immensity and solemnity. Numerous attributes of the landscape - huts creeping along the slope, bushy trees, gnarled stems of tartar - are absorbed in darkness, their color is dissolved in a brown tone. The bright silver light of the moon is shaded by depth of blue color. With his phosphorescence, he transforms the traditional motif with the moon into one so rare, meaningful, attractive and mysterious that it transforms into poetically excited delight. There have even been suggestions about some unusual colors and even about strange ones artistic techniques, which the artist allegedly used. Rumors of a secret artistic method A.I. Kuindzhi, the secret of his colors was discussed even during the artist’s lifetime, some tried to catch him in tricks, even in connection with evil spirits Perhaps this happened because A.I. Kuindzhi focused his efforts on the illusory transfer of the real lighting effect, on the search for such a composition of the picture that would allow the most convincing expression of the feeling of broad spatiality.

Famous artist Arkhip Kuindzhi, 1907

And he coped with these tasks brilliantly. In addition, the artist defeated everyone in distinguishing the slightest changes in color and light relationships (for example, even during experiments with a special device that were carried out by D.I. Mendeleev and others). Some have claimed the use chemical compositions based on phosphorus. However, this is not entirely true. Decisive role The unusual color structure of the canvas plays a role in creating an impression. Applying in a painting additional colors, reinforcing each other, the artist achieves the incredible effect of the illusion of lunar color. True, it is known that experiments did take place. Kuindzhi intensively used bitumen paints, but did not use phosphorus. Unfortunately, due to the careless mixing of chemically incompatible paints, the canvas became very dark.

When creating this canvas, A.I. Kuindzhi used a complex picturesque technique. For example, he contrasted the warm reddish tone of the earth with cold silvery shades and thereby deepened the space, and small dark strokes in the illuminated areas created a feeling of vibrating light. All newspapers and magazines responded to the exhibition with enthusiastic articles, and reproductions of “Moonlit Night on the Dnieper” were sold in thousands of copies throughout Russia. The poet Ya. Polonsky, a friend of A.I. Kuindzhi, wrote then: “I positively don’t remember standing in front of any picture for so long... What is this? Picture or reality? In a gold frame or open window Have we seen this month, these clouds, this dark distance, these “trembling lights of sad villages” and these shimmers of light, this silvery reflection of the month in the streams of the Dnieper, skirting the distance, this poetic, quiet, majestic night? The poet K. Fofanov wrote the poem “Night on the Dnieper,” which was later set to music.

The audience was delighted by the illusion of natural moonlight, and people, according to I.E. Repin, standing in “prayerful silence” in front of the canvas by A.I. Kuindzhi, left the hall with tears in their eyes: “This is how the artist’s poetic charms acted on the chosen ones believers, and they lived in such moments best feelings souls and enjoyed the heavenly bliss of the art of painting.” The poet Ya. Polonsky was surprised: “I honestly don’t remember standing in front of any painting for so long... What is this? Picture or reality? And the poet K. Fofanov, impressed by this painting, wrote the poem “Night on the Dnieper,” which was later set to music.

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

Unfortunately, our contemporaries cannot fully appreciate the original effect of the painting, since it has survived to our times in a distorted form. And it's all to blame - special treatment to the canvas of its owner, Grand Duke Constantine.

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

I.S. Turgenev hoped that he would be able to persuade him to leave the painting at the exhibition in the Zedelmeyer Gallery, but he failed to persuade the prince. The humid, salt-saturated sea air, of course, negatively affected the composition of the colors, and the landscape began to darken. But the lunar ripples on the river and the radiance of the moon itself are conveyed by the genius A.I. Kuindzhi with such power that, looking at the picture even now, viewers immediately fall under the power of the eternal and Divine.

In fairness, it should be noted that due to the enormous popularity of the painting, Kuindzhi created two more copies of Moonlight Night; the first painting is kept in the State Tretyakov Gallery, another is located in the Livadia Palace in Yalta and the third in the State Russian Museum in St. Petersburg.

sources

"Moonlit Night on the Dnieper" by Arkhip Kuindzhi. The glory and tragedy of the picture

The name of Arkhip Ivanovich Kuindzhi became famous as soon as the public saw his paintings “After the Rain” and “ Birch Grove" But at the Eighth Exhibition of Peredvizhniki artists, the works of A.I. Kuindzhi were absent, and this was immediately noticed by the audience. P.M. Tretyakov wrote to I. Kramskoy from Moscow that even those few who previously did not have a very warm attitude towards the artist’s works are grieving over this.
In the summer and autumn of 1880, during the break with the Wanderers, A.I. Kuindzhi worked on a new painting. Rumors spread throughout the Russian capital about the enchanting beauty of “Moonlit Night on the Dnieper.” For two hours on Sundays, the artist opened the doors of his studio to those interested, and the St. Petersburg public began to besiege her long before the completion of the work.
This picture has gained truly legendary fame. I.S. Turgenev and Ya. Polonsky, I. Kramskoy and P. Chistyakov, D.I. Mendeleev came to the workshop of A.I. Kuindzhi, and the famous publisher and collector K.T. Soldatenkov had an eye on the painting. Directly from the workshop, even before the exhibition, “Moonlit Night on the Dnieper” was bought by Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich for huge money.
And then the painting was exhibited on Bolshaya Morskaya Street in St. Petersburg, in the hall of the Society for the Encouragement of Artists. The artist’s performance with a personal exhibition, and even consisting of only one small painting, was an unusual event. Moreover, this picture did not interpret some unusual historical plot, but was a landscape of a very modest size. But A.I. Kuindzhi knew how to win. The success exceeded all expectations and turned into a real sensation. Long queues formed on Bolshaya Morskaya Street, and people waited for hours to see this extraordinary work. To avoid crowding, the public was allowed into the hall in groups.
A.I. Kuindzhi was always very attentive to the display of his paintings, placing them so that they were well lit, so that they were not disturbed by neighboring paintings. This time “Moonlit Night on the Dnieper” hung on the wall alone. Knowing that the effect of moonlight would be fully manifested under artificial lighting, the artist ordered the windows in the hall to be draped and the painting illuminated with a beam of electric light focused on it. Visitors entered the dimly lit hall and, spellbound, stood before the cold glow of moonlight.
A wide space stretching into the distance opened up before the audience; The plain, crossed by a greenish ribbon of a quiet river, almost merges at the horizon with a dark sky covered with rows of light clouds. In the heights they parted slightly, and the moon looked through the resulting window, illuminating the Dnieper, the huts and the web of paths on the near bank. And everything in nature became silent, enchanted by the wonderful radiance of the sky and the Dnieper waters.
The sparkling silver-greenish disk of the moon flooded the earth immersed in the peace of night with its mysterious phosphorescent light. It was so strong that some of the spectators tried to look behind the picture to find a lantern or lamp. But there was no lamp, and the moon continued to emit its bewitching, mysterious light.
The waters of the Dnieper reflect this light like a smooth mirror; the walls of Ukrainian huts turn white from the velvety blue of the night. This majestic spectacle still immerses viewers in thoughts about eternity and the enduring beauty of the world. So, before A.I. Kuindzhi, only the great N.V. Gogol sang about nature. The number of sincere admirers of A.I. Kuindzhi’s talent grew; a rare person could remain indifferent to this picture, which seemed like witchcraft.
A.I. Kuindzhi depicts the celestial sphere as majestic and eternal, striking viewers with the power of the Universe, its immensity and solemnity. Numerous attributes of the landscape - huts creeping along the slope, bushy trees, gnarled stems of tartar - are absorbed in darkness, their color is dissolved in a brown tone.
The bright silvery light of the moon is shaded by the depth of blue. With his phosphorescence, he transforms the traditional motif with the moon into one so rare, meaningful, attractive and mysterious that it transforms into poetically excited delight. There were even suggestions about some unusual colors and even strange artistic techniques that the artist allegedly used. Rumors about the secret of A.I. Kuindzhi’s artistic method, about the secret of his colors, circulated during the artist’s lifetime; some tried to convict him of tricks, even in connection with evil spirits.
Perhaps this happened because A.I. Kuindzhi focused his efforts on the illusory transfer of the real lighting effect, on the search for such a composition of the picture that would allow the most convincing expression of the feeling of broad spatiality. And he coped with these tasks brilliantly. In addition, the artist defeated everyone in distinguishing the slightest changes in color and light relationships (for example, even during experiments with a special device that were carried out by D.I. Mendeleev and others).
When creating this canvas, A.I. Kuindzhi used a complex painting technique. For example, he contrasted the warm reddish tone of the earth with cold silvery shades and thereby deepened the space, and small dark strokes in the illuminated areas created a feeling of vibrating light.
All newspapers and magazines responded to the exhibition with enthusiastic articles, and reproductions of “Moonlit Night on the Dnieper” were sold in thousands of copies throughout Russia. The poet Ya. Polonsky, a friend of A.I. Kuindzhi, wrote then: “I positively don’t remember standing in front of any picture for so long... What is this? Picture or reality? In a golden frame or through an open window, did we see this month, these clouds, this dark distance, these “quivering lights of sad villages” and these shimmers of light, this silvery reflection of the month in the streams of the Dnieper, skirting the distance, this poetic, quiet, majestic night? » The poet K. Fofanov wrote the poem “Night on the Dnieper,” which was later set to music.
The audience was delighted by the illusion of natural moonlight, and people, according to I.E. Repin, standing in “prayerful silence” in front of the canvas by A.I. Kuindzhi, left the hall with tears in their eyes: “This is how the artist’s poetic charms acted on the chosen ones believers, and they lived in such moments with the best feelings of the soul and enjoyed the heavenly bliss of the art of painting.”
Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich, who bought the painting, did not want to part with the canvas, even when going on a trip around the world. I.S. Turgenev, who was in Paris at that time (in January 1881), was horrified by this thought, about which he indignantly wrote to the writer D.V. Grigorovich: “There is no doubt that the painting... will return completely ruined , thanks to the salty vapors of the air, etc.” He even visited the Grand Duke in Paris while his frigate was in the port of Cherbourg, and persuaded him to send the painting to Paris for a short time. I.S. Turgenev hoped that he would be able to persuade him to leave the painting at the exhibition in the Zedelmeyer Gallery, but he failed to persuade the prince.
The humid, salt-saturated sea air, of course, negatively affected the composition of the colors, and the landscape began to darken. But the lunar ripples on the river and the radiance of the moon itself are conveyed by the genius A.I. Kuindzhi with such power that, looking at the picture even now, viewers immediately fall under the power of the eternal and Divine.

When I first saw this picture, I stood rooted to the spot at the entrance to the hall of the Russian Museum. I couldn’t take my eyes off the small painting on the wall, as if it was glowing and therefore alluring. People crowded around her and heatedly discussed the effect.

It seems like nothing special. The plot is like a plot. Night, river, moon, lunar path. But that very effect of the internal light source simply drove me crazy. I couldn’t forget it for a long time, and a year ago, while in St. Petersburg, I spent a long time looking for it in the Russian Museum. And I found it in my native Moscow in the Tretyakov Gallery.

Reproduction or photographs will not give such an effect. You need to watch her live.

Yes, of course, we studied the work of this artist.

He lived in an era traveling exhibitions, even took part in one of the exhibitions, but from some point on he kept himself somewhat aloof. Having left the Partnership, but without spoiling relations with it, Kuindzhi organized in 1880 for the first time in Russia an exhibition of one artist, and, moreover, not yet a cycle of works, but only one painting. It was a bold, perhaps even daring, innovation. The much acclaimed “Moonlit Night on the Dnieper” was exhibited. Rumors circulated around the city even before the exhibition. At first, the painting could be seen in Kuindzhi’s studio, where he allowed the public on Sundays for two hours. Then the painting was exhibited at the Society for the Encouragement of the Arts, and all of enlightened St. Petersburg besieged its premises for days on end. It is difficult to imagine a greater triumph for the artist. Not only critics wrote about this picture, but also the scientist D.I. Mendeleev, poet Ya.P. Polonsky. “What a storm of delight Kuindzhi raised! Kramskoy. The canvas was purchased directly from the workshop by Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich.

His student was Nicholas Roerich. Not surprising, right? The same style of local fills with color, the same internal mysticism of a seemingly simple plot.

In Markhi we studied another painting of his as one that most accurately conveys his style. This is "Birch Grove". And to this day, when I find myself among the birches on a bright sunny day, I see that picture in front of me. Tree trunks, a sunlit green lawn, a thin stream. Nothing special. But that’s where the magic lies when ordinary things Unusual phenomena begin to appear.

Let's go back ten years before the appearance of the painting with the mystical moon.

Kuindzhi was born in Mariupol into the family of a poor Greek shoemaker. Twice in the early 1860s he tried to enter the Petersburg Academy Arts, and he was not accepted Only in 1868 he became a free listener

The influence of the great Aivazovsky marked Kuindzhi’s first works, many of which have not survived. Studying at the Academy of Arts, meeting I.N. Kramskoy and I.E. Repin laid the foundation for realistic perception. But in 1876 he dramatically changed his style, presenting the painting “ Ukrainian night", in which he managed to convey the sensory perception of a southern summer night.

Numerous accusations of simplifying the canvas, clumsy colors - that’s what he faced. Like any creative person, following her own path.but the listener. The influence of the great Aivazovsky marked Kuindzhi’s first works, many of which have not survived. Studying at the Academy of Arts, meeting I.N. Kramskoy and I.E. Repin laid the foundation for realistic perception. But in 1876, he dramatically changed his style, presenting the painting “Ukrainian Night,” in which he managed to convey the sensory perception of a southern summer night.

In area life tasks Kuindzhi left important bequests to Russian artists. As an example throughout his life, Kuindzhi called for protecting himself from all captivity, called to serve, as he himself served all his life, free arts, called to defend freedom of creativity.

"Moonlit Night on the Dnieper"(1880) - one of the most famous paintings Arkhip Kuindzhi. This work created a real sensation and acquired mystical fame. Many did not believe that the light of the moon could be conveyed in this way only through artistic means, and they looked behind the canvas, looking for a lamp there. Many stood silently for hours in front of the painting, and then left in tears. Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich bought “Moonlit Night” for his personal collection and took it with him everywhere, which had tragic consequences.

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