Description of the painting by Isaac Levitan “River Valley”

Description of the painting by Isaac Levitan River Valley

Isaac Levitan – the famous Russian landscape painter. Contemporaries rightly called the artist a master of “mood landscape”. Levitan lived a short, tormented life. He left behind a rich collection of Russian landscapes, which are also popular abroad.

The artist’s works are imbued with a reverent love for his native land, and also personify the true Russian beauty in all its glory. The painting “River Valley” refers to the most fruitful period in his work. It was at the end of the 19th century that he painted his most famous canvases, such as: “March”, “Golden Autumn”, “Nenuphars”. Subsequently, Pavel Tretyakov bought them for his gallery.

Most of all Levitan loved autumn, it is noticeable in his canvases. Levitan wrote more than 100 autumn landscapes and sketches. The river valley – a sketch written in pastel, accurately reproduces the mood of the autumn day. It is not for nothing that Isaac Levitan has captured the river on canvas, which is idly running into the distance, filled with heavy rains.

The river has always been a source of pride for the Russians. More than once the artists turned their eyes towards this mighty element, which was the source of life, and later profits. But the river that Levitan portrayed in his sketch carries peace and serenity. Only water in combination with the sky could express the fullness of the feelings overflowing, the artist’s soul.

The sky, with its extraordinary color and light fullness, bears in itself a secondary jumble of the storyline, creating an atmosphere of anticipation.

The artist reliably accurately conveyed the beauty of Russian wilderness. In the foreground we see a birch grove, painted with autumn flowers. What is striking in his work is the incredibly subtle vision of what is happening.


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Description of the painting by Isaac Levitan “River Valley”