Portrait of Maxim Gorky. Valentin Serov

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Each work of Valentin Serov has its own unique "character". He worked in most cases in the neoclassical genre and used only oil for his paintings. Because of this, his images on the canvas did not have clear lines, but there were plenty of different color shades and transitions. Gorky's portrait of Maxim was no exception either, but in it the artist preferred to use a small variety of colors, he used mostly dark tones.

Later in the article we will consider in more detail what techniques the painter turned to in order to fully convey the image of the writer.

Creative Revolutionary

Peshkov Alexei Maksimovich (real name Gorky) was born on March 28, 1868 in the city of Nizhny Novgorod in a military family. The mother was from a bourgeois family, she was widowed early, since her father Maxim Savvateevich died of cholera. This loss impressed little Alyosha very much, because they were the closest people and spent a lot of time together. Therefore, after a while, already in adolescence, Alexei Peshkov tookhis pseudonym - Maxim Gorky - in honor of his father.

After some time, mother also passed away due to a long illness.

At 11 years old, the young writer was left all alone, working as a dishwasher, baker and so on.

By the end of the 80s of the 19th century, Peshkov Alexei Maksimovich entered Kazan University, where he first became acquainted with Marxist literature, where he began to write propaganda materials.

In 1892 he publishes his first work "Makar Chudra" and, returning to his native Nizhny Novgorod, begins to cooperate with local publications, where he promotes his creations. Since 1917, he has been active in political and revolutionary activities, defending the old intelligentsia, condemning the methods of the Bolsheviks.

Soon, Gorky becomes seriously ill, on Lenin's orders he is sent abroad for treatment. After 10 years, namely by 1932, he returned to the USSR, after which he continued to publish. His works are devoted to revolutionary actions and the First World War.

Before his death, Maxim Gorky's last novel "The Life of Klim Samgin" is published. After some time, he dies.

Great Master of Portraits

Valentin Alexandrovich Serov, Russian painter, was born on January 19, 1865 in St. Petersburg. His family was creative, his father and mother were composers. It was they who were able to instill in a little boy a love of art.

He had to say goodbye to the head of the familyearly, the father died when the boy was only 5 years old. Soon, he and his mother moved to Munich, where, as a young man, Valentin Aleksandrovich received the entire knowledge base that he needed as an artist.

In 1879, Valentin and his mother returned to Moscow, where the great painter began to work actively. Later, traveling to different cities and countries, he admitted that his main passion is to draw from nature.

Before the portrait of Maxim Gorky was painted, a lot of time passed, and Valentin Sergeevich had a considerable portfolio. He could draw everything he sees, and his natures were quite different, both noble people and ordinary passers-by. For him, the main thing was to feel the soul and energy of the person he paints, and then the picture received unusual contrasting colors.

Dynamic accents

The unsurpassed Russian neoclassicist Valentin Serov is an artist with a capital letter, because his works are built on the character of the person who sits in front of him. Portraits during the period of revolutionary activity differ significantly from those works that he painted at the end of the 19th century.

Writer Maxim Gorky appeared in front of him in a very strict form and in dark clothes, which could not stop looking at him. The whole portrait is permeated with the spirit of the revolution, and the spirit of rebellion and coup d'état directly wafts from it. In order to convey this unusual image, Serov turns to new techniques and builds an atypical composition. He refuses unnecessary interior details and puts a light background.

Strict look

The writer himself was also presented without any extra details in clothes: a simple dark shirt and trousers tucked into boots. It seems that Gorky is having a dialogue with someone who is outside the canvas, this is evidenced by a distant and stern look. The raised right hand shows the gesture of a man who fights for his rights and defends them vehemently.

The colors are chosen harmoniously, the light background and the dark silhouette of the writer "play" with each other, creating a kind of symphony of colors and revolutionary energy.

Portrait of Gorky Maxim opened the painter in an unusual role, created a new page in his creative biography.

Unusual painting technique

Looking at this image of the writer, you can see not only that he is trying to show his innocence, but you can also see a number of some humanistic and philosophical reflections.

Valentin Serov is an artist who was able to convey these difficult moments through the prism of painting, using ordinary panels and paints. The portrait is very simple, and the creator mostly used quick strokes, without resorting to excessive shades in the color "sections".

The silhouette of the writer is depicted quite large, and it gives the impression of an "immense" figure for the canvas, and it seems that he is about to go beyond the picture.

An unforgettable story

The portrait of Gorky Maxim is a kind of experiment where the author tried to convey emotions, the spirit of the era and the position of his nature.

These constrained movements of the writer, whichthey want to go beyond the borders of the image, show his assertive personality, and the piercing look is a mirror of all the actions that he carried out in favor of his country, saving the old intelligentsia from the repression of the Bolsheviks.

This portrait in Russian painting shows the revolutionary era that should not be forgotten, because the past is the key to a beautiful future.

The mysterious image of the unsurpassed Russian artist is stored in the Maxim Gorky Museum-Apartment in Moscow, where everything is permeated with the spirit of that time, as objects of his life are still preserved there.