"Golden Autumn", Levitan. Painting from the collection of the Tretyakov Gallery

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

Remember the words of Tyutchev: “There is in the original autumn …” What is there in it that many, many creative personalities sang it in their works?

Golden autumn! Every year it is new, unknown, but always infinitely beautiful with its unique riot of colors, the touching transparent sadness of heaven, the subtle play of sun glare on the gold of foliage. How to reflect on the canvas the freshness of the autumn morning, the warm colors of yellow and crimson crowns, all the beauty of Russian nature? Autumn, the time of Indian summer, was admired by many writers, musicians and, of course, artists.

The story of one masterpiece

Here we have Golden Autumn, Levitan. The painting was painted by the artist in the Tver province, not far from the Gorki estate, in 1895. The canvas depicts the nature of the Central Russian strip, painfully native and familiar to every Russian landscape. The artist endowed all its simplicity with a light lyrical mood. That is why subsequently Levitan's painting "Golden Autumn" along with his otherlandscapes introduced such a concept as “mood landscape” into Russian painting.

The variability and transience of the state of nature resonates in the soul of the artist. He transfers the variety of colors and forms of the surrounding world with great sensitivity to the canvas and, like a great sorcerer, conveys to the viewer that cherished and secret that is hidden in every corner of nature. Looking at the landscape, you understand the depth of the artist's love for autumn colors, you realize how inseparable the connection is: golden autumn-Levitan. The picture impresses with the simplicity of the motive and execution, and at the same time with impeccable taste and high craftsmanship. How much new is shown in the landscape seen by everyone, what escaped attention.

About the landscape "Golden Autumn", Levitan

The picture takes us to an autumn birch grove growing along a narrow winding stream. She has not yet lost her yellow lace outfit, only the two aspens in the foreground have almost shed their foliage. Dark as in a whirlpool, the water reflects coastal grasses and wildflowers. A reddish-pink bush against the dark background of the river seems like an elegant wreath, ready to float away into the distance. As you move towards the horizon, the water in the river brightens, the contrast of its calm bluish-blue surface with the gold of the birches evokes a festive mood, the joy of contemplating the landscape.

The sun is not visible, but its bright rays illuminate nature - eternally beautiful, eternally alive. The shadows from the trees are dark brown, short, the day is in full swing, and every viewer understands: a warm, dry and sunny day capturedLevitan. Golden autumn is rich in such days when multi-colored colors caress the eye, and the quiet radiance of the day makes you forget that this beauty is fleeting, because soon the cold robbers will appropriate all the gold from the trees. But as long as the air in the picture is fresh and transparent, you can easily see on the horizon both clouds easily floating across the sky, and the outlines of a distant forest, buildings and winter fields with green seedlings.

Levitan managed to convey a feeling of airy lightness, spaciousness, amazing joy from communicating with nature, and all this with just the colors of the landscape. Possessing a keen flair and genuine love for Russian nature, the artist created his own style - the style of the Russian landscape, which is justly called Levitan's.

The fate of the painting

In 1896, at the exhibition of the Wanderers in the northern capital - St. Petersburg - and in other Russian cities, the landscape "Golden Autumn", Levitan, was successfully exhibited. The painting was then bought by P. Tretyakov, and now it is exhibited at the Tretyakov Gallery.