But we are not so much interested in Aivazovsky as such, we are interested in his paintings. Aivazovsky's fame abroad is associated with the painting "Chaos. The Creation of the World"
Another painting on the theme of the creation of the world called "Chaos" was bought by Pope Gregory XVI, who also awarded Aivazovsky a gold medal. Here she is…

Well, in principle, a picture is like a picture - the sea, the sky, the sun, the beauty! Written in 1841. However, Aivazovsky painted a picture with the simple name "The Flood", it is believed that from 1861 to 1883 the artist painted several paintings on the theme of the flood, with and without an ark, and many sketches on this topic.

In general, the story of the artist himself is very interesting and there are many unusual things in it, for example, having bought land in Feodosia and started building a house, Aivazovsky suddenly took up archeology and not just like that, but with “permission”, but the story began very simply ...
"At the beginning of 1853, during earthworks, Roman and Greek antique objects were found in Feodosia. Julia, the happy wife of the artist, was ignited with a desire to search for antiquities, involving her husband in this. The minister of appanages and the manager of His Majesty's affairs, Count Lev Perovsky, married couple permission for archaeological excavations.In July, Aivazovsky informed the count: “We just found it underground in the ashes(!!!???) a golden female head of the finest workmanship and several gold ornaments, as seen from women's attire, as well as pieces of a beautiful Etruscan vase.” Husband and wife were busy at work. Julia sifted the soil chosen from the burials, monitored the safety of the finds, compiled their catalog and packed everything herself for shipment to St. Petersburg. Together they unearthed 80 burial mounds." from here -
Let's leave Aivazovsky for now, this is a separate issue. Digging through the images of the flood, I saw a strange, terrible and very living picture events that are interpreted by art critics in two ways - if the artist depicted people naked and against the background of ancient landscapes or generally bare waters, then this is a "flood" and if in the clothes of the 19th century, then this is a flood!
Here is the flood...

And this is how the "floods" are depicted

Heartbreaking pictures, aren't they? Images of the flood and various "floods" are a huge pile at the very different artists in various countries.
Usually, the ark is associated with the flood as an object of salvation. The Ark is such a big ship, but it has its own features that make it different from other ships. The ark is usually depicted like this... such a tradition!

Moreover, the older the image is dated, the worse the ark is depicted. The most ancient ones are the most bad and not believable, no, well, but that people used to be bad, they already had saws, but there was no mind, so they drew what the hell.

The most interesting thing is why the ark does not have sails, well, at least a small one, at least a little bit to steer? No, there is always no sail, but instead of superstructures above the deck, there is a kind of house with windows and chimneys!
Among all the floods I came across amazing drawings about the famous flood of 1824 in Kronstadt. The image is called "Consequences of the flood in the Kronstadt military harbor"

This is how eyewitnesses describe what is happening ...
November 11, 1824 in small house on one of the Kronstadt streets, an officer of the 3rd naval crew, a popular novelist of his time, V. Miroshevsky, was sitting and wrote:
“Dear, venerable parents! It happened to me on the 7th: on this day I was sitting in my low-lying hut and writing a letter to you, at ten o'clock in the morning my master, an old man of about 60, came into my room and said that in the streets that stand on a low place, water has spilled, and many are standing in their houses almost knee-deep flooded, adding to this that he is very pleased with his place, which is somewhat higher, and therefore he is not afraid of water.
... meanwhile, the water began to enter our yard ... soon a small stream appeared under my feet, I moved the table to another place and continued to write. Meanwhile, the water overflowed more and more, began to raise the floor, I, according to the assurance of the hosts, did not suspect any danger, ordered a pot of cabbage soup to be taken out of the oven and, having eaten a little, I wanted to go to the office of my crew to finish the letter, but the hosts persuaded me not to go anywhere. walk... But since the water in the room was already above my knees, I wanted to leave. He began to open the door, but it was squeezed by water by force. While the old man and I used all our efforts to open it, we were already waist-deep in water. Finally the door gave way to our efforts, I ran out into the street and saw a terrible scene. The water in some houses reached the roofs .., people were sitting in the attics, screaming and asking for help ...
Meanwhile, I stood in the water almost up to my throat. It was almost impossible to get out into the middle of the street, because the water would completely cover me.
Fortunately for me, the wind broke the fence near my hut. I climbed on it, knelt down, reached the roof with my hand, climbed on it and sat on horseback.
... Waves broke the rampart that surrounded Kronstadt, water rushed through the streets with terrible force, many houses, fences, roofs were completely blown away. In the attics, the screaming and crying of women was heard ... ". There are many more here -

Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky "The Flood", 1864

Russian Museum, St. Petersburg

Romanticism

In 1862, Aivazovsky wrote two versions of the painting "The Flood", and then repeatedly returned to this biblical story throughout his life. One of the best options paintings The Deluge was painted by him in 1864.

It is the sea that usually appears in him as the universal basis of nature and history, especially in plots with the creation of the world and the flood; however, images of religious, biblical or evangelical iconography, as well as ancient mythology, cannot be counted among his greatest successes.

The foamy sea again appears in the picture of the great marine painter. This art canvas clearly shows wild life sea ​​element, rather than a tale from the bible. The emphasis is on the sea, its beauty and rigidity, the contours of the artist's brush show the advantage sea ​​waves above all.

The catastrophic wave crest spares no one. Clear laws have been established by which the sea element lives. They are relentless and cruel. The nautical luxury overshadows the overall look of the art, as the power is released with the speed of thought. It was very important for the creator to show how strong nature can be before man. It is impossible to defeat her, and if you fall into the depths of the sea, you can’t go back.

People who die in the sea abyss show the role of this cataclysm. The powerful element attracts attention to itself so strongly as if by hypnosis. An alluring sad set of colors predicts the death of people and the inability to escape. The contrast of the artistic picture complements the horror and despair of a man who was left alone with the sea.

Along with water, sins and gloom go away, this is not death, the artist showed. The presented element is a glimmer of hope and faith, through darkness and sadness. For people, the only chance to purify and receive mercy from the Creator. The end result of the picture suggests a way out of the abyss into another world - the realm of goodness and light.

Ivan Aivazovsky's painting "The Flood" was written in 1864 on biblical story, to which the artist turned repeatedly during his life. This picture is one of the best options created by Aivazovsky. The emphasis is on the sea element, wild beauty and the superiority of the sea over all.
A huge crest of a wave will inexorably and cruelly capture people and send them into the depths of the sea ... The inevitable death of people and the inability to escape is predicted by a sad palette of colors. With art picture contrast the horror and despair of man alone with the elements. The power of nature is primarily shown by the artist. At the same time, he emphasizes that sins and darkness go away with water. This is not death, for him the element presented is a glimmer of hope and faith, the only chance for people to cleanse themselves and receive mercy from the Creator. AT end result the artist assumes a way out of the abyss into another world full of goodness and light.
The original of this painting is stored in the storerooms of the Russian Museum in St. Petersburg: due to the impressive size (246.5 - 319.5 meters) and the small area of ​​​​the museum halls intended for the exhibition of Aivazovsky's works, art lovers cannot see the original ...

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Painting by Ivan Aivazovsky The Flood: description, biography of the artist, customer reviews, other works of the author. A large catalog of paintings by Ivan Aivazovsky on the website of the online store BigArtShop.

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Ivan Kostantinovich Aivazovsky - the most outstanding artist - Armenian of the XIX century Hovhannes Ayvazyan.
Aivazovsky's ancestors were Galician Armenians who moved to Galicia from Turkish Armenia in the 18th century. A family tradition has also been preserved that among his ancestors were Turks: the artist’s father told him that the artist’s great-grandfather on the female line was the son of a Turkish military leader and, as a child, during the capture of Azov by Russian troops in 1696, he was saved from death by a certain Armenian who he was baptized and adopted.

Ivan Aivazovsky discovered artistic and musical abilities from childhood. He taught himself to play the violin. On the artistic ability The boy was first noticed by the Feodosia architect Yakov Koch. He gave him paper, pencils, paints, taught him the skill, helped him enter the Feodosia county school. Then Aivazovsky graduated from the Simferopol gymnasium and was admitted at public expense to the Imperial Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg. Was assigned to the fashionable French landscape painter Philip Tanner. But Tanner forbade Aivazovsky to work independently. Despite this, on the advice of Professor Alexander Ivanovich Sauerweid, he managed to prepare several paintings for the exhibition of the Academy of Arts. Tanner complained about Aivazovsky's arbitrariness to Emperor Nicholas I, by order of the tsar, all the paintings were removed from the exhibition, despite rave reviews from critics.

The conflict was neutralized thanks to Sauerweid, in whose class six months later an aspiring young artist was assigned to practice maritime military painting. In 1837, Aivazovsky received a Grand Gold Medal for the painting “Calm”. This gave him the right to a two-year trip to the Crimea and Europe. There, in addition to creating seascapes, he was engaged in battle painting and even participated in hostilities on the coast of Circassia. As a result, he painted the painting "Landing of the detachment in the length of Subashi", which was acquired by Nicholas I. At the end of the summer of 1839, he returned to St. Petersburg, received a certificate of graduation from the Academy, his first rank and personal nobility.

In 1840 he went to Rome. For his paintings of the Italian period received gold medal Paris Academy of Arts. In 1842 he went to Holland, from there - to England, France, Portugal, Spain. During the trip, the ship on which the artist was sailing got into a storm and almost sank in the Bay of Biscay. The Parisian newspapers even reported on his death. After a four-year journey in the fall of 1844, Aivazovsky returned to Russia and became a painter of the Main Naval Staff, and since 1947 a professor at the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts, he was also a member of the European academies of Rome, Paris, Florence, Amsterdam and Studgard.
Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky wrote mainly seascapes. His career has been very successful. He was awarded many orders and received the rank of Rear Admiral. In total, the artist wrote more than 6 thousand works.

From 1845 he lived in Feodosia, where he opened an art school with the money he earned, which later became one of the art centers of Novorossia, was the initiator of the construction of the Feodosia - Dzhankoy railway, built in 1892. He was actively involved in the affairs of the city, its improvement.
He built a new building for the Feodosia Museum of Antiquities at his own expense, and was elected a full member of the Odessa Society of History and Antiquities for services to archeology.

In 1848 Ivan Konstantinovich got married. His wife was Yulia Yakovlevna Grevs, an Englishwoman, the daughter of a staff doctor who was in the Russian service. They had four daughters. But due to Aivazovsky's unwillingness to live in the capital, Yulia Yakovlevna left her husband after 12 years. However, the marriage was annulled only in 1877. In 1882, Aivazovsky met Anna Nikitichna Sarkisova. Aivazovsky saw Anna Nikitichna at the funeral of her husband, a famous Feodosia merchant. The beauty of the young widow struck Ivan Konstantinovich. A year later they got married.

The texture of the canvas, high-quality paints and large-format printing allow our reproductions of Ivan Aivazovsky to be as good as the original. The canvas will be stretched on a special stretcher, after which the picture can be framed in a baguette of your choice.

Aivazovsky Ivan Konstantinovich is known as the author of numerous paintings on maritime theme. Anyone who is at least a little familiar with the work of Hovhannes knows that the author painted more than one picture on biblical, historical subjects. In 1862, another work by Aivazovsky, The Flood, was born. It is known that the artist repeatedly returned to the plot, trying to create other options, to improve the existing ones. The variant created in 1864 was recognized as the best.

Aivazovsky's "Global Flood" - distinctive characteristics

If you have read the Bible, heard the stories described in it, you know that the flood was sent by God because of the unbelief of the people living on earth, the violation of the commandments, the killing of animals, and the commission of other atrocities.

The artist loved to create biblical themes, but the resulting work is difficult to rank among the most successful, because his element was the sea. Repeatedly he painted Mount Ararat, mentioned in the Holy Gospel, the descent of the righteous Noah from a high volcanic massif. The paintings were exhibited for the first time in Paris. After a while, Aivazovsky's painting The Flood was presented by the author himself as a gift to the Novo-Nakhichevan school. But it so happened that when Civil War, educational institution was turned into a barracks, alternately occupied by representatives of formations warring with each other. The door was closed with a canvas, but once there was a board instead of it, and no one knew where Aivazovsky's Flood was without the ark. The theft was committed by a student of the school, in 1921 he managed to put together several works of art created by the hands of Aivazovsky.

If we consider Aivazovsky’s painting “The Flood, the Ark” itself, then it’s hard not to agree that it shows more how wild the sea element can be than describes the biblical legend. As in other canvases of the marine painter, here the main emphasis is on the beauty and rigidity of the deep sea. Successfully made contours with maximum accuracy demonstrate the dominance of waves over the environment.

Aivazovsky's painting "The Flood. Ark, we see that the crest of the wave covers absolutely everyone. This proves that man is powerless against nature, it is impossible to overcome the depths of the sea. People try to climb a hill, but they also sink under water and die, which once again emphasizes the horror of the cataclysm.

There are descriptions of the Flood by Aivazovsky, where a work of art is viewed from a slightly different angle. The presented element is not death, it is perceived as a ray of faith, reliable, a chance to be cleansed, having received mercy from the Creator.

On this description of the painting by Aivazovsky, the Flood, I would like to finish and move on to interesting facts from the life of an artist.

The Flood - Aivazovsky and everything connected with him

In the life of a painter interesting case. In Venice, a man approached him and offered to paint a picture in exchange for a sausage. Then it turned out that it was the owner of the sausage factory. The artist was a little surprised, but agreed to barter.

Aivazovsky's painting The Flood, where the ark was not depicted, was born in 1884. Then the painter got into a storm while in the Bay of Biscay. One of the local newspapers published a note about the death famous artist. It's no secret that after the death of the author, the works are valued more, so the seller of Aivazovsky's paintings, until the truth became known, managed to sell the canvases at an inflated price.

Ivan Konstantinovich, thanks to the celebrity, was rich. He spent his cash reserves not only on himself, but also helped to develop the city where he lived. With the funds allocated by him, an educational institution was built in Feodosia, an institution where they gathered, studied, exhibited, kept memos natural history, material/spiritual culture. Under the auspices of Hovhannes, a gallery appeared in the seaside town, Railway, water supply (partially financed by him).

From this we can conclude that Aivazovsky was not only a talented, but also a generous person.

Story famous painting Ivan Aivazovsky on biblical theme"Global flood".

The Flood is one of the most famous paintings the great Russian artist Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky. The picture was painted in 1864. Canvas, oil. Dimensions: 246.5 x 369 cm. Currently located in the State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg.

The Flood is a picture of a religious direction. Here Aivazovsky depicted a biblical scene that tells how the whole world was swallowed up by the waters. As a result of this catastrophe, everyone died, except for Noah, who was able to save a variety of animals with the help of the ark he built. However, in his painting, Ivan Konstantinovich did not depict Noah and his ark at all, as other artists do, placing in the center of the pictorial narrative key figure biblical history. The marine painter was more attracted by the tragedy of ordinary people who are trying to escape from the advancing sea.

Aivazovsky is primarily known precisely as an unsurpassed marine painter. The sea in his paintings is often main theme works. The artist was completely absorbed by the irresistible power of the water element, its beauty, mysteries, infinity and even cruelty. Of course, Aivazovsky simply could not get past such a plot, where the sea destroys almost all life on earth.

The painting depicts people who are fleeing from the advancing elements and raging waves at the very top of the rocks. Not only people, but also animals are trying to escape, but the merciless elements easily wash them into the depths of the sea. The artist emphasized this tragedy in gloomy tones on the right side of the picture. However, in the left upper corner we can see a bright light that indicates that the flood is designed to free the earth from sins. The bright light in the picture is a symbol of what the very history of the Flood implies - the renewal of the world, the advent of the kingdom of good and light.