Alexei Savrasov academician and itinerant: biography, creativity, the best paintings of the Russian artist

Alexei Savrasov (born May 24, 1830 died October 8, 1897) is the greatest Russian Itinerant artist, consummate master of painting and creator of the genre of lyrical landscape. Savrasov’s creativity, inexpressibly light and sad in places, reflects boundless love for his native land, touching and even intimate perception of nature. His paintings, filled with light and amazing transparency, convey the intangible movement of air. A virtuoso work with color reveals to the world the style of a magnificent master-realist.

Alexei Savrasov is a man of a difficult fate. He came out of the bottom, bathed in the glory and sank to the very bottom. He was lifted up to heaven and criticized mercilessly. And he continued to educate students who later became famous artists, and wrote his immortal works.

Biography

Alexey Savrasov was born on May 24, 1830 in Moscow. From a young age, he felt a craving for the fine arts, drew on any piece of paper that fell into his hands. But he did not find approval in the family circle. His father, a small merchant, saw the future of his son in a “sensible profession” in the trade part, there could be no talk of arts. But the desire to study painting prevailed. To pay for the beginning of his studies, young Alexei sells his first children’s works to traders in the market and enters a painting school.

The first success comes in 1851. Savrasov’s paintings reflect the state of nature, the trees “make noise” on them, the clouds “move”. A period of fame and recognition begins. He is called the hope of Russian painting, and his paintings are exhibited at large-scale exhibitions.

In 1854, Savrasov was honored to be invited to the country estate of the Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna to improve in the art of writing from life. Here, on the shores of the Gulf of Finland, he paints his famous seaside landscapes, combining in them both the triumph and simplicity of nature. Four years later, it is this simplicity and unpretentious grandeur that will attract the attention of the famous Moscow collector Pavel Tretyakov. He will acquire the work of an artist.

In the fall of 1854, at the age of 24, Alexei Savrasov received an honorary title and became the youngest academician in the history of the Academy of Arts.

And four years later he began teaching at the school, which he recently graduated from. Over the next 24 years, he educated a galaxy of outstanding artists, including Lev Kamenev, Sergei Svetoslavsky, Isaac Levitan, Konstantin Korovin, Mikhail Nesterov.

In 1862, Alexei traveled to Europe and stayed in Switzerland to capture for posterity the greatness of the Alps with eternal non-melting snows, gorges, steeps and lakes. It is in these Swiss works that he takes a broad step towards realism and naturalness, the rejection of conventions and “beauty” in art. Fascinated by the monumentality of mountain views, Aleksey Savrasov abandoned Russian motives for a long time. But he was immediately criticized for his “passion for foreignism.” The artist was expected to depict his native spaces.

Savrasov returned to his roots in 1867. But he sees and writes the Central Russian landscape in a new way. There is no idealization in his paintings, he refuses to “varnish and comb” reality. Broken roads, potholed and muddy, reflect the harsh reality of Russia. But even in this routine and unattractiveness, the artist knows how to find amazing Russian beauty.

In 1871 Aleksey Savrasov became one of the founders of the Association of the Itinerants.

He paints his best picture, recognized as the standard of Russian painting “The Rooks Have Arrived.” Works a lot, exhibits at traveling and academic exhibitions. The beginning of the decade, marked by the peak of the great master’s fame, ironically turns into the beginning of a deep inner conflict associated with a lack of money.

Creating world-class masterpieces, the artist lives in poverty, not even having his own apartment. By the late 1870s, the crisis intensified. In 1876, after a series of family conflicts, his wife left, with whom Alexei had lived for almost 20 years, and health problems arose. The final chord was 1882, which brought dismissal from the school and eviction from the state apartment.

Alexey Savrasov spent the last years of his life in poverty and obscurity. I drew small pictures. And, just like in childhood, he gave them for a pittance to traders in the market to buy food. The great master died on October 8, 1897.