Painting “Swiss Landscape” by Ivan Shishkin – the serenity and harmony of picturesque landscapes in the vicinity of a European city of the XIX century
Swiss Landscape is a famous painting by Ivan Ivanovich Shishkin, created by the master in 1866. The author depicted nature on the outskirts of a European city. Two women have stopped not far from a stone boulder and are talking about something. Nearby stands a boy in a wide-brimmed hat, waiting impatiently for the grown-ups to finish talking.
A winding country road disappears behind a wooden house. In the foreground, neatly folded brushwood is visible. The background of the composition is created by majestic mountains shrouded in a gray haze. The picture breathes calmness, captivating the viewer with the freshness of lush foliage. The artist combined various shades of blue, green and brown to convey the harmony of the rural landscape.
Name of the painting: “Swiss Landscape”.
Author: Ivan Ivanovich Shishkin (1832-1898).
Year of writing: 1866.
Size: 62.5 x 93.5 cm.
Style: Realism.
Genre: Landscape.
Technique: Oil painting.
Material: Canvas.
Location: State Museum of Arts of Tatarstan, Kazan.
Ivan Ivanovich Shishkin is one of the most famous Russian landscape painters of the second half of the 19th century.
The master worked in the style of realism, conveying the surrounding reality with photographic accuracy. The painting “Swiss Landscape” is written in the painter’s recognizable handwriting. As a basis, the master took the plot of his reporting work “View in the vicinity of Dusseldorf”.
The canvas was created during Shishkin’s foreign internship. The artist traveled to many cities in search of inspiration, but only in Düsseldorf did he find it. It was here that he made a large number of sketches and sketches. During this period of his work, Shishkin learned to truthfully “connect the landscape” with animals. And the example of the work shows that the author has mastered this art to perfection.
The painting “Swiss Landscape” was commissioned to Ivan Shishkin by the famous Kazan collector Andrey Fyodorovich Likhachev. After the death of the owner, the work, together with a collection of works of art and archaeological artifacts, was transferred to the Scientific and Industrial Museum, which opened in Kazan in 1895. Currently, the masterpiece is stored in the State Museum of Arts of Tatarstan.
