Painting “The Gatehouse in the Forest” by Ivan Shishkin is a quiet ode to the nature of Russia

The painting “The Gatehouse in the Forest” was painted by Ivan Ivanovich Shishkin, an artist of the beautiful nature of Russia. Gloomy, magical firs and fragile, slender birch trees blocked the sky and surrounded the forest path. Their crowns seem to form a luxurious, heavy tent. The gatehouse, almost hidden behind the branches, is located in a tiny, bright clearing. The walls of the house and the grass around are gilded by the sun.

In this picture, as in other landscapes of Shishkin, the work of the author with light and shadow is amazing. Everything is so filigree that the picture seems three-dimensional and voluminous.

Name of the painting: “The gatehouse in the forest.”
Author: Ivan Ivanovich Shishkin (1832-1898).
Year of writing: 1870
Size: 73 x 56 cm.
Style: Realism.
Genre: Landscape.
Technique: Oil painting.
Material: Canvas.
Location: Donetsk Regional Art Museum, Ukraine.

Ivan Shishkin comes from a merchant family.

Of course, his father saw his future as something other than a career as an artist. But the young man did not justify the hopes of his parent at all – he turned out to be incapable of either merchant or other matters. The elder Shishkin had to put up with it and send his offspring to study drawing. It is terrible to think how much Russian painting would have lost if this had not happened.

After studying and traveling to Europe, Ivan Ivanovich completely decided on the genre and his own paths in art. Addressing young artists, Shishkin urged them to choose one theme, one subject, and dedicate their work to it. His subjects were landscapes – fields, rivers, lakes, autumn, spring, summer and, very rarely, winter forests.

Each of his masterpieces is a hymn to Russian nature. The painting “The Gatehouse in the Forest” by Ivan Shishkin is another ode to the discreet beauty of the northern forest thickets. This time not as loud as “Rye” or “Ship Grove”. But equally delightful and heartwarming. Like a drawn-out song that peasant women sang over their cradles, like a sip of clean water from a sonorous forest stream, warmed by the cool sun of Russia.