One of my favourite artists is Valentin Serov. When I first saw his famous pictures "The Girl with Peaches" and "The Girl in the Sunlight" in the Tretyakov Gallery, frankly speaking, I wasn't too impressed. The girls seemed quite ordinary and I couldn't understand what was so special about these portraits.
Some years later I happened to be in Abramtsevo, where these two pictures had been painted. It's a very beautiful place. Abramtsevo belonged to Savva Mamontov, a well known patron of arts. Our guide told us about the people who had been invited there. It seemed that all artists, actors and writers of that period had stayed at Abramtsevo or at least visited it.
When I went to the Tretyakov Gallery after that and looked at the Girl with Peaches again, I suddenly remembered that day in Abramtsevo, and for the first time I noticed the play of light and shade in the picture, the atmosphere of a sunny summer day.
It's surprising that Serov painted this picture when he was only 22 years old. I read somewhere that at the time he had not seen the works of French Impressionists, who tried to catch the sunlight and the air and transfer it to the canvas. But he managed to do it perfectly.
Serov was born in 1865. His father was a well-known composer and the boy grew up in the atmosphere of creative activity. His first art teacher was Repin, who noticed that the boy could catch the likeness of a model often more quickly and surely than older artists. Later Serov studied at the Academy of Fine Arts and graduated from it when he was 20.
For several years he taught at Moscow School of Painting Sculpture and Architecture. But teaching did not interfere with his painting. Probably now he would be called a workaholic. He painted almost 700 canvases, though, unfortunately, his life was not very long — he died in 1911. He was a brilliant landscape painter, he created genre scenes, but he is mostly remembered as a portraitist. The list of his portraits reads as "who-is-who" in Russian culture of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He painted Sawa Mamontov, Konstantin Korovin, Ilya Repin, Isaak Levitan, Nikolai Leskov, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, the great actress Yermolova ... The list can be continued. And practically all his portraits are excellent from the technicalpoint of view — the colours, the composition, but there is more than that - they show people's personality.
Some years later I happened to be in Abramtsevo, where these two pictures had been painted. It's a very beautiful place. Abramtsevo belonged to Savva Mamontov, a well known patron of arts. Our guide told us about the people who had been invited there. It seemed that all artists, actors and writers of that period had stayed at Abramtsevo or at least visited it.
When I went to the Tretyakov Gallery after that and looked at the Girl with Peaches again, I suddenly remembered that day in Abramtsevo, and for the first time I noticed the play of light and shade in the picture, the atmosphere of a sunny summer day.
It's surprising that Serov painted this picture when he was only 22 years old. I read somewhere that at the time he had not seen the works of French Impressionists, who tried to catch the sunlight and the air and transfer it to the canvas. But he managed to do it perfectly.
Serov was born in 1865. His father was a well-known composer and the boy grew up in the atmosphere of creative activity. His first art teacher was Repin, who noticed that the boy could catch the likeness of a model often more quickly and surely than older artists. Later Serov studied at the Academy of Fine Arts and graduated from it when he was 20.
For several years he taught at Moscow School of Painting Sculpture and Architecture. But teaching did not interfere with his painting. Probably now he would be called a workaholic. He painted almost 700 canvases, though, unfortunately, his life was not very long — he died in 1911. He was a brilliant landscape painter, he created genre scenes, but he is mostly remembered as a portraitist. The list of his portraits reads as "who-is-who" in Russian culture of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He painted Sawa Mamontov, Konstantin Korovin, Ilya Repin, Isaak Levitan, Nikolai Leskov, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, the great actress Yermolova ... The list can be continued. And practically all his portraits are excellent from the technicalpoint of view — the colours, the composition, but there is more than that - they show people's personality.
ПЕРЕКЛАД
Один з моїх улюблених художників - В. А. Сєров. Коли я вперше побачив його відомі картини "Дівчинка з персиками" і "Дівчина, освітлена сонцем" в Третьяковській галереї, чесно кажучи, я був не дуже вражений. Дівчата здавалися звичайними, і я не міг зрозуміти, що такого особливого в цих портретах.
Кілька років по тому я опинився в Абрамцево, де ці дві картини були написані. Це дуже красиве місце. Абрамцево належало Саві Мамонтову, відомому меценату. Наш гід розповів нам про людей, які туди були запрошені. Здавалося, що все художники, актори і письменники того часу останалівалісь в Абрамцево, або, по крайней мере, його відвідували.
Коли я пішов в Третьяковку після цього і подивився на "Дівчинку з персиками" ще раз, я раптом згадав, той день в Абрамцево, і вперше я помітив гру світла і тіні на картині, атмосферу сонячного літнього дня.
Дивно, що Сєров написав цю картину, коли йому було всього 22 роки. Я читав, що в той час він ще не бачив робіт французьких імпресіоністів, які намагалися зловити сонячне світло і повітря, і передати його на полотні. Але він зумів зробити це досконало.
Сєров народився в 1865 році. Його батько був відомим композитором, і хлопчик ріс в атмосфері творчості. Його першим учителем мистецтв був Рєпін, який зауважив, що хлопчик міг вловити схожість моделі найчастіше швидше і вірніше, ніж дорослі художники. Пізніше Сєров навчався в Академії витончених мистецтв, яку закінчив, коли йому було 20.
Протягом декількох років він викладав в Московському училищі живопису, скульптури та архітектури. Але викладання не заважало його живопису. Ймовірно, тепер його б назвали трудоголіком. Він написав близько 700 полотен, хоча, на жаль, життя його була не дуже довгою - він помер в 1911 році. Він був прекрасним пейзажистом, він створив жанрові сцени, але він в основному його пам'ятають як портретиста. Список його портретів показує "хто є хто" в російській культурі кінця 19 і початку двадцятого століть. Він писав Саву Мамонтова, Костянтина Коровіна, Іллі Рєпіна, Ісаака Левітана, Миколи Лєскова, Миколи Римського-Корсакова, велику актрису М. Н. Єрмолова ... Список можна продовжити. І практично всі його портрети відмінні від технічної точки зору - кольору, композиція, - але є дещо ещё- вони показують особистості людей.
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