Brief description of the painting in the Shishkin forest. First come first served basis

Ivan Shishkin glorified not only his hometown (Elabuga) throughout the country, but also the entire vast territory of Russia throughout the world. His most famous painting is “Morning in a Pine Forest.” Why is it so famous and why is it considered practically the standard of painting? Let's try to understand this issue.

Shishkin and landscapes

Ivan Shishkin is a famous landscape artist. His unique style of work originates from the Düsseldorf School of Drawing. But, unlike most of his colleagues, the artist passed the basic techniques through himself, which made it possible to create a unique style, not inherent in anyone else.

Shishkin admired nature all his life; she inspired him to create numerous masterpieces of a million colors and shades. The artist always tried to depict the flora as he sees it, without various exaggerations and decorations.

He tried to choose landscapes untouched by human hands. Virgin like the forests of the taiga. combine realism with a poetic view of nature. Ivan Ivanovich saw poetry in the play of light and shadow, in the power of Mother Earth, in the fragility of one Christmas tree standing in the wind.

The versatility of the artist

It is difficult to imagine such a brilliant artist as the head of the city or a school teacher. But Shishkin combined many talents. Coming from a merchant family, he had to follow in the footsteps of his parent. In addition, Shishkin’s good disposition quickly endeared him to people throughout the city. He was elected to the post of manager and helped develop his native Elabuga as best he could. Naturally, this was also manifested in painting. Shishkin’s pen is “History of the City of Elabuga”.

Ivan Ivanovich managed to draw pictures and participate in fascinating archaeological excavations. He lived abroad for some time, and even became an academician in Düsseldorf.

Shishkin was an active member of the Itinerants Society, where he met other famous Russian artists. He was considered a real authority among other painters. They tried to inherit the master’s style, and the paintings inspired both writers and painters.

He left behind a legacy of numerous landscapes that have become decorations in museums and private collections around the globe.

After Shishkin, few people managed to depict all the diversity of Russian nature so realistically and so beautifully. No matter what happened in the artist’s personal life, he did not allow his troubles to be reflected on the canvases.

Background

The artist treated forest nature with great trepidation; it literally captivated him with its countless colors, variety of shades, and the rays of the sun breaking through the thick pine branches.

The painting “Morning in a Pine Forest” became the embodiment of Shishkin’s love for the forest. It quickly gained popularity, and was soon used in pop culture, on stamps, and even on candy wrappers. To this day it is carefully kept in the Tretyakov Gallery.

Description: “Morning in a pine forest”

Ivan Shishkin managed to capture one moment from an entire forest life. He conveyed with the help of a drawing the moment of the beginning of the day, when the sun was just beginning to rise. An amazing moment of the birth of a new life. The painting “Morning in a Pine Forest” depicts an awakening forest and still sleepy cubs that are getting out of a secluded dwelling.

In this painting, as in many others, the artist wanted to emphasize the immensity of nature. To do this, he cut off the tops of the pine trees at the top of the canvas.

If you look closely, you will notice that the roots of the tree on which the cubs are frolicking have been torn out. Shishkin seemed to emphasize that this forest is so uninhabited and deaf that only animals can live in it, and the trees fall on their own, from old age.

Shishkin indicated the morning in a pine forest with the help of the fog that we see between the trees. Thanks to this artistic move, the time of day becomes obvious.

Co-authorship

Shishkin was an excellent landscape painter, but rarely took on images of animals in his works. The painting “Morning in a Pine Forest” was no exception. He created the landscape, but the four cubs were painted by another artist, an expert on animals, Konstantin Savitsky. They say that it was he who suggested the very idea for this painting. While painting a morning in a pine forest, Shishkin took Savitsky as a co-author, and the painting was initially signed by the two of them. However, after the painting was transferred to the gallery, Tretyakov considered Shishkin’s work more extensive and erased the name of the second artist.

Story

Shishkin and Savitsky went into nature. This is how the story began. The morning in the pine forest seemed so beautiful to them that it was impossible not to immortalize it on canvas. To search for a prototype, they went to Gordomlya Island, which stands on Lake Seliger. There they found this landscape and new inspiration for the painting.

The island, completely covered with forests, contained the remnants of virgin nature. For many centuries it stood untouched. This could not leave artists indifferent.

Claims

The painting was born in 1889. Although Savitsky initially complained to Tretyakov that he had erased his name, he soon changed his mind and abandoned this masterpiece in favor of Shishkin.

He justified his decision by the fact that the style of the painting fully corresponds to what Ivan Ivanovich did, and even the sketches of the bears originally belonged to him.

Facts and Misconceptions

Like any famous painting, the painting “Morning in a Pine Forest” arouses great interest. Consequently, it has a number of interpretations and is mentioned in literature and cinema. This masterpiece is talked about both in high society and on the streets.

Over time, some facts have been changed, and general misconceptions have become firmly entrenched in society:

One of the common mistakes is the opinion that Vasnetsov created “Morning in a Pine Forest” together with Shishkin. Viktor Mikhailovich, of course, knew Ivan Ivanovich, since they were together in the Itinerants club. However, Vasnetsov could not possibly be the author of such a landscape. If you pay attention to his style, he is not at all similar to Shishkin; they belong to different art schools. These names are still mentioned together from time to time. Vasnetsov is not that artist. “Morning in a Pine Forest,” without any doubt, was painted by Shishkin.
The title of the painting sounds like “Morning in a Pine Forest.” Boron is simply a second name that people apparently found more appropriate and mysterious.
Unofficially, some Russians still call the painting “Three Bears,” which is a grave mistake. There are not three, but four animals in the picture. It is likely that the canvas began to be called that because of the popular Soviet-era candies called “Bear-toed Bear.” The candy wrapper depicted a reproduction of Shishkin’s “Morning in a Pine Forest.” People gave the candy the name “Three Bears”.
The picture has its “first version”. Shishkin painted another canvas of the same theme. He called it “Fog in the Pine Forest.” Few people know about this picture. She is rarely remembered. The canvas is not on the territory of the Russian Federation. To this day it is kept in a private collection in Poland.
Initially, there were only two bear cubs in the picture. Later Shishkin decided that the image should include four clubfooted people. Thanks to the addition of two more bears, the genre of the film changed. It began to be located on the “borderland”, as some elements of the game scene appeared on the landscape.

It is difficult to find someone who has not at least once seen a painting by Ivan Shishkin "Morning in a pine forest", be it a reproduction on the wall or an illustration in a school textbook. But most of us know it from the wrapper of the “Bear-toed Bear” candies. How it happened that bears appeared in the landscape painter’s painting, and the recognized masterpiece began to be associated with candies - later in the review.

Ivan Ivanovich Shishkin was considered an extremely master when it was necessary to write out every leaf, every blade of grass, but he had no problem with depicting people or animals. That is why in the famous painting “Morning in a Pine Forest” the bear family was painted by another artist - Konstantin Savitsky.

The painting was signed by both artists, but when it was taken to the customer Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov, he erased Savitsky’s name with turpentine, declaring that he had ordered the painting from only one painter.

Ivan Ivanovich Shishkin received 4,000 rubles for the painting. He gave one thousand to Savitsky. Konstantin Apollonovich was indignant that the fee was not divided in half, and even angrily stated that his bears occupy a central place in the picture, and the forest is only a background. These words offended Shishkin very much. The artists no longer painted joint paintings.

Around the same period when the painting “Morning in a Pine Forest” was presented to the general public, a new type of candy was produced at the Einem Partnership confectionery factory: chocolate-covered wafer plates with a layer of almond praline. The need arose to create a wrapper for candy, and then the eyes of the owner of the company, Julius Gates, accidentally fell on a reproduction of a painting by Shishkin. A solution has been found.

After the October Revolution, the candy factory was nationalized and renamed “Red October,” although for several years “formerly” was added in parentheses. “Einem”, the brand was so popular. The candy “Teddy bear” became the favorite sweet of Soviet citizens. Over time, Shishkin's painting became associated with the wrapper, and its title was simplified to "Three Bears", although there are four of them on the canvas.

Ivan Ivanovich Shishkin was remembered by descendants not only for his painting “Morning in a Pine Forest”. He, like no one else, managed to convey through his paintings the beauty of the pristine forest, the endless expanses of fields, and the cold of a harsh region. so realistic that it seems that the sound of a stream or the rustling of leaves is about to be heard somewhere.

Painting: 1889
Oil on canvas.
Size: 139 × 213 cm

Description of the painting “Three Bears” by I. Shishkin

Artist: Ivan Ivanovich Shishkin, Konstantin Apollonovich Savitsky
Title of the painting: “Morning in a pine forest”
Painting: 1889
Oil on canvas.
Size: 139 × 213 cm

In our country, you will not find another such “hit” canvas, the plot of which is present on a rare grandmother’s bedspread, an embroidered little thought, a tablecloth, plates, and even on wrappers with cute clubtoes. Memories of parents, chocolates and moves by PR people - this is what does not allow us to forget about I. Shishkin’s painting “Morning in a Pine Forest” or, in common parlance, “Three Bears”.

But only Shishkin? The bears were painted on canvas by K. Savitsky, who at first depicted two clubfooted bears, and then raised their number to four. Previously, it was believed that Shishkin, despite his rather significant successes in animal painting, was not able to depict bears, so he simply exploited poor Savitsky and did not even allow him to sign the picture. In fact, the artists were friends, and the bears appeared after the latter said that the canvas was not dynamic. Shishkin could draw anyone, but not bears, so he gave Savitsky the opportunity to revive the picture and put a signature. The collector P. Tretyakov was not so loyal: he bought the painting from Shishkin, which means that the authorship is his, so there can be no Savitskys here. In general, the inscription was erased and “Morning in a Pine Forest” began to be considered one of the key paintings in the work of one of the most outstanding Russian landscape painters.

The “Teddy Bear” candies with Shishkin’s reproduction on the candy wrapper gave the name to the painting “Three Bears”. The delicacy that appeared was filled with almonds and cocoa beans, it was expensive, but it was so tasty that even the agitator of everyone and everything, V. Mayakovsky, could not resist and wrote that if you want “Bears,” then put a certain amount of money into a savings book. This is how “Teddy Bear” became “Three Bears” (and there are four of them in the picture), candy became one of the signs of the USSR, and I. Shishkin became a people’s artist.

True, he was a singer of the nature of his native land even before the “Bears”. The artist wanted and knew how to surprise, first of all, with landscapes, which he painted so brilliantly that he earned the reputation of a master of detail. Only here you will see a haze of fog, as if floating among the branches of hundred-year-old pines, soft and cozy moss on boulders, clear water of a stream, morning or evening coolness, midday heat of summer. What’s interesting is that all the artist’s paintings are partly epic, but always monumental. At the same time, Shishkin is not pretentious, he is simply a person who sincerely admires the majestic nature of his native land and knows how to portray it.

“Morning in a Pine Forest” pacifies with the balance of its composition. Three bear cubs look very harmonious with their mother bear, and you just want to apply divine proportion to the two halves of a fallen pine tree. This picture is like a random shot on an old camera that a tourist managed to take after searching for true virgin nature for so long.

And if you look at the coloring of the picture, it’s as if the artist is trying to capture all the richness of the colors of the dawn time. We see air, but it is not the usual shade of blue, but rather blue-green, a little cloudy and foggy. The predominant colors that surrounded the clubfooted inhabitants of the forest are green, blue and sunny yellow, reflecting the mood of awakened nature. The bright flickering of golden rays in the background seems to hint at the sun that is about to illuminate the earth. It is these glares that give the picture solemnity; they speak of the realism of the fog above the ground. “Morning in a Pine Forest” is another confirmation of the tactility of Shishkin’s paintings, because you can even feel the cool air.

Look closely at the forest. Its appearance is conveyed so realistically that it becomes clear: this is not a forest clearing, but a deep thicket - a true concentration of living nature. The sun had just risen above her, the rays of which had already managed to make their way to the top of the tree crowns, splashing them with gold and again hiding in the thicket. The damp fog, which has not yet cleared, seems to have awakened the inhabitants of the ancient forest.

The cubs and the mother bear woke up, developing their vigorous activity. Satisfied and well-fed bears have been exploring the world around them since the very morning, exploring the nearest fallen pine tree, and the mother bear is watching the babies, who are touchingly clumsily climbing the tree. Moreover, the mother bear watches not only the cubs, but also tries to catch the slightest sounds that could disturb their idyll. It’s simply amazing how these animals, painted by another artist, were able to revive the compositional design of the painting: the fallen pine tree seemed to be created for this bear family, busy with their important affairs against the backdrop of a remote and wild corner of Russian nature.

The painting “Morning in a Pine Forest” reveals the mastery of realistic images and its quality, which is in many ways superior to modern digital technology. Every blade of grass, every ray of sun, every pine needle was written by Shishkin lovingly and reverently. If the foreground of the canvas depicts a fallen pine tree with bears climbing on it, then in the background there is an ancient forest. Bear cubs and the rest of nature evoke calming positive emotions in every person. Animals, like toy animals, fill the beginning of a new day with kindness and set us up for positive thinking. Looking at these cute animals, it’s hard to believe that they are predators by nature and cannot be capable of cruelty. But that’s not even the main thing. Shishkin focuses the viewer's attention on the harmony of sunlight that comes from the background of the painting with bear cubs in the foreground. Visually draw a line through them - and you will certainly notice that these are the brightest objects in the picture, and everything else, including the irregularly shaped pine tree, is just complementary touches.

It seems that “Morning in a Pine Forest” depicts real, living bears in some kind of fantastic landscape. The Vyatka forest, from which nature is copied, says researchers, is very different from the Shishkin forest. I just wonder if bears exist there now, because for a century the painting has been nurturing the aesthetic and moral taste of people, asking them to take care of the surrounding nature.

The picture is known to every person, it is taught almost in elementary school, and it is unlikely that such a masterpiece will be forgotten afterwards. In addition, this well-known and beloved reproduction constantly adorns the packaging of chocolate of the same name and is an excellent illustration for stories.

The plot of the picture

This is probably the most popular painting by I.I. Shishkin, a famous landscape painter, whose hands created many beautiful paintings, including “Morning in a Pine Forest.” The canvas was painted in 1889, and according to historians, the idea for the plot itself did not appear spontaneously, it was suggested to Shishkin by Savitsky K.A. It was this artist who in his time amazingly depicted a bear along with her playing cubs on the canvas. “Morning in a Pine Forest” was acquired by the famous art connoisseur of that time, Tretyakov, who considered that the painting was made by Shishkin and assigned final authorship directly to him.

Some believe that the film owes its incredible popularity to its entertaining plot. But, despite this, the canvas is valuable due to the fact that the state of nature on the canvas is conveyed surprisingly clearly and truly.

Nature in the picture

First of all, it can be noted that the painting depicts a morning forest, but this is only a superficial description. In fact, the author depicted not an ordinary pine forest, but its very thicket, the place that is called “dead,” and it is she who begins her early awakening in the morning. The picture depicts natural phenomena very subtly:

the sun begins to rise;

the sun's rays first of all touch the very tops of the trees, but some mischievous rays have already made their way into the very depths of the ravine;

The ravine is also notable in the picture because you can still see the fog in it, which seems not to be afraid of the sun’s rays, as if it’s not going to go away.

Heroes of the picture

The canvas also has its own characters. These are three little bear cubs and their mother bear. She takes care of her cubs, because on the canvas they look well-fed, happy and carefree. The forest is awakening, so the mother bear very carefully watches how her cubs frolic, controls their play and worries whether something has happened. The bear cubs are not concerned about the awakening nature, they are interested in frolicking on the site of a fallen pine

The picture creates the feeling that we are in the most remote part of the entire pine forest also because the mighty pine tree lies completely abandoned at the end of the forest, it was once uprooted, and is still in that state. This is practically a corner of real wild nature, where bears live, and people do not risk touching it.

Writing style

In addition to the fact that the picture can pleasantly surprise you with its plot, it is also impossible to take your eyes off it because the author tried to skillfully use all his drawing skills, put his soul into it and brought the canvas to life. Shishkin solved the problem of the relationship between color and light on the canvas in an absolutely brilliant way. It is interesting to note that in the foreground one can “meet” fairly clear drawings and colors, in contrast to the background coloring, which seems almost transparent.

It is clear from the picture that the artist was actually delighted with the grace and amazing beauty of pristine nature, which is beyond the control of man.

Isaac Levitan is a recognized master of the brush. He is especially famous for his ability to create paintings that reveal the beauty of nature, depicting some beautiful landscape that at first glance seems completely ordinary...