Description of the artwork “Morning in a pine forest. The real story of the creation of the painting "Morning in a Pine Forest" (from the series "Vyatka - the Homeland of Elephants")

Ivan Ivanovich Shishkin (1832-1898) - a great landscape artist. He, like no one else, conveyed the beauty of his native nature through his canvases. Looking at his paintings, many people get the impression that in just a little while the breeze will blow or birdsong will be heard.

At the age of 20, I.I. Shishkin entered the Moscow School of Painting and Sculpture, where teachers helped him learn the direction in painting that he followed all his life.

Without a doubt, "Morning in pine forest"is one of the artist's most popular paintings. However, Shishkin did not write this painting alone. The bears were drawn by Konstantin Savitsky. Initially, the painting bore the signatures of both artists, but when it was brought to the buyer Pavel Tretyakov, he ordered Savitsky’s name to be erased, explaining that he had ordered the painting only from Shishkin.

Description of the artwork “Morning in a pine forest”

Year: 1889

oil on canvas, 139 × 213 cm

Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow

“Morning in a Pine Forest” is a masterpiece that radiates admiration for Russian nature. Everything looks very harmonious on the canvas. The effect of nature awakening from sleep is masterfully created with green, blue and bright yellow tones. In the background of the picture we see the rays of the sun barely breaking through, they are depicted in bright golden shades.

The artist depicted the fog swirling on the ground so realistically that you can even feel the coolness of the summer morning.

The painting “Morning in a Pine Forest” is so brightly and vividly drawn that it looks like a photograph of a forest landscape. Shishkin professionally and lovingly depicted every detail of the canvas. In the foreground are bears climbing a fallen pine tree. Their high-spirited play evokes only positive emotions. It seems that the cubs are very kind and harmless, and the morning is like a holiday for them.

The artist depicted the bears in the foreground and sunlight in the background most vividly and richly. All other objects of the canvas look like light complementary sketches.

Perhaps this is the most famous painting Ivan Shishkin. Even people who are far from painting, if not at school, wrote a “description essay based on a painting by Ivan Shishkin "Morning in a pine forest"”, then you’ve probably encountered the “Bear-toed Bear” candies. The Red October factory came up with candies with that name and the image of Shishkin bear cubs, as well as Three Bears chocolate, on the wrapper of which all the same bears appeared - all four, by the way. But the mother bear was not counted, and the name “Three Bears” became so attached to this image that sometimes the painting itself was called that. By the way, Pavel Tretyakov clearly would not have agreed with this formulation of the question - he considered the landscape, not the bears, to be key in this picture, which we will talk about in more detail.

By the way, in Soviet era There was a humorous alternative title for the painting, “Bears at the Logging Site.” Also often famous painting Shishkin is called “In the morning in pine forest" It is worth remembering that the bears still meet the dawn in the forest, and the synonym “boron” is used in the titles of many other works by Shishkin.

People's love to the “bears” is very great, and the popularity of this picture is simply phenomenal. It is curious that the bears themselves appeared in Shishkin’s painting as a result of collaboration with another artist. In 1888, Shishkin painted the painting “Fog in a Pine Forest.” According to one version, a friend of the artist, Konstantin Savitsky, who visited him, said that it would be great to include bear cubs in this kind of landscape, thereby giving the idea, and in the end he himself implemented it . However, a sketch from 1886 refutes this version. The bears were already conceived then. Bears also appear in the sketch of 1889. However, Savitsky painted the final picture of the bears, this reliable fact.

But why does the picture have one author? One should not suspect Ivan Shishkin of hiding a co-author. If you look closely at the lower left corner, you will notice that something has been erased near Shishkin’s autograph. This something is exactly Savitsky’s signature, and it was definitely not erased on Shishkin’s initiative. The painting was commissioned by Pavel Tretyakov. He wanted Shishkin’s job, and since he was used to getting what he wanted, Konstantin Savitsky in this case No luck: Pavel Tretyakov, seeing the two signatures, asked for French turpentine and personally erased Savitsky’s autograph. But Savitsky was not deprived of a fee: Ivan Shishkin received four thousand for the work, one of which he gave to Savitsky as a co-author. You should also not believe in yellow scandalous reports, they say, after this story Savitsky didn’t even want to say hello to Shishkin. They were there before and still remain after “Morning.” good friends, and godfathers: Konstantin Savitsky baptized Shishkin’s son, little Konstantin(who died at the age of three).

Is it right to consider Shishkin as the author of the picture? Perhaps, yes, since this work was certainly created in the style of Shishkin, this is his detailed, even if you study the botany from the picture, the forest, its thick fog, this is certainly his pictorial method. However, it cannot be denied that the adorable mother bear and her cubs by Konstantin Savitsky fit perfectly into the Shishkinsky pine forest and gave it a special charm. A foggy dawn in the forest, pine trees rising into the sky shrouded in a pinkish morning haze, a feeling of absolute surrounding silence - otherwise the bears would not be frolicking so freely. As a result, we have before us a magnificent result of the co-authorship of two artists. Agreeing that the painting is “Shishkin’s” by all criteria, we propose to remember Savitsky’s role in the creation of this work, especially since Ivan Shishkin himself recognized it.

“Morning in a Pine Forest” is perhaps one of the most famous paintings Ivan Shishkin. The first thing that attracts and touches the audience looking at the masterpiece is the bears. Without animals, the picture would hardly have turned out so attractive. Meanwhile, few people know that it was not Shishkin, another artist named Savitsky, who painted the animals.

Bear Master

Konstantin Apollonovich Savitsky is now not as famous as Ivan Ivanovich Shishkin, whose name probably even a child knows. Nevertheless, Savitsky is also one of the most talented Russian painters. At one time he was an academician and member of the Imperial Academy of Arts. It is clear that it was on the basis of art that Savitsky met Shishkin.
Both of them loved Russian nature and selflessly depicted it on their canvases. But Ivan Ivanovich preferred landscapes in which people or animals, if they appeared, were only in the role minor characters. Savitsky, on the contrary, actively portrayed both. Apparently, thanks to his friend’s skill, Shishkin became convinced that he was not very successful with the figures of living beings.

Help from a friend

At the end of the 1880s, Ivan Shishkin completed another landscape, in which he depicted an unusually picturesque morning in a pine forest. However, according to the artist, the picture lacked some kind of accent, for which he planned to paint 2 bears. Shishkin even made sketches for future characters, but was dissatisfied with his work. It was then that he turned to Konstantin Savitsky with a request to help him with the animals. Shishkin’s friend did not refuse and happily got down to business. The bears turned out to be enviable. In addition, the number of clubfoot has doubled.
To be fair, it is worth noting that Shishkin himself had no intention of cheating at all, and when the picture was ready, he indicated not only his last name, but also Savitsky’s. Both friends were satisfied with their joint work. But everything was ruined by the founder of the world-famous gallery, Pavel Tretyakov.

Stubborn Tretyakov

It was Tretyakov who purchased “Morning in a Pine Forest” from Shishkin. However, the patron did not like the 2 signatures on the painting. And since, after purchasing this or that work of art, Tretyakov considered himself its sole and rightful owner, he went ahead and erased Savitsky’s name. Shishkin began to object, but Pavel Mikhailovich remained adamant. He said that the style of writing, including regarding bears, corresponds to the manner of Shishkin, and Savitsky is clearly superfluous here.
Ivan Shishkin shared the fee he received from Tretyakov with a friend. However, he gave Savitsky only the 4th part of the money, explaining this by the fact that he did the sketches for “Morning” without the help of Konstantin Apollonovich.
Surely Savitsky was offended by such treatment. In any case, he never painted another painting together with Shishkin. And Savitsky’s bears, in any case, really became the decoration of the picture: without them, “Morning in a Pine Forest” would hardly have received such recognition.

The picture is known to every person; it is passed through almost elementary school, and it’s unlikely to forget such a masterpiece 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. Shishkina, 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 has 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 the real wildlife, the one 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 any beautiful landscape, which at first glance seems completely ordinary...

MOSCOW, January 25 - RIA Novosti, Victoria Salnikova. 185 years ago, on January 25, 1832, Ivan Shishkin was born, perhaps the most “folk” Russian artist.

In Soviet times, reproductions of his paintings hung in many apartments, and the famous bear cubs from the painting “Morning in a Pine Forest” migrated to candy wrappers.

Ivan Shishkin’s paintings still live their own life, far from the museum space. What role did Vladimir Mayakovsky play in their history and how Shishkin’s bears ended up on the wrappers of pre-revolutionary sweets - in the RIA Novosti material.

"Get a savings book!"

In Soviet times, the design of the candy wrapper did not change, but “Mishka” became the most expensive delicacy: in the 1920s, a kilogram of candy was sold for four rubles. The candy even had a slogan: “If you want to eat Mishka, get yourself a Savings Book!” This phrase from the poet Vladimir Mayakovsky even began to be printed on wrappers.

Despite high price, the delicacy was in demand among buyers: the artist and graphic artist Alexander Rodchenko even captured it on the Mosselprom building in Moscow in 1925.

In the 1950s, the candy "Teddy Bear" went to Brussels: the Red October factory took part in World's Fair and received the highest award.

Art in every home

But the story of “Mornings in a Pine Forest” was not limited to sweets. Another popular trend in Soviet times was reproductions classical works art.

Unlike oil paintings, they were cheap and sold in any bookstore, so they were available to almost every family. “Morning in a Pine Forest” and “Rye,” another popular painting by Ivan Shishkin, adorned the walls of many Soviet apartments and dachas.

“Bears” also ended up on tapestries - a favorite interior detail Soviet man. Over the course of a century, “Morning in a Pine Forest” has become one of the most recognizable paintings in Russia. True, a casual viewer is unlikely to immediately remember its real name.

In exchange for drugs

The works of Ivan Shishkin are popular with robbers and scammers. On January 25, employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Belarus discovered a work of art stolen in Russia in the car of drug couriers. The painting "Forest. Spruce" from 1897 was stolen in 2013 from the Vyaznikovsky Historical and Art Museum in the Vladimir region. According to preliminary information, drug couriers brought the painting to Belarus at the request of a potential buyer from Europe. The cost of the painting could reach two million dollars, but the attackers planned to sell it for 100 thousand euros and three kilograms of cocaine.

Last year, criminal investigation officers suspected a 57-year-old woman of stealing the painting “Preobrazhenskoe” from 1896. The woman received this work from a famous collector for sale, however, according to investigators, she appropriated it.