"Above eternal rest". Levitan. Picture, photo and story of creation

He wrote a beautiful painting "Above the Eternal Peace" by Levitan. The picture, over which he began to work in the summer of 1893, is now kept in the Tretyakov Gallery. Isaak Ilyich then lived on the Tver land among forests, rivers and lakes.

During one of the walks around the neighborhood, the artist saw Lake Udomle. On the shore there is a poor rural churchyard, above the water there is a big storm cloud. A strong wind rocked the tops of the cemetery grove. It is this species that gives Levitan the idea of a new big picture.

A work that speaks to the viewer

The brush of the artist makes you speak the space of the landscape "Over eternal rest". Levitan, whose picture was presented to a wide audience, hoped to tell them about the most important things for people. And when this work appears in 1894 at the exhibition of the Wanderers, shrewd critics will see that this is not even a landscape - it is a picture of a person's soul.

The film "Above Eternal Peace" is appreciated by spectators primarily for how its colors shine. I must say directly that Isaak Ilich Levitan is an artist who made the greatest discovery in Russian art. He rediscovered the fact that later a remarkable researcher of ancient Russian culture, academician Dmitry Sergeevich Likhachev called landscape thinking.

Contradiction of two worlds

It turns out that in ancient times there was an ancient tradition of contemplation of spatial images. Observation of nature, as they used to say in old times, "smart eyes", that is speculation. Or else - by spiritual meditation on the mysterious things surrounding a person. About God and the soul, about life and death, about the transience of earthly existence.

By contrasting the solemn height of the sky and the deserted, almost lifeless space of the lake, the tragic structure of the painting, written by Isaak Levitan, "Above Eternal Rest", is created. Because the viewer feels here the presence of two worlds: time and eternity. Opposing simple human concerns to divine perfection.

"Above eternal rest". Levitan. Description of a special spiritual perception

This sky, covered with menacing clouds, there is a surprisingly accurate poetic analogy of Fedor Ivanovich Tyutchev: "I look at inaccessible bulk for a whole hour ..." In the masterpiece "Above the Eternal Peace," Levitan, whose picture clearly conveys a sense of thirst for heaven, peace and eternal peace, Was able to share his feelings just like a talented poet. Impressions received by him during the contemplation of this stormy sky and the beauty of the Russian landscape.

The lake on the canvas looks endless, almost like the sea. And the church that crowned the slope with a cross on the bulbous glacier seemed to be likened to a ship. According to the long Evangelical tradition, the head of the church is Christ, and only he can save a man whose life is nothing but a difficult and dangerous journey through the sea of everyday life.

Sentimentality or a unique gift

Isaak Ilich Levitan is an artist who has a unique gift of spiritual perception of the world. And the picture "Above Eternal Peace" unequivocally testifies to this. But there is another very precious testimony, which is contained in the memoirs of the artist who knew Isaac Ilyich artist Konstantin Alekseevich Korovin.

In his memoirs it is described how Levitan could spend whole hours lying on the grass in the summer and peering into the boundless heavenly expanses. Heaven enraptured and inspired him. This is an amazing recollection. Because the Russian nature, in fact, can be viewed with different eyes, and everyone perceives it in their own way.

Looking sentimentally, many people feel a sweet sadness on the heart, and in some it causes even tears. Also, Konstantin Alekseevich Korovin, seeing them in Levitan's eyes, decided that Isaak Ilyich was too sentimental. But the creator of the painting "Above Eternal Peace" completely differently looked at the surrounding nature. He contemplated the Russian landscape as God's creation. And not a sweet sadness, but a deep longing for something higher and unreachable filled him. This is how the deeply believing people look at the icon.

Testament to descendants

This is an unlimitedly talented masterpiece - "Above Eternal Peace"! Levitan, whose painting now occupies one of the most honorable places in the halls of the famous Tretyakov Gallery, was a real great man, a genius and God's chosen one. Everything that he created is insanely beautiful, new and extraordinary. The spectators contemplating his creations are overwhelmed with a wide variety of feelings. Someone thinks about unfulfilled hopes, others - about the meaning or insignificance of human life.

But the most remarkable thing, written by Isaac Ilyich, is certainly the creation "Above Eternal Peace". The brightest and joyful picture that remained as a testament for descendants, so that they looked at the sky as often as possible and admired its vast expanses, not forgetting the meaning of their own existence.