Red sunset. Arhip Kuindzhi (Kuindschi) (1842-1910)

Description of Arkhip Kuindzhi’s painting The Red Sunset

The theme of the fading sun in the works of the Russian and Ukrainian artist Arkhip Kuindzhi is realized through a series of paintings, including Red Sunset, Sunset with Trees, Sunset over a Pine Forest, Sunset in the Steppe on the Sea Bank, and others. All of them were painted mainly in the period from 1898 to 1908. At present, these works are stored in many museums around the world.

A feature of Quindzhi’s sunset landscapes is their melancholic, minor tone. Extraordinary realism of images is achieved by using natural colors - orange and light yellow, which are shaded by a rich purple. The works seem to be saturated with the light of the real sun, the glow of the blazing sunset, the living breath of nature.

In some of the paintings you can see a metaphor: gradually and steadily fading sun as a personification of the cycle of life, which has its beginning and end. A minor feeling in the paintings of Quindzhi is created with the help of halftones, from the soft flow of colors one to another. The emotional component of the work is based on the artist’s personal feelings and reflects his elegiac world-view, which merges with the feeling of disappointment, aimlessness and inevitable finality of human life. In some of Quindzhi’s sunset landscapes, the theme of the road is interpreted as a favorite and frequently found in Russian painting and literature.

In Red Sunset, the main work in the artist’s so-called "solar cycle," the celestial fire erupts with particular force, illuminating the world with the intense light of the melting sun, ready to give way to the approaching night. Quindzhi’s art often combines opposing elements: passion and serenity, weakness and strength, day and night, sun and moon. The sun in pagan representations represents life, and these ancient folklore motifs can be traced in the master’s sunset landscapes.