Landscape with a rainbow. 1881 Alexey Kondratievich Savrasov (1830-1897)
Alexey Kondratievich Savrasov – Landscape with a rainbow. 1881
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Painter: Alexey Kondratievich Savrasov
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Alexei Savrasov’s unusual artistic destiny began at a time when the young man was already twenty-four years old. After becoming an academician, he continued to work hard in order to finish his painting The Rooks Have Arrived in time to present it at the 1st Traveling Exhibition. Undoubtedly, it was evaluated by the critics and the jury as one of the best paintings of our time. This event determined the importance of the author’s work in the Russian art of the mid-19th century. Already by this time, the artist, and by combining this with a teacher, had won his authority in the Moscow artistic environment. He painted many paintings, but none of the canvases could eclipse the admirable charm of this work.
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Description of Alexei Savrasov’s painting Landscape with Rainbow
Alexei Savrasov’s unusual artistic destiny began at a time when the young man was already twenty-four years old. After becoming an academician, he continued to work hard in order to finish his painting The Rooks Have Arrived in time to present it at the 1st Traveling Exhibition. Undoubtedly, it was evaluated by the critics and the jury as one of the best paintings of our time. This event determined the importance of the author’s work in the Russian art of the mid-19th century.
Already by this time, the artist, and by combining this with a teacher, had won his authority in the Moscow artistic environment.
He painted many paintings, but none of the canvases could eclipse the admirable charm of this work. The beauty of nature in "Landscape with Rainbow" is rendered unusually fresh and pure. It seems as if the air is transparent. Despite the fact that the sky is covered with gray colors, the rays of colorful cheerful rainbow stretching upwards, give the general grayness a kind of magical joy and fill life with colors. The gloomy sky gradually fades into the distance, and white birds soar joyfully in the sky. The bright colors of the sky come through, filling the entire surface with light, penetrating through the spruces and trees that stretch upward toward the rainbow.
This painting is devoid of features of sentimentalism and panorama effect, which is what distinguished Savrasov from other artists. He was inherent in the method of execution of the landscape in a realistic style. He chose a simple compositional perspective, liked to experiment with complex tonal transitions and muted color scheme.
To convey the emotional state of nature, having an excellent developed sense of sensitivity, the canvas in the hands of the artist turned into an "expressive story", which tacitly described the selfless love of man to his native land.
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Here we see a dense cluster of trees framing the left side of the composition, their foliage rendered with loose brushstrokes suggesting both vitality and dampness. To the right, the trees thin out, revealing a broader expanse of meadow that stretches towards a hazy horizon. The path itself is not clearly defined, appearing more as a suggestion than a concrete route, contributing to an overall feeling of ambiguity and openness.
The rainbow, positioned centrally within the sky, acts as a focal point. It’s not depicted as a gentle curve but rather as a powerful, almost theatrical presence, its colors intensified against the backdrop of turbulent clouds. The darkness surrounding the arc creates a sense of mystery, hinting at an unseen space beyond it – a realm that is both alluring and potentially ominous. Two birds are silhouetted against this dark void, adding to the feeling of vastness and solitude.
The artist’s technique emphasizes atmosphere over precise detail. Brushwork is expressive and often impastoed, particularly in the depiction of foliage and sky, conveying a sense of movement and emotional intensity. The subdued color scheme reinforces the melancholic mood, while the rainbow introduces an element of hope or promise – though its placement within such a dramatic context prevents it from feeling entirely celebratory.
Subtly, the painting explores themes of transition and renewal following adversity. The rain-soaked landscape suggests hardship, but the appearance of the rainbow implies a subsequent period of restoration and potential beauty. The winding path invites contemplation about journeys and destinations, while the vastness of the sky evokes feelings of awe and insignificance in the face of nature’s power. Ultimately, the work seems to ponder the complex interplay between suffering and hope within the natural world.