By the sea. Etude 1889 36. 6h66 Ivan Ivanovich Shishkin (1832-1898)

Description of Ivan Shishkin’s painting By the Sea

Ivan Ivanovich Shishkin paints his next masterpiece, which has the title "By the seashore." In this painting, he maximizes the beauty of the forest, which stretches across the expanse of land and borders the shoreline of the sandy beach directly in front of the sea. The panorama itself, shows all this beauty from the elevated side of the hill, which is only slightly inscribed by the artist, in the foreground of the canvas.

In this picture, as in many similar works, the artist sincerely admires the immense view that appears before his eyes, thanks to this, it is most accurately transfers everything he saw on the canvas. As far as we can see, the whole left part of the painting is given by the master to the sea, splashing so gracefully on the shore. The shore, in turn, moves away into the distance, away over the horizon.

The artist tries to maximally combine in a single picture, the unruffled beauty of the forest, and the unwavering power of the sea element. It is worth noting that this work is done by the master of oil on cardboard. Just amazing how subtly nature is conveyed, if you look closely, you can see how the cloud rose above the forest, which and covered a half of the forest. You can see it, thanks to the shadow, which is noticeably different from the general background.

The difference between the sea and the forest is perfectly emphasized by the two colors that are so different in tone, in the case of the forest, a warm green color is chosen, while the sea is a cold blue color. At the same time the yellow, sandy shore is a sort of dividing line. In general the painter succeeded not only to convey the mood of the painting, but also to embody his own emotional state when he was painting it. The light-blue sky, especially emphasizes this whole plot and the general idea.