Lake Ladoga. Arhip Kuindzhi (Kuindschi) (1842-1910)

Description of Arkhip Kuindzhi’s painting "Lake of Ladoga".

This painting was painted in 1873.

Quindzhi spent the entire summer of 1872 on Valaam. The result was the appearance of this brilliant creation. The landscape is at a crossroads. On the one hand, it is a realistic understanding of nature. But at the same time you can still feel the characteristic influence of romanticism.

The viewer can feel the romantic features in the foreground, which is deliberately highlighted by the light of the storm. Kuindzhi was able to overcome in his work that overstrain with which to convey a special state of nature, which was inherent in the works of the late Romantics. The landscape is painted with a particular elegance. The shades of light are incredibly subtle. You can feel the incredible integrity, which completely removes the contrasts of light.

Quindzhi conveys impressions of Lake Ladoga. How quiet and majestic it is. The painter seeks to portray the stony bottom of the lake, which miraculously shines through the crystal clear water.

The painting "Lake Ladoga" opened the northern series of the famous painter’s works. For the artist the water space and the sky are of maximum importance. The space is built in a very interesting way. We feel how limitless it is. The same color scheme unites the lake and the sky. The color is incredibly rich and intense. The lake and the sky seem to merge into one. They completely merge into each other. The horizon, slightly catchy, is the only boundary between them.

But the boundaries are as conventional as possible, so you can fully feel the movement, the transition of one space into another.

The momentary moves intricately into the future. The sandy-gray clouds do not create a sense of gravity. They are balanced by the shore, composed of detailed stones.

The atmosphere of the thunderstorm is emphasized by the coolest possible range of blues and grays. The peculiar play of light and shade before the thunderstorm is simply amazing.

The landscape is philosophically contemplative.