Vasnetsov bears. Painting “Morning in a Pine Forest”: description and history of creation

Painting by Shishkin Ivan Ivanovich “Morning in pine forest"is perhaps the most famous painting by this Russian landscape artist. The canvas depicts a mother bear with three small cubs playing on a fallen pine tree. The painting is made in Shishkin’s characteristic style: warm shades, skillfully drawn details, soft light breaking through the branches sunlight. But the main highlight of the canvas is the mischievous bear cubs. They are depicted so cheerful, carefree, so “alive” that it immediately becomes clear that the artist treated the forest and its inhabitants with respect. great love and awe. Or, more precisely, artists.

How “Morning in a Pine Forest” was created

The history of the creation of the painting “Morning in a Pine Forest” is quite interesting - for example, not everyone knows that Shishkin is not the only author of the painting. The idea for the painting was suggested to him by Konstantin Savitsky, who became a co-author of the painting and personally painted all the bears. But his name was erased from the canvas by the philanthropist Tretyakov, who bought the masterpiece.

He noted that in the picture “everything speaks about the manner of painting, about creative method, characteristic of Shishkin." Of course, such a description of Shishkin’s painting “Morning in a Pine Forest” probably flattered the great painter, but after the incident Shishkin and Savitsky managed not to quarrel, but to remain friends for a long time. for many years. Konstantin Savitsky even became godfather for Shishkin's son. They were brought together by many things, so the erased signature could not affect strong friendships and positive relationships.

Although Savitsky and Shishkin’s painting “Morning in a Pine Forest” owes much of its popularity to Tretyakov, a significant contribution to its popularity was made by the German confectioner Ferdinand von Einem, who placed the plot from this painting on the wrapper of his “Teddy Bear” chocolates. Of course, the image on the wrapper was very simplified, but people quickly fell in love with the bear cubs. And soon not a single holiday would be complete without the famous chocolates with wafer inside. Among the people, the painting was secretly called “Three Bears” (which, however, is not entirely true, because there are four bears on it). But, apparently, the consonance with folk tale“Masha and the Bears”, where there were really three bears. Sometimes the canvas is also called “Morning in pine forest", but this is a misnomer.

These candies with a wafer inside continued to be produced after the October Revolution - however, it was no longer von Einem’s confectionery that was doing this, but the Red October enterprise. But that didn’t make me love sweets any less.

This painting remains popular to this day - its reproductions can be seen in many apartments. After all, its warm, soulful atmosphere can bring warmth, tranquility, and comfort into the house. The original today has become a decoration of the St. Petersburg Tretyakov Gallery. Many art connoisseurs come to admire this great work of Russian fine art.

Exposition

The film is popular due to its entertaining plot. However true value The work is a beautifully expressed state of nature, seen by the artist in Belovezhskaya Pushcha. What is shown is not a dense dense forest, but sunlight breaking through the columns of giants. You can feel the depth of the ravines and the power of centuries-old trees. And the sunlight seems to timidly peek into this dense forest. The frolicking cubs feel the approach of morning. We are observers of wildlife and its inhabitants.

Story

Shishkin was suggested to the idea of the painting by Savitsky. Savitsky painted the bears in the film itself. These bears, with some differences in poses and numbers (at first there were two of them), appear in the preparatory drawings and sketches. Savitsky turned out the bears so well that he even signed the picture together with Shishkin. However, when Tretyakov acquired the painting, he removed Savitsky’s signature, leaving the authorship to Shishkin. After all, in the picture, Tretyakov said, “from the concept to the execution, everything speaks about the manner of painting, about the creative method that is characteristic of Shishkin.”

Most Russians call this picture“Three Bears”, despite the fact that there are not three, but four bears in the picture. This is apparently due to the fact that during the USSR grocery stores They sold “Bear-toed Bear” candies with a reproduction of this picture on a candy wrapper, which were popularly called “Three Bears.”
Another erroneous common name is “Morning in a Pine Forest” (tautology: a forest is a pine forest).

Notes

Literature

Ivan Ivanovich Shishkin. Correspondence. Diary. Contemporaries about the artist / Comp. I. N. Shuvalova - Leningrad: Art, Leningrad branch, 1978;
Alenov M. A., Evangulova O. S., Livshits L. I. Russian art XI - early XX centuries. - M.: Art, 1989;
Anisov L. Shishkin. - M.: Young Guard, 1991. - (Series: Life of Remarkable People);
State Russian Museum. Leningrad. Painting of the XII - early XX centuries. - M.: fine arts, 1979;
Dmitrienko A. F., Kuznetsova E. V., Petrova O. F., Fedorova N. A. 50 short biographies masters of Russian art. - Leningrad, 1971;
Lyaskovskaya O. A. Plein air in Russian paintings of the 19th century century. - M.: Art, 1966.

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See what “Morning in a Pine Forest” is in other dictionaries:

- “MORNING IN A PINE FOREST”, Canada Latvia, BURRACUDA FILM PRODUCTION/ATENTAT CULTURE, 1998, color, 110 min. Documentary. About the creative self-expression of six young people, the search for mutual understanding through creativity. Their lives are shown during... Encyclopedia of Cinema

MORNING IN A PINE FOREST- Painting by I.I. Shishkina. Created in 1889, located in the Tretyakov Gallery. Dimensions 139 × 213 cm. One of the most famous landscapes in Shishkin’s work depicts a dense impenetrable forest* in central Russia. In the thicket of the forest on fallen trees... ... Linguistic and regional dictionary

Jarg. stud. First scheduled in the morning training session. (Recorded 2003) ... Big dictionary Russian sayings

Ivan Shishkin. Morning in a pine forest. 1889 Tretyakov Gallery

“Morning in a Pine Forest” is the most famous painting Ivan Shishkin. No, take it higher. This is the most popular painting in Russia.

But this fact, it seems to me, brings little benefit to the masterpiece itself. It even harms him.

When a picture is too popular, it flashes everywhere. In every textbook. On candy wrappers (where the wild popularity of the painting began 100 years ago).

As a result, the viewer loses interest in the picture. We glance at her quickly with the thought “Oh, it’s her again...”. And we pass by.

For the same reason I didn’t write about her. Although I’ve been writing articles about masterpieces for several years now. And one might be surprised how I passed by this blockbuster. But now you know why.

I'm correcting myself. Because I want to look at Shishkin’s masterpiece with you more closely.

Why “Morning in a Pine Forest” is a masterpiece

Shishkin was a realist to the core. He depicted the forest very realistically. Choosing colors carefully. Such realism easily draws the viewer into the picture.

Just look at the color schemes.

Pale emerald pine needles in the shade. Light green color of young grass in the rays of the morning sun. Dark ocher pine needles on a fallen tree.

The fog is also made from a combination of different shades. Greenish in the shade. Bluish in the light. And it turns yellow closer to the treetops.

Ivan Shishkin. Morning in a pine forest (fragment). 1889 Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow

All this complexity creates the overall impression of being in this forest. You feel this forest. And don't just see it. The craftsmanship is incredible.

But Shishkin’s paintings, alas, are often compared to photographs. Considering the master deeply old-fashioned. Why such realism if there are photo images?

I do not agree with this position. It is important what angle the artist chooses, what kind of lighting, what kind of fog and even moss. All this together reveals to us a piece of the forest from a special side. In a way we wouldn't see him. But we see through the eyes of an artist.

And through his gaze we experience pleasant emotions: delight, inspiration, nostalgia. And this is the point: to provoke the viewer to a spiritual response.

Savitsky – assistant or co-author of the masterpiece?

The story of Konstantin Savitsky’s co-authorship seems strange to me. In all sources you will read that Savitsky was an animal painter, which is why he volunteered to help his friend Shishkin. Like, such realistic bears are his merit.

But if you look at Savitsky’s works, you will immediately understand that animal painting is NOT his main genre.

He was typical. He often wrote about the poor. Helped with the help of paintings for the disadvantaged. Here is one of his outstanding works, “Meeting of an Icon.”

Konstantin Savitsky. Meeting the icon. 1878 Tretyakov Gallery.

Yes, in addition to the crowd, there are also horses. Savitsky really knew how to portray them very realistically.

But Shishkin also easily coped with a similar task, if you look at his animalistic works. In my opinion, he did no worse than Savitsky.

Ivan Shishkin. Goby. 1863 Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow

Therefore, it is not entirely clear why Shishkin commissioned Savitsky to write the bears. I'm sure he could handle it himself. They were friends. Perhaps this was an attempt to help a friend financially? Shishkin was more successful. He received serious money for his paintings.

For the bears, Savitsky received 1/4 of the fee from Shishkin - as much as 1000 rubles (with our money this is about 0.5 million rubles!) It is unlikely that Savitsky could have received such an amount for a whole own work.

Formally, Tretyakov was right. After all, Shishkin thought through the entire composition. Even the poses and positions of the bears. This is obvious if you look at the sketches.

Co-authorship as a phenomenon in Russian painting

Moreover, this is not the first such case in Russian painting. I immediately remembered Aivazovsky’s painting “Pushkin’s Farewell to the Sea.” Pushkin in the painting of the great marine painter was painted by... Ilya Repin.

But his name is not in the picture. Although these are not bears. But still great poet. Which needs to not only be depicted realistically. But to be expressive. So that the same farewell to the sea can be read in the eyes.

Ivan Aivazovsky (co-authored with I. Repin). Pushkin's farewell to the sea. 1877 All-Russian Museum A.S. Pushkin, St. Petersburg. Wikipedia.org

In my opinion, this is a more difficult task than depicting bears. Nevertheless, Repin did not insist on co-authorship. On the contrary, I was incredibly happy to work together with the great Aivazovsky.

Savitsky was prouder. I was offended by Tretyakov. But he continued to be friends with Shishkin.

But we cannot deny that without the bears this painting would not have become the artist's most recognizable painting. This would be another Shishkin masterpiece. Majestic and breathtaking landscape.

But he wouldn't be so popular. It was the bears who played their role. This means that Savitsky should not be completely discounted.

How to rediscover “Morning in a Pine Forest”

And in conclusion, I would like to return again to the problem of overdose with the image of a masterpiece. How can you look at it with fresh eyes?

I think it's possible. To do this, look at the little-known sketch for the painting.

Ivan Shishkin. Sketch for the painting “Morning in a Pine Forest.” 1889 Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow

It is done with quick strokes. The figures of the bears are only outlined and painted by Shishkin himself. Particularly impressive is the light in the form of golden vertical strokes.

“The Nun” by Ilya Repin

Ilya Repin. Nun. 1878. State Tretyakov Gallery / Portrait under an X-ray

From the portrait, a young girl in strict monastic clothes looks thoughtfully at the viewer. The image is classic and familiar - it probably would not have aroused interest among art critics if not for the memoirs of Lyudmila Alekseevna Shevtsova-Spore, the niece of Repin’s wife. They revealed an interesting story.

Sofia Repina, née Shevtsova, posed for Ilya Repina for The Nun. The girl was the artist’s sister-in-law - and at one time Repin himself was seriously infatuated with her, but he married her younger sister Vera. Sophia became the wife of Repin’s brother Vasily, an orchestra member of the Mariinsky Theater.

This did not stop the artist from repeatedly painting portraits of Sophia. For one of them, the girl posed in a formal ball gown: a light elegant dress, lace sleeves, and a high hairstyle. While working on the painting, Repin had a serious quarrel with the model. As you know, anyone can offend an artist, but few can take revenge as creatively as Repin did. The offended artist “dressed” Sophia in the portrait in monastic clothes.

The story, similar to an anecdote, was confirmed by an x-ray. The researchers were lucky: Repin did not remove the original paint layer, which allowed them to examine the heroine’s original outfit in detail.

"Park Alley" by Isaac Brodsky

Isaac Brodsky. Park alley. 1930. Private collection / Isaac Brodsky. Alley of the park in Rome. 1911

No less interesting riddle left for researchers by Repin's student, Isaac Brodsky. The Tretyakov Gallery houses his painting “Park Alley,” which at first glance is unremarkable: Brodsky had many works on “park” themes. However, the further you go into the park, the more colorful layers there are.

One of the researchers noticed that the composition of the painting was suspiciously reminiscent of another work of the artist - “Park Alley in Rome” (Brodsky was stingy with original titles). This painting was considered lost for a long time, and its reproduction was published only in a rather rare edition in 1929. With the help of x-rays, the Roman alley that had mysteriously disappeared was found - right under the Soviet one. The artist did not clean up the already finished image and simply made a number of simple changes to it: he dressed the passers-by according to the fashion of the 30s of the 20th century, “took away” the children’s clothes, removed the marble statues and slightly modified the trees. So, with a couple of light movements of the hand, the sunny Italian park turned into an exemplary Soviet one.

When asked why Brodsky decided to hide his Roman alley, they did not find an answer. But it can be assumed that the depiction of the “modest charm of the bourgeoisie” in 1930 was no longer inappropriate from an ideological point of view. Nevertheless, of all Brodsky’s post-revolutionary landscape works, “Park Alley” is the most interesting: despite the changes, the picture retained the charming grace of Art Nouveau, which, alas, no longer existed in Soviet realism.

“Morning in a Pine Forest” by Ivan Shishkin

Ivan Shishkin and Konstantin Savitsky. Morning in a pine forest. 1889. State Tretyakov Gallery

A forest landscape with bear cubs playing on a fallen tree is perhaps the most famous work artist. But the idea for the landscape was suggested to Ivan Shishkin by another artist, Konstantin Savitsky. He also painted a bear with three cubs: the forest expert Shishkin had no luck with the bears.

Shishkin had an impeccable understanding of forest flora; he noticed the slightest mistakes in the drawings of his students - either the birch bark was depicted incorrectly, or the pine looked like a fake one. However, people and animals have always been rare in his works. This is where Savitsky came to the rescue. By the way, he left several preparatory drawings and sketches with bear cubs - I was looking for suitable poses. “Morning in a Pine Forest” was not originally “Morning”: the painting was called “Bear Family in the Forest,” and there were only two bears in it. As a co-author, Savitsky also put his signature on the canvas.

When the canvas was delivered to the merchant Pavel Tretyakov, he was indignant: he paid for Shishkin (ordered an original work), but received Shishkin and Savitsky. Shishkin, how honest man, did not attribute authorship to himself. But Tretyakov followed the principle and blasphemously erased Savitsky’s signature from the painting with turpentine. Savitsky later nobly renounced copyright, and the bears were attributed to Shishkin for a long time.

“Portrait of a Chorus Girl” by Konstantin Korovin

Konstantin Korovin. Portrait of a chorus girl. 1887. State Tretyakov Gallery / Reverse side of the portrait

On the back of the canvas, researchers found a message from Konstantin Korovin on cardboard, which turned out to be almost more interesting than the painting itself:

“In 1883 in Kharkov, a portrait of a chorus girl. Written on a balcony in a commercial public garden. Repin said when S.I. Mamontov showed him this sketch that he, Korovin, was writing and looking for something else, but what is it for - this is painting for painting’s sake only. Serov had not yet painted portraits at this time. And the painting of this sketch was found incomprehensible??!! So Polenov asked me to remove this sketch from the exhibition, since neither the artists nor the members - Mr. Mosolov and some others - liked it. The model was not a beautiful woman, even somewhat ugly.”
Konstantin Korovin

The “Letter” was disarming with its directness and daring challenge to the entire artistic community: “Serov had not yet painted portraits at that time,” but he, Konstantin Korovin, painted them. And he was allegedly the first to use techniques characteristic of the style that would later be called Russian impressionism. But all this turned out to be a myth that the artist created intentionally.

The harmonious theory “Korovin is the forerunner of Russian impressionism” was mercilessly destroyed by objective technical and technological research. On the front side of the portrait they found the artist’s signature in paint, and just below in ink: “1883, Kharkov.” The artist worked in Kharkov in May - June 1887: he painted scenery for performances of the Mamontov Russian Private Opera. In addition, art historians have found that the “Portrait of a Chorus Girl” was painted in a certain artistic manner - a la prima. This oil painting technique made it possible to paint a picture in one session. Korovin began to use this technique only in the late 1880s.

After analyzing these two inconsistencies, the Tretyakov Gallery staff came to the conclusion that the portrait was painted only in 1887, and more early date Korovin added to emphasize his own innovation.

“The Man and the Cradle” by Ivan Yakimov

Ivan Yakimov. Man and cradle.1770. State Tretyakov Gallery / Full version of the work

For a long time, Ivan Yakimov’s painting “Man and Cradle” puzzled art critics. And the point was not even that this kind of everyday sketches are absolutely not typical for painting XVIII centuries - the rocking horse in the lower right corner of the picture has a rope that is too unnaturally stretched, which logically should be lying on the floor. And it was too early for a child to play with such toys from the cradle. Also, the fireplace did not even fit half onto the canvas, which looked very strange.

The situation was “clarified” - in the literal sense - by an x-ray. She showed that the canvas was cut on the right and top.

IN Tretyakov Gallery The painting arrived after the sale of the collection of Pavel Petrovich Tugoy-Svinin. He owned the so-called “Russian Museum” - a collection of paintings, sculptures and antiques. But in 1834, due to financial problems, the collection had to be sold - and the painting “Man and Cradle” ended up in the Tretyakov Gallery: not all of it, but only its left half. The right one, unfortunately, was lost, but you can still see the work in its entirety, thanks to another unique exhibit of the Tretyakov Gallery. The full version of Yakimov’s work was found in the album “Collection of Excellent Works Russian artists and curious domestic antiquities”, which contains drawings from most of the paintings that were part of Svinin’s collection.

“Morning in a Pine Forest” is perhaps one of the most famous paintings by Ivan Shishkin. The first thing that attracts and touches the audience looking at the masterpiece is the bears. Without animals, the picture would hardly have turned out so attractive. Meanwhile, few people know that it was not Shishkin, another artist named Savitsky, who painted the animals.

Bear Master

Konstantin Apollonovich Savitsky is now not as famous as Ivan Ivanovich Shishkin, whose name probably even a child knows. Nevertheless, Savitsky is also one of the most talented Russian painters. At one time he was an academician and member of the Imperial Academy of Arts. It is clear that it was on the basis of art that Savitsky met Shishkin.
Both of them loved Russian nature and selflessly depicted it on their canvases. But Ivan Ivanovich preferred landscapes in which people or animals, if they appeared, were only in the role minor characters. Savitsky, on the contrary, actively portrayed both. Apparently, thanks to his friend’s skill, Shishkin became convinced that he was not very successful with the figures of living beings.

Help from a friend

At the end of the 1880s, Ivan Shishkin completed another landscape, in which he depicted an unusually picturesque morning in a pine forest. However, according to the artist, the picture lacked some kind of accent, for which he planned to paint 2 bears. Shishkin even made sketches for future characters, but was dissatisfied with his work. It was then that he turned to Konstantin Savitsky with a request to help him with the animals. Shishkin’s friend did not refuse and happily got down to business. The bears turned out to be enviable. In addition, the number of clubfoot has doubled.
To be fair, it is worth noting that Shishkin himself had no intention of cheating at all, and when the picture was ready, he indicated not only his last name, but also Savitsky’s. Both friends were satisfied with their joint work. But everything was ruined by the founder of the world-famous gallery, Pavel Tretyakov.

Stubborn Tretyakov

It was Tretyakov who purchased “Morning in a Pine Forest” from Shishkin. However, the patron did not like the 2 signatures on the painting. And since, after purchasing this or that work of art, Tretyakov considered himself its sole and rightful owner, he went ahead and erased Savitsky’s name. Shishkin began to object, but Pavel Mikhailovich remained adamant. He said that the style of writing, including regarding bears, corresponds to the manner of Shishkin, and Savitsky is clearly superfluous here.
Ivan Shishkin shared the fee he received from Tretyakov with a friend. However, he gave Savitsky only the 4th part of the money, explaining this by the fact that he did the sketches for “Morning” without the help of Konstantin Apollonovich.
Surely Savitsky was offended by such treatment. In any case, he never painted another painting together with Shishkin. And Savitsky’s bears, in any case, really became the decoration of the picture: without them, “Morning in a Pine Forest” would hardly have received such recognition.