Coniferous Forest, Sunny Day

Artist: Ivan Shishkin
Date: 1895
Media: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 137 x 103 cm
Ownership: Russian Museum, St Petersburg
Provenance:
Alexander Palace Museum, Detskoe Selo (until 1931)
Style: Realism
Coniferous Forest, Sunny Day

 

Ivan Shishkin was an outstanding painter of the Russian woodlands who dedicated virtually his entire professional career to images of the forest. Painted during the artist’s mature period, this particular work demonstrates his remarkable ability to depict vegetation, without the need for any fractional details.

Shishkin “portrays” the pine trees, bringing out their individual idiosyncrasies and arranging the most handsome specimens in the centre of the canvas. Slicing off the tops of the trees with the picture frame, the artist intensifies the impression of a forest populated by tall, straight trunks.

Shishkin’s world of nature is both majestic and intimate. The warm tones, the rhythmic composition and the sunlight filtering through the branches of the trees convey a sensation of tranquillity and summer.

By depicting the foreground in painstaking detail, the artist seems to lead the viewer directly into the forest. This ability to bring man into direct contact with nature is one of the most important features of the art of Ivan Shishkin.

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