Crimea

This unfinished canvas was one of the last large compositions created by Arkhip Kuinji. The artist owned several properties at Katsiveli, Alupka and Kikineiz on the southern shore of the Crimea, where he used to work en plein air from the 1880s.

Painted in restrained silver-olive tones, Crimea is laconic and monumental. The artist spent a long time planning this canvas, looking in his studio through all the studies made in the Crimea, several of which formed the basis of this picture.

Kuinji combines a number of impressions observed in life. The graphic line of the shore, the mirror-like water reflecting the light-coloured sky and the distinctive silhouettes of the pine trees in the background create a striking composition.