We all seem to go through life collecting ideas, images, and people we feel a kinship with, or, at least, those that seem to stir something within us. Isaac Levitan was an skilled landscape painter who not only sparks curiosity and excitement in me as an artists and viewer, but his work feels deeply in touch with mankind as a whole.
Levitan was a Russian painter born in 1860 and who died in 1900. Around the age of 13, he enrolled in the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture where he would develop his skills as an artist and grow into a masterful and amazing landscape painter. Levitan was an expert at capturing the heights and the depths of the human spirit in astonishing detail through his landscapes. This dedication to spirit and detail can be seen and felt across his artworks.
Themes
Levitan’s youth was marked by the death of both of his parents and was complicated further by the extreme poverty he experienced after their deaths. These hardships seem to enrich his work in subtle ways. His paintings often convey a minute feeling of melancholy and inwardness, while also being strikingly beautiful to the eye. Levitan’s landscapes fall under the category of the “landscape of the mood,” which are landscape paintings that attempt to capture the lyrical, atmospheric, and emotional elements of a scene. Charmed by Russia’s vast and captivating landscapes, Levitan produced works that stray slightly from the standard “mood landscape.” By emphasizing the spiritual characteristics of nature, Levitan’s works make it feel as if the vastness and depth of the human spirit are being reflected back through the beauty of the natural world.
Artworks
The following selections of Levitan’s paintings only represent a small portion of the many amazing scenes he painted. Some paintings have the effect of whisking you back to a hot summer day in your childhood, while others, wintery and steady, feel like the playful calm of youth before reaching the chaos of adulthood. His paintings are worth investigating steadily over time, and I hope this introduction to Isaac Levitan sparks further investigation into his works or one of the other talented Russian landscape painters (of which there are many).
The Paintings of Isaac Levitan
b. 1860-1990
An honorable mention
This painting, “A Quiet Monastery” is one of the first of Levitan’s paintings I came across. It set the tone for my engagement with him as a great painter and introduced me to his mastery over color, tone, and mood. While you continue to learn about artists and mediums, I implore you to keep track of the artworks that stand out to you as this one did for me. You’ll likely find more fabulous creators that you connect with on a spiritual level, and, I hope, your explorations will bring more beauty, creativity, and curiosity into your day to day.
