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Of the Russian artists, Ilya Repin is considered the most mystical. One painting “Ivan the Terrible and his son Ivan” is worth not saying already about the famous portraits, after writing which, almost all people who posed for the great artist soon died.
However, Ilya Repin considered his first teacher no less famous and talented Russian artist Ivan Nikolaevich Kramskoy, whose paintings, especially The Mermaids, also, gently speaking, not devoid of mysticism.
Painting by Ivan Kramskoy “Mermaid”
Wanderer Ivan Kramskoy was simply fascinated creativity of Nikolai Gogol, was particularly struck by his story “May night, or the Drowned Woman. “Of course, such a work simply could not not attract artists, and many have illustrated it the work, trying to convey in pictures that amazing and mysterious Ukrainian life, which is described in his book the greatest Russian mystic writer.
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However, the artist Kramskoy in his painting “Mermaids” decided compete with Gogol in transmitting fantastic beauty and mysterious moonlit night when ashore a mysterious pond go underwater beauties. However, for a long time he did not managed to catch this bewitching, almost mystical the attractiveness of Gogol’s May night. Artist many times re-reading the work, trying with all his heart to plunge into that atmosphere, but constantly complaining how difficult this thing is – mysterious moonlight. He will later write in his diaries that I almost broke my neck in this picture, but the moon still “caught” – and it turned out, ultimately, really fantastic the canvas.
Kramskoi’s “Mermaid” painting turned out to be not only fantastic attractive, but also mysteriously mysterious. Critics rated her high, but soon even the most enthusiastic of them fell silent. A business that at the first exhibition of the Wanderers, this picture was hanged next to the Savras landscape “Rooks Have Arrived”. Night landscape crashed to the floor. Someone even joked that mermaids aren’t approved such a neighborhood. But soon the jokes disappeared. Picture “Mermaids” caused some mystical chill and horror in visitors to the exhibition.
After the exhibition, both paintings, that is, Rooks and Mermaids, purchased for his gallery Pavel Tretyakov. And then he ran into the fact that it’s difficult to find a place for Kramskoy’s picture. First her hanged in the hall, but from there, according to the servants, at night it became to blow damp and cool, and even the singing was heard. Cleaning woman For this reason they refused to enter the room, they were afraid.
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Tretyakov himself did not suffer from mysticism, why at first he didn’t this is of great importance. However, he soon began to notice that it was worth to stay in this room, next to Kramskoy’s “Mermaids,” as from he seemed to be pumped out by all vitality, he felt tired, lethargy, drowsiness. In addition, the picture began to complain and gallery visitors, saying that you can’t look at the Mermaids for a long time without any kind of inner shudder, and the sensitive young ladies are those and completely fainted from this picture.
And although the evidence for the relationship of such fainting with the picture is not there, Tretyakov on the advice of his old nanny outweighed the “Mermaid” into the far corner, where sunlight did not fall on it. Since visitors stopped complaining about the picture, and she (or her Mermaids suffering from sunlight) calmed down and did not cause no one else worries.
Painting by Ivan Kramskoy “The Stranger”
Ivan Kramskoy painted another mystical picture – Unknown, or Stranger. At first glance, in this portrait there is nothing unusual. Unless contemporaries of the artist could determine with whom this beauty was written. Himself the portrait painter only grinned, but refused to name the woman, laughed off that such may not be at all.
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Tretyakov refused to acquire Kramskoy’s “Stranger”, why – No one knows. There are different versions, but given that the patron is not suffered from mysticism, it is hard to believe that he listened to popular opinion at that time, as if portraits of beauties capable of fatally affecting men. Most likely, Tretyakov just had a fantastic intuition that told him that for his gallery “Unknown” has not yet “matured.”
And the picture began its mystical journey through private collections, increasingly overgrown with notoriety. Its first owner the wife immediately left, the second – the mansion burned down, the third somehow quickly and strangely went bankrupt. Soon they began to say that in all troubles are due to the “fatal” picture of Kramskoy.
By the way, the artist himself also suffered from it. After finishing of this mystical portrait, it’s somehow strange one after another his two sons are dying …
Soon the “Stranger” went abroad, however, she continued here bring only troubles and misfortunes to their owners. And only in 1925 year she returned to Russia and, taking her rightful place in The Tretyakov Gallery finally calmed down. It turns out where was her marina …
Time Moon Mermaids Artists
