Let them say anything about the beginning of Soviet painting, about epicity and symbolism, “In the Blue Expanse” (Rylov's painting) clearly demonstrates the romance that overwhelmed the author of the canvas, written in the harsh, cold and hungry 1918 in Petrograd.
Arkady Rylov: a brief reference
The future artist was born in the cold northern places in 1870. He studied at the Imperial Academy of Arts. One of his teachers was A. I. Kuindzhi, an experimental landscape painter who worked a lot in the open air. Without imitating his teachers, Rylov seeks his own path and finds it fascinated by animals. Since 1902, he has been teaching in the "animal drawing class". This is reflected in his lyrical self-portrait with a squirrel.
And also in the works that preceded the appearance of the work “In the Blue Expanse”. Rylov's painting is a landscape reflecting a romantically enthusiastic attitude towards life.
Seagulls
The first breakdown of the brush was The Seagulls, written in 1910. This is a chamber work, in which there is a seascape, and harsh bare rocks, and sitting birds peacefully basking under the not hot northern sun.
There is no calling for space, space, but interesting is the blue-green color of water, the reflections of which sparkle with blue shades on the white plumage of birds. The triangle of stone (it is rounded), on which the flock is located, is also not clearly expressed. Otherwise, the painting “In the Blue Expanse” was decided. Rylov's painting will have another rounded oval shape that will go into her composition.
Preliminary study?
“Swans over Kama” was written in 1912. The rocky landscape is deserted, two-thirds of the canvas is occupied by the bubbling Kama, made in brownish-green tones that enliven the white lamb of the waves. Not enough space, the sky "crushes" a couple of flying swans placed in the center of the picture.
The painter did not show where their refuge would be. Around low flying white birds there is only water without end and without edge. It is believed that "Swans over Kama" precede the appearance of the canvas "In the blue expanse." Rylov's painting, written six years later, looks completely different, in a major way.
Romantic soul
It is no coincidence that the artist gave the name to his painting. The gaze simply captures the blue expanse of the vast sky with cumulus snow-white clouds, and recalls the work of Jacob van Reusdal, whose sky is the most important part of the composition. Here is a reproduction of Rylov's painting “In the Blue Expanse”.
At a great height, touching the clouds, snow-white birds fly amazingly written in white over white. Swans fly in a wedge, the leader is not visible, he is somewhere in front. And on the clouds, and on the swans play greenish-bluish shadows. Between them, the intense blue of heaven shines brightly, which is highlighted, going down to the horizon, acquiring greenish shades. The gaze stops on a sailboat whitening in the distance. He is anchored in a calm cold sea, which is weakly worried under the gentle breeze. A wave of steep salting boils at its side. Pennants are proudly straightened. The color of his sails is heterogeneous. It shimmers with bluish and greenish reflections of the sea. Only the romance in the age of locomotives and steamboats will make noise above the head of a sail under the wrong north wind. Only above a romantic a tight canvas will sing in the wind. Cliffs covered with snow are cold.
The viewer is given a description of Rylov's painting “In the Blue Expanse”. After all, what is a real work of art attractive? The fact that everyone can fill it with personal content. On the cold cliffs covered with snow, you can mentally put a thin figure of Assol, who expects that under the sunset rays of the sun the sails will turn red and her dream will finally come true. A true artist always awaits the viewer's unbiased look and the fact that he will complement his picture with his thoughts, dreams and fantasies. It is then that it comes to life, and not when it is subjected to cold analysis according to a given plan. It is the heart that tells you how to describe Rylov's painting “In the Blue Expanse”. Art history is interesting as a science and teaches a lot, but sometimes you need to be distracted from academic knowledge and just be surprised and say: “Ah! How good it is, I don’t know why! ”
For inexperienced people wrote Arkady Rylov. "In the blue expanse" - a picture in which you can get lost, stopping in front of her, and then look differently at the life of nature, admiring the fact that the artist gave a new direction to his feelings.