Arkhip Kuindzhi (1842–1910) was a painter who did not recognize any traditions, constantly looked for new things, and if he didn’t find them, he stopped exhibiting. Arkhip Ivanovich not only loved nature, but also knew how to transfer its captivating beauty to the canvas.
Fruitful year
In 1879, a mature master, whose work is always expected impatiently, A. Kuindzhi, struck everyone with new works, which made up a triptych. These were completely different “North” and “Birch Grove” and Kuindzhi's picture “After the Rain” even farther from them.
They are different both in the artistic manner and in the places of their writing. For the image, the Russian North was chosen, the middle strip of Russia with a birch grove and Little Russia. All of Russia is represented. And how different she is! In Ukraine, the landscape was spied and Kuindzhi's painting “After the Rain” was painted. Despite the fact that these canvases are very different, in all the works the influence of impressionism is felt. The artist met him in 1875, when he traveled to Paris to prepare for the long-awaited wedding with his girlfriend.
Arkhip Kuindzhi
It was a colorful figure both externally and internally. He was a stocky, strong man. Waddled, squaring his shoulders and putting his chest forward. A beautiful face with a high forehead and regular features was adorned with magnificent hair.
Being a very wealthy man, since his works were highly valued and expensive, Arkhip Ivanovich spent a penny on himself and his family. But he helped the students.
He also had a hobby - birds. The usual urban tits, jackdaws, sparrows, crows. He fed them daily at the same time, and they flocked to him from all over the city. And he treated the sick. Absolutely implacable in everything related to art, with feathered friends Arkhip Ivanovich became a completely different person.
“After the Rain,” by Kuindzhi: Description
The variability of natural phenomena was of great interest to the painter. He always animated nature. She is a living creature whose life is directly connected with a person. They exist in inextricable unity.
In this romantic landscape, the day slopes towards evening. A thunderstorm passed, but a third of the upper part of the sky is occupied by the remaining thunderclouds. Gleams of a green meadow lay on them. Soon the clouds will completely scatter the wind and take it to the left where the thunderstorm has gone. There they are still dark and scary. Closer to the ground on the right, they brighten. A hut with several huts is visible against their background. On the white of the walls are reflections of strikingly bright green grass. This meadow, which filled a third of the canvas, began to play with all the colors under the sun, which Kuindzhi's picture “After the Rain” does not show. One can only guess about it.
Through the amazing greenery of the meadow, in which the artist with great skill used all shades of green, a small brook flows through. It starts wide right from the frame and leads, whimsically curving, to the farm. So the green color is complemented by violet-black.
The color of the picture is animated and purely technical. The artist uses several basic tones in which the color intensity is enhanced. Kuindzhi's painting “After the Rain” with the rivulet depicted on it becomes more dynamic. There are two horizontal compositional lines (sky and meadow) and vertical (river).
A landscape revives frozen after a thunderstorm, a horse has not yet recovered from the downpour and gusts of wind. She is already grazing peacefully as if nothing had happened.
The viewer is waiting for the rainbow, which will appear after the rain. Kuindzhi's picture suggests its appearance.
This is a bright, full of feeling work, which conveys the excitement of nature, updated and washed by rain. The picture is harmonious, and it is immediately transmitted to the viewer.
Effect at exhibitions
Three paintings that the artist exhibited in 1879 and later amaze the viewer. The work "After the Rain" (picture by Arkhip Kuindzhi) caused bewilderment among artists and collectors. P. M. Tretyakov did not begin to acquire “Ukrainian Night”. He doubted the colors glowing on her. Artists were worried whether the sparkling painters of the master, who he composed according to his own recipes, were durable. But the audience just burst into exhibitions where there were paintings by Kuindzhi. The master’s works are loved today, a hundred years after they are written.