Mikhail Vrubel was one of the most talented and original Russian artists. Each of his paintings is characterized by emotional depth and a unique vision of the characters. No one could have imagined a demon and a satyr as beautiful and complex as Vrubel saw them. His Faust is calm and peaceful, Margarita is majestic and beautiful, and Mephistopheles is almost caring. Vrubel not only interpreted the existing one, he created new worlds in which nothing obeys prejudice and the prevailing opinion.
Vrubel’s painting “Pan” presents a completely different way to the viewer of the ancient Greek demigod, rebel, rowdy and voluptuous Satyr.
Artist's legacy
Mikhail Vrubel is a Russian painter who possessed the unique gift not only of depicting reality, but of creating new worlds on canvas. Vrubel lived a surprisingly rich, but at the same time hectic life.
His career saw many ups and downs - critics alternately called his paintings “terrible daubs” and “ingenious symphony of colors and shapes”, the Academy of Arts repeatedly deprived him of his patronage, only to later take him under his wing again. Vrubel has gone all his difficult creative career alone - he has never been a part of professional partnerships, large joint projects and certain movements and directions in painting.
Today, the work of Mikhail Vrubel is an integral part of Russian art and is a bright, original page in its history. Many art historians trace in the paintings of Vrubel the influence of the High Renaissance, early Byzantine painting, modernist and impressionist trends. However, as during the artist’s life, Vrubel’s work not only has nothing of its kind, but also cannot be clearly defined by the terminology existing in contemporary art.
History Pictures
M. Vrubel’s painting “Pan” belongs to a series of paintings that critics call fabulous or folklore nocturnes. These canvases depict characters against the backdrop of a night landscape: for example, paintings such as “The Swan Princess”, “By Night”, “Lilac”, “Swan” and others.
Vrubel found many of the plots of his canvases in theatrical and ballet productions, in travels and stories about them, but literature was the richest storehouse of inspiration for the artist. Vrubel’s painting “Pan” was created under the influence of the story of the Nobel laureate Anatole France “Saint Satyr”. The story impressed Vrubel so much that he painted a picture in a few days - on top of an unfinished portrait of his wife.
Vrubel's painting “Pan”: analysis
Vrubel canvas is not like any other. Everything in them - motives, tonal palette, characters and even individual strokes - are unique and inimitable. Preferring dull and unremarkable landscapes, dark tones and deep plots, Vrubel managed to create the most vivid characters of Russian painting, including Demon, the Swan Princess and Pan. Vrubel’s painting “Pan” is rightly considered the pinnacle of his “fairytale suite”.
In addition to uniqueness, the artist’s originality lies in the fact that Vrubel is an original Russian artist in love with his folklore, native landscapes and rich culture. Even the plots borrowed from other cultures came out from under the brush of the master a little "Russified."
In no painting is this tendency as pronounced as in Pan. Description of the painting by Mikhail Vrubel "Pan" speaks only of the "Russian spirit" - both in the picture and in its main character. The picture shows a demigod from ancient Greek myths, but there is absolutely nothing Greek in the plot and composition.
Mikhail Vrubel, “Pan”: description of the painting
Against the background of the Russian night landscape, a character sits incredulously, looking incredibly like a goblin; his affiliation with Aegean myths betrays only a hoof. It is it that tells us that the old man did not sit on a stump, but on his goat legs, and therefore he is not ours. This is where the differences end.
Even the goat's hooves and the name of the painting “Pan” does not prevent the viewer from seeing the character of native folklore in the sitting satire. Vrubel replaced in his Pan carelessness with serenity, rampage with calm, constant music for a short moment of silence. There is no bright variety of dishes and wines in the picture, beautiful nymphs and dryads do not rush around the satyr.
Pan is calm and a little sad, his bright blue eyes shine in the night with the light of untold stories, paths and days gone by. Elegant laughing dryads are replaced by thin white birches, no less beautiful in their silence.
In general, the hero of the picture, the landscape, and the color palette are filled with mysterious symbols of the captivating world of the artist. The symbolism of Vrubel is emphasized by his interest in the dual nature of fabulous creatures. In many of his works, Vrubel unites the mystical and the human, creating a single inseparable image. That is why his “Pan”, despite the serenity, calm and kind look, nevertheless personifies the strength and uncharted power of the backstage, magical world.