January 26, 2010

Isaac Levitan

The Lake. Study. 1898-99. Oil on canvas mounted on panel.
The Art Museum of Nizhniy Novgorod, Russia.

Isaac Levitan (1860-1900) was a classical Russian landscape painter.  This particular painting was one of his last, unfinished paintings.  If it is unfinished, it looks perfect to me!  I love the colors and the lightness.  There is an interesting summary of the artist here.  Galleries of his work can be found here or here.

I have been fascinated by Russian art ever since an art history class that briefly covered Soviet art in modern art discussions.  Some things are similar to Western art and some things are uniquely Russian.  Check out The Russian Art Gallery to see more.