Art:«Rainbow» (by I. Aivazovsky). By Michael Demin 10 “A” Form

Prepared by Michael DeminThe description of the painting «Rainbow» (by I. Aivazovsky) 17/07/1817  —19/04/1900Ivan Aivazovsky created about six thousand paintings during his long life. For more than sixty years of development of Russian art a permanent position in the genre repertoire was taken by Aivazovskys’ seascapes. He was and still is an artist of one topic, one motive. The Painting of the "Rainbow" was a response to the critics who stated that his "improvised" brushwork paintings were not up to date, and his talent went down. The canvas was created in 1873 and became a new stage in the work of the painter. At first glance, we see typical of Aivazovsky’s image of "shipwreck". But on the other hand, this work is very different from previous canvases - especially the color palette of the picture. Instead of bright colors he uses more restrained, subtly developed ones. We see the raging sea with the ship perishing at the rocky shore.Perhaps the underwater reef caused the crash. The ship is gradually descending to the bottom.The sailors try to escape on boats gliding on the water. One of them shows the direction. People are exhausted by the struggle with the sea. They leaned to the sides, in order to save the force to change the paddlers. Rainbow appears in the sky and promises salvation. It is like a mirage, then disappear. Waves become calmer and no longer carry any particular risk.A colorful range of paintings, picturesque execution were a completely new phenomenon in Russian painting of the seventies of the nineteenth century.The foreground differs from the background by emotions and colors. The strain is gradually replaced by calm and bright shades of blue, green, purple and pink tones. The rainbow makes the painting multicoloured.In nowadays this painting is in the Tretyakov Galery.