“The Ninth Wave” by Aivazovsky. Why is this a masterpiece? Life of wonderful names What is the 9th shaft

Saint Petersburg.

Storm. One wave after another. A handful of shipwreck survivors. Dawn, which did not bring relief. It only illuminated to people the horror of what was happening. There is little chance of salvation...

The ninth wave is the most famous picture Aivazovsky. It was recognized as a masterpiece on the very first day of the exhibition back in 1850. People came to see her several times. Why? What's so special about this one?

Let's try to figure it out. And along the way, let’s look at its most interesting details.

Waves

The legend of the ninth wave was very popular in the 19th century. The sailors believed that during a storm the ninth wave was the largest and most destructive.

The heroes of the picture met her. 6 unfortunate sailors. They cling to life in a stormy sea. On a piece of the mast of a lost ship.

The waves at Aivazovsky are amazing. The sun shines through them. The artist achieved this transparency effect by applying multiple strokes (glaze). You rarely see waves like this.

Look at the paintings of other European marine painters. And you will understand the whole genius of Aivazovsky.

Left: Claude Vernet (France). Shipwreck. 1763, St. Petersburg. Right: Richard Nibs (). Shipwreck. 19th century. National maritime museum, London

Wrong waves

Please note that the waves are moving away from the victims. And they are not that huge. Real waves of death reach a height of 20-30 m. On the “Ninth Wave” they are no more than 3 m high.

Perhaps Aivazovsky spared his heroes. Showing that they can handle it. If he had painted a 30 m wave heading straight towards people, it would have been a pure tragedy.

He was an optimist. And in almost every picture with shipwrecks, he softens the tragedy. Adds hope. As rising sun. People who got out onto the shore. A visible ship.

Aivazovsky's paintings. Left: Shipwreck. 1864 Museum of the Catholicosate “Etchmiadzin”, Armenia. Right: Those fleeing a shipwreck. 1844 State Art Gallery Armenia, Yerevan

Everyone was delighted with Aivazovsky’s realistic waves. The artist said that he felt the taste of salt when he looked at his paintings.

The most interesting thing is that the waves on the “Ninth Wave” are NOT depicted correctly! Wrapping wave crests, so-called “aprons,” never form in the open sea. Only near the shore, when the wave is already rolling onto the beach or rocks.

This does not mean that Aivazovsky did not know this. In 1844 he himself was caught in a severe storm. Then I remembered that many passengers were very scared. And he stood on the deck like crazy. He looked at the raging sea with all his eyes. He absorbed impressions for his future paintings.

Why did he depict the waves incorrectly?

Aivazovsky was a romantic. That is, an artist who admired the elements. And he emphasized the power of nature through various effects.

Agree, a foamed, swirled wave looks more majestic. She's more understandable to an ordinary person. Than the menacing, pyramidal shaft of a real wave.

Sky

The sky in the painting “The Ninth Wave” is encouraging. Rising Sun. The clouds are clearing. Drives them strong wind. Purple shade sky. The night is receding.

Aivazovsky was an excellent master. But he was especially good at lighting effects. No special paint he didn't use it. However, its sun came out so bright that many believed otherwise.

Some even seriously looked behind the picture. They thought there was a candle behind the canvas.

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Survivors

The people on “The Ninth Wave” are carefully depicted, despite their small size. At the same time, their poses and gestures are very expressive. They are desperate. They are fighting for life with all their might.

Two of them are about to slip. One is already falling into the water. The other clings desperately to him. Perhaps we see last minutes their lives.

Another sailor extended his hand to the sky: “O sea, have mercy on us!” We see another sailor from the back. He is waving a red rag. The ship is not visible. Moreover, the view is obscured by the waves. For what? Apparently for good luck.

Please note that people are dressed in oriental clothes. A ship from a distant country sank. The viewer does not know these people. They are not his family. These are not merchants from the next street.

It is not by chance that Aivazovsky adds this distance. It removes severe anxiety. Which would interfere with enjoying the stormy sea. And the heroism of people.

How the “Ninth Wave” affects people

With one famous choreographer One story happened to David Dawson. He came to St. Petersburg to stage ballet at the Mariinsky Theater. In the foyer of the theater he saw a reproduction of “The Ninth Wave.” I was a little surprised. A reproduction of the same painting hung in his hotel room.

One night he woke up and looked at the painting. And he was horrified. There were no people on the canvas. It's like they were washed away! He saw this as a bad sign. A sign of the failure of his production. Well, what can you do, I came across such a reproduction. Not really exact copy.

In the morning I ran to the theater and calmed down. At the reproduction in the Mariinsky Theater, people were there. So there is hope.

The premiere of the ballet was successful.

Why does everyone know “The Ninth Wave”?

It's hard to imagine more popular picture than “The Ninth Wave”. Yes, it is monumental. Enormous. Works of this level are well known to art critics and art lovers. But not people far from art. Absolutely everyone knows about “The Ninth Wave.” Why?

1. Aivazovsky was the first artist who began organizing personal exhibitions. And not only in St. Petersburg. But also in provincial cities.

2. Aivazovsky was always in favor of his art reaching the masses. Hence the postcards with his marinas in every shop. Reproductions are in every glass shop.

Ivan Aivazovsky’s painting “The 9th Wave” is today recognized throughout the world as an unsurpassed masterpiece; it is one of the most famous works great Russian artist, who especially loved to write on marine topics. Born in Feodosia and most Having lived his life on the shore, the painter fell in love with the sea so much that he made it the main character of his work. And, as it turned out, it was this that brought him centuries-long fame.

A little background: why Aivazovsky chose the 9th shaft

As a person living on the coast, the artist communicated too much with sailors, heard thousands fascinating stories, including legends and beliefs. According to one of them, during a storm, against the backdrop of raging waves, there is one that stands out for its power, irresistible force and enormous size. It is interesting that the ancient Greek sailors called the third wave disastrous, the ancient Roman sailors called the tenth, but for most representatives of other states it was the ninth that caused real horror.

This ancient superstition inspired the artist to take up his brush again; in 1850, Aivazovsky painted “The 9th Shaft.”

To the surprise of many, the picture turned out to be too realistic, but how could a person who was not a sailor so subtly convey the depth of the plot to the viewer? After all, Aivazovsky didn’t see the 9th shaft in the photo? As it turned out, the artist transferred onto the canvas some of what he himself saw and experienced. In 1844, he was destined to survive a severe storm in the Bay of Biscay, after which the ship on which the painter was staying was considered sunken, and a sad message appeared in the press that the famous young artist also died during the storm. Thanks to this episode, and not the photo, Aivazovsky creates the painting “The 9th Shaft,” which has become a world pictorial masterpiece.

“The 9th Shaft” by Aivazovsky: description of the plot of the picture

What do we see when we look at the picture? Early morning, the first rays of the sun breaking through to illuminate the waters of the sea, rising almost to the skies, and the seemingly very low sky, which almost merged with the high waves. It’s even scary to imagine what unbridled elements raged at night, and what the sailors from the wrecked ship had to endure. Describing Aivazovsky’s “9th Wave” is not as easy as it seems, because the artist was able to subtly convey all the power, strength, greatness and indescribable beauty to the point of admiration. sea ​​elements

. In the foreground of this riot are several surviving sailors trying to hold on to the wreckage of the masts of a broken ship. They are in despair, but they are trying together to resist the huge, foaming wave that is about to collapse on them. Will it succeed? No one knows… A description of Aivazovsky’s painting “The 9th Wave” will not be complete unless it is said that all the drama and horror of the captured plot does not suppress the viewer’s hope for salvation and life. The optimism of the picture is given by very finely selected colors: the soft rays of the rising sun breaking through the clouds and thunderous flashes of raging water and instilling faith, luminous and iridescent different colors

a rainbow-colored path that seems to push aside powerful, menacing waves.

The coloring of Aivazovsky’s painting “The 9th Wave”, like a joyful hymn, glorifies the courage of people, their will to salvation, faith in their strength and in the meaning of fighting to the last. Never give up, and then even despite the ruthless laws of nature you can survive!

Where is Aivazovsky’s painting “The 9th Shaft” located today?

The canvas, painted according to legend, has now become legendary itself, and has visited many exhibitions held in different countries peace. It was especially loved by the residents of Japan, who contemplated this creation at the opening of the Tokyo Fuji Museum, now famous for its own unique exhibition and regularly held exhibitions of art and creativity of the peoples of other countries. When, after a while, in honor of the 30th anniversary of this museum, the administration conducted a survey of visitors about what people remembered most during the entire period of their work - the “Ninth Wave” became the undisputed leader.

When I went to kindergarten, there was a mysterious picture hanging on the wall in the playroom. Mysterious and scary. The yellow sun, barely visible through the haze and watery fog, and the green sea, boiling with waves, were scary, and the little people clinging to the broken ship’s mast and waving a red flag at someone became scary. And the worst thing was mysterious name paintings “Aivazovsky-the-ninth-wave”

Later, like the Chukchi in the joke, I learned that this is not one word, but two, and that Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky (1817 - 1900)- a great Russian marine painter, and “The Ninth Wave” is his famous painting. And even later I found out that the ninth wave is the highest, and therefore the most dangerous wave for ships during a storm. And, by the way, it is more dangerous for large, long ships than for small vessels. The small ship still has a chance to climb to the top of the water mountain advancing on it and slide from there into a terrible abyss. Scary, but already safe. But a large ship can break under its own weight at this very top if the ship’s hull emerges too high from the water. Therefore, bulk carriers and tankers, if they are caught in a storm on the open sea, are more willing to cut through the storm waves, taking the blows of the water falling from above, but do not climb to the crest of the wave, especially a high one. However, blows are different. Sometimes capital ships It was the force of the mass of water falling on him that broke him.

The fact that a storm is a mortal risk for a ship was understood by the ancient sailors, the Phoenicians and Greeks. They also noticed that the height of the oncoming waves periodically changes. The second wave is higher than the first, the third is higher than the second. And then a relatively low wave hits the ship again. Apparently, this is an empirical observation with a considerable amount of subjectivity. After a high wave, the next ones seem much lower. Anyway, mathematical calculations This observation is neither confirmed nor rejected.

From this observation (or perhaps belief) the legend of the ninth wave arose. According to this legend, the fourth wave (the first in the next "series" of three waves) is lower than the third but higher than the first, and the seventh is lower than the sixth but higher than the fourth. And the ninth wave rises above all. And then there’s definitely a recession behind it.

I repeat that mathematical modeling does not confirm this legend. But sea waves are a very interesting, albeit complex, object for mathematicians. Already in the eighteenth century, mathematical models of the emergence of sea ​​waves. Sea waves, according to these models, are the result of the interaction of wind and currents at the boundary of two stormy elements, air and water. So the waves gently caressing the beach sand, say, in the Maldives - greetings from an ocean storm thundering a thousand kilometers from this paradise. So that the little people don’t forget too much and don’t get too soft.

According to the same theory high waves appear where sea currents or winds collide. A fact known to sailors from their harsh experience. Near Cape Horn and near the Cape Good Hope where the waters of two oceans meet, there is never calm. Due to the huge waves that rage off the southern tip of Africa, Portuguese sailors in the 15th century called this place the Cape of Storms. But the king ordered to give the cape a different name, Good Hope. They say that our goal, gold-bearing and spicy India, is just a stone's throw away. Go ahead, guys!

Another place where currents and winds collide, forming giant waves, is known to everyone. This is the "Bermuda Triangle", a vast area of ​​the Atlantic Ocean between Florida, Puerto Rico and Bermuda. Huge waves arise here as a result of the interaction of the warm ocean current, the Gulf Stream and cold northern winds.

To the question What is the “ninth wave”? given by the author Incognito mask the best answer is Why is the ninth wave considered the most formidable during a storm at sea? This is simply a belief: numerous observations from the shore and from the ship confirm that in the open sea, single or ridged high ridges can appear, much larger than the previous ones. However, no one has yet noticed any correct periodicity in these shafts. Among the ancient Greeks, the third shaft was considered the largest and most dangerous, among the ancient Romans - the tenth shaft, among the Americans - the seventh. Observe, sitting by the raging sea: the third, and seventh, and ninth, and twelfth waves can be maximum. So the ninth wave is not necessarily the strongest and most dangerous. However, in the Russian language, the expression “ninth wave” has become a symbol of formidable danger or the highest rise of something.
Mathematicians have calculated the conditions under which the infamous “ninth waves” arise - ultra-high waves that can swallow any ship. And they claim that after collecting additional data they will be able to determine the places where such waves most often occur.
A team of scientists from Sweden and Germany, led by Padma Shukla, presented the first analysis and modeling of nonlinear waves (generating so-called "ninth waves") that occur deep underwater.
The famous “ninth wave” has frightened shipbuilders for a long time. Since 1995, scientists have known for certain that this is not a myth. In January 1995, the first laser measurement of a giant storm wave was made.
Oceanographers and mathematicians said that waves 30 meters or more high (the term freak wave was introduced for them in English literature) should occur once every 10,000 years. However, subsequent satellite observations showed that this is far from the case.
It turned out that “rogue waves” occur much more often. In fact, observations have shown that somewhere in the world's oceans such waves occur at every moment.
Since such a wave can immediately swallow a cruise ship or an oil platform (modern watercraft are designed to withstand only 15-meter waves, and giant waves can reach 60 meters in height), scientists tried to create a theory for the occurrence of such waves.
“The main reason for the occurrence of such waves seems to lie in a process known as nonlinear wave interactions - a certain mechanism for the exchange of energy between waves, leading to great growth in a wave amplitude much larger than would be possible through conventional linear wave superposition,” said co-author Matthias Markland.
To describe and analyze giant waves, scientists used a system of two nonlinearly interacting waves, described by the Schrödinger equations, which have proven themselves in quantum mechanics.
It turned out that quantum equations work well here too.
“We presented a theoretical study of the modulation instability of a pair of nonlinearly interacting two-dimensional waves in deep water and showed that the full dynamics of these interacting waves gives rise to limited wave packets of large amplitude,” the scientists summarize their paper.
In fact, scientists used the Schrödinger equation to study the effect of different speeds and angles at which two waves intersect in space.
And they found that when two waves intersect at a relatively small angle, they form a new one, more than twice as high as during normal interaction, thereby giving rise to the “ninth wave”.
The theorists presented the results of their work in Physical Review Letters. And they say that additional satellite and oceanographic observations and statistical calculations are now required. And then they will be able to establish the places where “abnormal” waves are most likely to occur.
Source:

Answer from Kavai_ElkO_H)[guru]
huge, scary wave

Answer from Andrey[guru]
THE NINTH WAVE - 1) according to ancient folk belief, the strongest and most dangerous wave during sea ​​storm. 2) B figuratively- a symbol of formidable danger or the highest rise of something.

Answer from Matvey Dmitriev[newbie]
?
Ninth wave
One of the most famous paintings by the Russian marine painter Ivan Aivazovsky is kept in the Russian Museum. The painter depicts the sea after a severe night storm and shipwrecked people.

NINTH SHAFT

Painting I.K. Aivazovsky. Created in 1850, located in Russian Museum. Dimensions 221 × 332 cm.

"The Ninth Wave" Artist I.K. Aivazovsky. 1850:

Russia. Large linguistic and cultural dictionary. - M.: State Institute of Russian Language named after. A.S. Pushkin. AST-Press. T.N. Chernyavskaya, K.S. Miloslavskaya, E.G. Rostova, O.E. Frolova, V.I. Borisenko, Yu.A. Vyunov, V.P. Chudnov. 2007 .

See what the “NINTH SHAFT” is in other dictionaries:

Ninth wave- The ninth wave is a common symbol of force majeure in art, based on the belief that the ninth wave during a storm is the strongest and most dangerous. "The Ninth Wave" satirical magazine published in St. Petersburg in 1906... ... Wikipedia

Ninth Wave- The Ninth Wave: “The Ninth Wave” is the most famous painting by Ivan Aivazovsky, the world famous Russian marine painter “The Ninth Wave” is a satirical magazine published in St. Petersburg in 1906. 2 issues have been published, Ninth Val village in Nadezhdinsky... ... Wikipedia

NINTH SHAFT- THE NINTH SHAFT, 1) according to ancient folk belief, the strongest and most dangerous wave during a sea storm. 2) (figuratively) a symbol of formidable danger or the highest rise of something... Modern encyclopedia

NINTH SHAFT- 1) according to ancient popular belief, the strongest and most dangerous wave during a sea storm. 2) In a figurative sense, a symbol of formidable danger or the highest rise of something ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

ninth shaft- noun, number of synonyms: 1 wave (35) ASIS Dictionary of Synonyms. V.N. Trishin. 2013… Synonym dictionary

ninth shaft- The strongest and most dangerous wave that regularly occurs during storms in the seas and oceans... Dictionary of Geography

ninth shaft- a historically established idea among seafarers about the strongest wave at sea during a storm. Sailors consider every fourth, seventh or eleventh wave to be the largest. However, most often greatest height And destructive force… … Marine Biographical Dictionary

Ninth wave- THE NINTH WAVE, 1) according to ancient folk belief, the strongest and most dangerous wave during a sea storm. 2) (figuratively) a symbol of formidable danger or the highest rise of something. ... Illustrated Encyclopedic Dictionary

ninth shaft- (foreign language) about the fatal, threatening with danger, about irresistible force (a hint of the power of the ninth wave) Trouble is coming that the ninth wave. The ninth wave is finishing off. Wed. Deep without a bottom Death is certain! As the sworn Enemy threatens, Here is the ninth Shaft running. A.I. Polezhaev... ... Michelson's Large Explanatory and Phraseological Dictionary

Ninth wave- widespread in art, journalism and colloquial speech a symbol of formidable danger or the highest rise of a powerful, irresistible force. It is based on the ancient popular belief, as if D. v. during a sea storm the strongest and... Great Soviet Encyclopedia

Books

• The Ninth Wave, Ilya Erenburg. Lifetime edition. Moscow, 1953. Soviet writer. Publisher's binding. The condition is good. The novel “The Ninth Wave”, written by Ilya Ehrenburg in the post-war period (1951-1952),…