Ivan Kramskoy works. Kramskoy Ivan Nikolaevich. "Association of Traveling Art Exhibitions"

Ivan Nikolaevich Kramskoy, an artist of the second half of the 19th century, went down in the history of Russian painting as the founder of the realistic movement in art. He actively developed the principle of critical realism in his work, as well as in articles devoted to the theory of art. Many of his paintings are recognized as classics Russian painting. The author was a master of portraits, historical and genre scenes.

short biography

Kramskoy, an artist famous for his realistic paintings, was born in 1837 into a bourgeois family. He graduated from the Ostrogorzh real school, but due to the poverty of his family he was unable to continue his education at the gymnasium. While working in the local council, he became interested in retouching photographs. Soon M. Tulinov became his teacher, who taught him the basics of painting. A few years later, Kramskoy, an artist best known for his portraits, moved to St. Petersburg, where his fruitful career began. creative career, which lasted until sudden death in 1887.

Studying at the academy

In 1857 he became a student of academician A. Markov, who specialized in historical painting. During his studies, he received several medals both for his paintings and for copies of paintings by other painters on religious themes. The future famous painter received his small gold medal for a painting dedicated to a biblical story.

To receive the title of artist with the right to receive a state pension, it was necessary to submit a work dedicated to a scene from the Scandinavian sagas to the competition. However, Kramskoy, an artist who aspired to realistic image events and freedom of creativity, together with other thirteen students, appealed to the administration of the academy with a request to remove them from the competition, justifying their desire by the fact that they want to write on topics that they themselves prefer. After this, the young painters founded their own artistic artel, which, however, did not last long, since its members very soon decided to switch to state support.

"Association of Traveling Art Exhibitions"

Which is already in early period his work became a landmark event in cultural life empire, became one of the organizers and ideological inspirers of this organization. Its members defended the principles of realism in art, active social and civic position artists. In his work, the author defended the principles of realism. He believed that paintings should not only be believable, but also carry a moral and educational meaning. Therefore, his works are imbued with a special drama.

In the 1870s the author creates whole line wonderful portraits of his famous contemporaries: he paints images of Tolstoy, Nekrasov, Shishkin, Tretyakov and others. In this row special place occupied by a portrait of the artist Kramskoy, created by himself in 1867. This canvas is different high degree realistic, like the rest of his works from this period.

Portrait of N. Nekrasov

Such, for example, is the famous work of the artist “Nekrasov during the period of the Last Songs” of 1877-1878. In this painting, the artist set out to show the famous poet at work in last period his life. In general, the theme of a person’s emotional experiences, his struggle with death or some kind of shock played a big role in the artist’s work. In the master’s works, this theme did not have a social connotation, as in the works of other painters. He always showed the struggle of the spirit with illness and most powerfully managed to convey this idea in the above picture.

Women's portraits

Perhaps the master’s most famous work is the painting “Stranger”. The artist Kramskoy emphasized the beauty of his model. He emphasized that she was an urban fashionista, and therefore prescribed her with special care appearance: a rich fur coat, a flirty headdress, magnificent jewelry and fabrics.

It is significant that the background plays on this canvas minor role: It is presented in a haze, as the author concentrates all his attention on the elegant young woman. The artist Ivan Kramskoy especially loved to draw portraits. The author's paintings have different moods.

If the woman in the above-described picture is depicted in a proud, confident pose, then the model in the canvas “Girl with a Loose Braid,” on the contrary, is shown in a difficult, even painful moment, when she seemed to have renounced everything around her and was completely immersed in herself. Therefore, her face, in contrast to the stranger’s appearance, expresses deep, concentrated thoughtfulness, sadness and light sadness.

"Inconsolable Sorrow"

This painting was painted in 1884, inspired by the personal grief of the artist who lost his son. Therefore, in the image of a woman depicted in a mourning dress, one can discern the features of the author’s wife.

This painting differs from other works of the author by the hopelessness with which it is imbued. In the center of the canvas is a middle-aged woman in a black dress. She stands next to a box full of flowers. Her grief is expressed not in her pose, which is quite natural and even free, but in her eyes and the movement of her hand, with which she presses the handkerchief to her mouth. This painting is perhaps one of the most powerful in the artist’s work and Russian painting in general.

On the page are the most famous paintings of Ivan Nikolaevich Kramskoy.

Kramskoy is one of the founders and main ideologist of the Wanderers association.

The main event of the first exhibition of the Wanderers was Kramskoy’s painting “Christ in the Desert”. But the most famous and popular painting later became the painting “Unknown”.

Kramskoy, like no one else, left us a lot of portraits of great figures of his time.

Self-portrait of Kramskoy.

Unknown. Kramskoy.

The most mysterious and intriguing picture Kramskoy. And the most famous.

But the prototype, the woman with whom the artist painted, is completely unknown. The face immediately catches your eye. The woman's gaze is cold and arrogant, she is dressed in the most latest fashion. Sitting in a stroller against the backdrop of winter St. Petersburg with its Alexandrinsky Theater.

The photo shows the painting “Bouquet of Flowers. Phloxes." Kramskoy. A rare still life for Kramskoy.

Kramskoy's paintings almost always depict people.

A girl with a loose braid. Kramskoy.

What a sad face the girl has, what a sad look!

Surely Kramskoy himself experienced disappointment in life, emptiness and torment. It is no coincidence that the painting was without spectators for many years, being in the artist’s studio.

A girl sits and her gaze is turned to nowhere, to emptiness.

Portrait of Sofia Nikolaevna Kramskoy, the artist’s wife. She is reading a book enthusiastically.

Herodias. Kramskoy.

There is a religious plot here. Herodias is guilty of the death of John the Baptist, who openly condemned her marriage to her uncle.

And after the murder of John, Herodias wished to look at his severed head and enjoy the long-awaited victory over the enemy. In the picture there is a poisonous red color all around, the color of blood and murder! And this is not so much a religious plot as a moral one, or more precisely a plot of immorality.

Peasant with a bridle. Kramskoy. Epic peasant!

Kramskoy's paintings often depict ordinary people, people of the people! And this picture is a kind of summation of numerous portraits of peasants. The model was a real peasant Mina Moiseev. Wise calm and good humor on his face!

Forest path. Kramskoy.

A rare landscape for Kramskoy without people. Kramskoy's paintings are almost always with people!

Moonlight night. Kramskoy.

The original title of the painting was “Magic Night”.

And indeed the night is magical, but it is the magical moon that makes it so! The moon illuminated many details in the night with its bright light. In the center, a beautiful and thoughtful girl in a chic white dress sits on a bench.

In front of her is a pond with water lilies. Behind her is a park with mighty trees! The picture is filled with lyricism and mystery!

Moses' prayer after the Israelites crossed the Red Sea.

Nekrasov during the period of the Last Songs.

At the head of the dying Nekrasov, Kramskoy placed a portrait of Dobrolyubov and a bust of Belinsky. So he depicted in the name of what the poet lived and worked!

Offended Jewish Boy

In the photo is “Beekeeper”. Kramskoy.

Kramskoy's paintings often depict a simple Russian peasant.

Forest worker. Kramskoy.

Polesovshchik is an old word meaning forester.

Other titles of the painting are “A Man with a Club” and “A Man in a Shot-Cut Hat.”

Kramskoy wrote such a formidable and strong forester.

Kramskoy also commented on this portrait with words that it is precisely from such men that the popular uprisings Razin and Pugachev.

Portrait of Alexander III

This is no longer a hero of the people, but a hero above the people. However, the king was the best, but he drank a lot.

Portrait of Anatoly Ivanovich Kramskoy, the artist’s son.

Portrait of Vera Nikolaevna Tretyakova

Wonderful portraits by Kramskoy!

Portrait of the great Doctor Botkin

Portrait of I. I. Shishkin. Kramskoy.

Most famous portrait Shishkina!

And this is Shishkin against the backdrop of nature. Surely Shishkin admires the trees.

Kramskoy himself hardly separated portraits from paintings. And on this canvas, the powerful and uninhibited Shishkin is depicted against the backdrop of a sunny forest clearing. Kramskoy's portraits and paintings are magnificent!

Portrait of the great Tretyakov

Portrait of Goncharov. Kramskoy.

Paintings by Kramskoy and biography of the artist

Self-portrait. 1867

Ivan Nikolaevich Kramskoy(1837-1887) - outstanding artist of the second half of the 19th century century, occupies one of the leading places in the history of Russian artistic culture. Having matured early, thinking and well-read, he quickly gained authority among his comrades and, naturally, became one of the leaders of the “revolt of the fourteen” in 1863, when a group of graduates refused to write graduation pictures on a given mythological subject. After the rebels left the Academy of Arts, it was Kramskoy who headed the Artel of Artists created on his initiative. Kramskoy is one of the main founders of the Wanderers Association, a thin art critic, passionately interested in the fate of Russian art, he was the ideologist of a whole generation of realist artists. He took part in the development of the Charter of the Partnership and immediately became not only one of the most active and authoritative members of the board, but also the ideologist of the Partnership, defending and justifying the main positions. What distinguished him from other leaders of the Partnership was his independence of worldview, rare breadth of views, sensitivity to everything new in artistic process and intolerance to any dogmatism.

Biography of Kramskoy

The work of Ivan Nikolaevich Kramskoy coincided with the most striking period in the history of Russian realistic art, when critical realism in painting and literature reaches its highest rise and acquires great importance in the world XIX culture century. However, the role of the artist in the history of Russian art is not limited to his personal creativity: with his gift as a teacher, an ideologist of a new direction, and with all his social activities, Kramskoy had a huge influence on the minds of his contemporaries.

Kramskoy was born in the city of Ostrogozhsk, Voronezh province. The future artist's early interest in art over time turned into a persistent attraction to creativity. The young Kramskoy worked for some time as a retoucher for the photographer Danilevsky and, as an assistant, endlessly wandered around the provincial cities of Russia. Finally, having arrived in St. Petersburg, he fulfills his dream - he enters the Academy of Arts. However, the bright hopes of getting to know the secrets of great art were not destined to be realized, since at that time the main principles of academic teaching remained the outlived ideas of classicism, which did not correspond at all to the new time. Advanced social circles set artists the task of being a broad and truthful father of reality. The appearance at this time of N. G. Chernyshevsky’s dissertation “The Aesthetic Relationship of Art to Reality” gave special weight to issues of art. In the fall of 1863, fourteen academicians were offered a “program” on a theme from the Scandinavian sagas “The Feast in Valhalla.” Young artists refused to write on this topic and left the Academy. The break with the Academy was led by Kramskoy. This decisive step threatened former students with political distrust from the state and material poverty and therefore required enormous courage. Having led this movement, Kramskoy took responsibility for future fate Russian art. For the purpose of mutual assistance and material support, the Artel of Artists was created, which later became the base of the Association of Traveling Artists art exhibitions. Public figure by vocation, Kramskoy becomes one of the most active members of this organization. One of the main goals of the Partnership was the development of democratic art not only in the form of organization, but also in ideological direction. In Russian Peredvizhniki, democratic realism as a phenomenon of world art reached high peaks. The first traveling exhibition was opened on November 21, 1871 in the building of the Academy of Arts. In the spring of 1872, she was transported to Moscow and then to Kyiv. Unlike academic ones, traveling exhibitions “moved” from city to city, arousing keen interest everywhere. Thus began the activity of this public organization, which for a number of decades united all the leading artists of Russia.

Kramskoy participated in the first traveling exhibition big picture“Mermaids” based on the story “May Night” by N.V. Gogol. Here the artist was attracted by the opportunity to convey the moonlight in the language of painting, which so poetically changes everything around. Kramskoy wrote: “I’m glad that with such a plot I didn’t completely break my neck, and even if I didn’t catch the moon, something fantastic still came out.”

For the next exhibition of the Itinerants, Kramskoy painted the painting “Christ in the Desert” (1872), which was conceived as the first in a series of (never realized) paintings based on gospel subjects. The artist wrote that his task was to show the internal struggle of a person immersed in deep thoughts about choice life path. The painting “Christ in the Desert” was perceived by contemporaries as a symbol of a person’s high civic duty.

In the summer of 1873, Kramskoy and his family settled in the Tula province, not far from the estate of L.N. Tolstoy. Taking advantage of this proximity, Kramskoy painted a portrait of Tolstoy. Strength and solidity of personality, a clear and energetic mind - this is how the writer appears in this portrait. From the whole gallery of portraits of L. N. Tolstoy, written by N. N. Ge, I. E. Repin, L. O. Pasternak, Kramskoy’s portrait is one of the best. In turn, the artist himself served as the prototype of the artist Mikhailov in the novel “Anna Karenina”. Almost at the same time, portraits of I. I. Shishkin and N. A. Ne-krasov were created. The portrait of “Nekrasov during the period of “Last Songs” (1877) was painted at a time when Nekrasov was already seriously ill, so the sessions lasted 10-15 minutes. The most powerful impression from the portrait is the contrast between the clarity of mind, creative inspiration and physical weakness of the dying poet.

Among Kramskoy’s works there are a number of poetic female images, such as “Girl with a Loose Braid” or the famous “Stranger”, which was said to be the prototype of Anna Karenina. Back in 1874, the artist created a whole series peasant types, the strongest in character among them is “The Forester” (1874).

In the 80s, Kramskoy painted the painting “ Inconsolable grief”, which is largely autobiographical: the artist survived the death of two children. Kaya and in “The Widow” by Fedotov, the theme of human grief sounds mournfully here. The face and the very image of the mother who lost her child are striking.

This woman, killed by irreparable misfortune, exists as if outside of time, it seems to have stopped. Since 1883, the artist’s health had deteriorated, and last years Kramskoy were extremely difficult. Constant household chores and work on orders do not allow him to finish work on the painting “Laughter” (“Christ before the people”), the idea of ​​which involved the development of the theme “Christ in the Desert”, the theme of the sacrificial fate of man.

On March 25, 1887, while working on a portrait of Dr. Rauchfus, Kramskoy unexpectedly dies.

It is difficult to overestimate the importance of Kramskoy’s artistic and literary heritage for Russian culture. Its main ideological orientation artistic activity- this is a deep interest in understanding the man of his era, whether the artist depicted him in the guise of a gospel tale or in the guise of his contemporary. Social activity Kramskoy, his work became a school for a whole generation of Russian artists.

Self-portrait. 1874.

Christ in the desert.180 x 210 cm. 1872

Mermaids. 1871

ON THE. Nekrasov during the period of the Last Songs. 1877-1878

Moses' prayer after the Israelites crossed the Black Sea. 1861

Herodias. 1884-1886

While reading. Portrait of Sofia Nikolaevna Kramskoy, the artist’s wife. 1866-1869

Female portrait. 1884

Female portrait. 1867

A girl with a loose braid. 1873

A girl with laundry on a yoke among the grass. 1874

Peasant's head. 1874

Convalescent. 1885

Bouquet of flowers. Phloxes. 1884

Actor Alexander Pavlovich Lensky as Petruchio in Shakespeare's comedy The Taming of the Shrew. 1883

Portrait of Vera Nikolaevna Tretyakova. 1879

Portrait of Vera Nikolaevna Tretyakova. 1876

Portrait of Anatoly Ivanovich Kramskoy, the artist’s son. 1882

Portrait of Adrian Viktorovich Prakhov, art historian and art critic. 1879

Portrait of the artist Mikhail Klodt. 1872

Portrait of the artist K.A. Savitsky.

Portrait of the artist I.K. Aivazovsky

Portrait of the artist I. E. Repin

Portrait of the artist Grigory Myasoedov

Portrait of the artist Alexey Bogolyubov. 1869

Portrait of the philosopher Vladimir Sergeevich Solovyov. 1885

Portrait of Sofia Ivanovna Kramskoy, the artist’s daughter. 1882

Portrait of the sculptor Mark Matveevich Antokolsky. 1876

Portrait of the poet Yakov Petrovich Polonsky. 1875

Portrait of the poet Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov. 1877

Portrait of the poet and artist Taras Grigorievich Shevchenko. 1871

Portrait of the writer Sergei Timofeevich Aksakov. 1878

Portrait of the writer Mikhail Evgrafovich Saltykov (N. Shchedrin). 1879

Portrait of the writer Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy. 1873

Portrait of the writer Ivan Aleksandrovich Goncharov. 1874

Portrait of the writer Dmitry Vasilyevich Grigorovich. 1876

Portrait of singer Elizaveta Andreevna Lavrovskaya, on the stage in the Assembly of the Nobility. 1879

Portrait of Nikolai Ivanovich Kramskoy, the artist’s son. 1882

Portrait of Empress Maria Feodorovna

Portrait of the publisher and publicist Alexey Sergeevich Suvorin. 1881

Portrait of I.I. Shishkin. 1880

Portrait of the artist Ivan Shishkin. 1873

Laughter (Hail, King of the Jews). Late 1870s - 1880s

Poet Apollo Nikolaevich Maikov. 1883

Portrait of the artist F.A. Vasilyev. 1871

The canvas belongs to early stage creativity of the artist, but many of his inherent distinctive features, which determined the painter’s style in the future. The portrait depicts the master’s wife, with whom the marriage was successful [...]

The portrait of the poet and artist Taras Grigoryevich Shevchenko was commissioned by philanthropist Pavel Tretyakov. The image of the Ukrainian poet was supposed to replenish the collection artistic images famous artists. By the time the canvas was created, Taras Shevchenko had already […]

The artist Kramskoy was an outstanding portrait painter. The secret of his success was that he sought to capture not only external similarities, but also to reveal, guess and convey the hidden, deep features of individuality. Also Ivan Nikolaevich […]

The great Russian painter Ivan Kramskoy was one of the key figures in Russian culture in the second half of the 19th century. In fact, it was he who transformed the genre of portrait realism, becoming the ideological inspirer of many artists, thanks to him Russian painting […]

Ivan Nikolaevich Kramskoy was an excellent portrait painter and was fond of genre painting and was a successful critic. Before entering the Academy of Arts, located in St. Petersburg, he was engaged in photo retouching. The master worked on the canvas “Laughter” for […]

For many art connoisseurs, Kramskoy is associated with peasants. He is one of the few artists who skillfully captured the individual characters of his heroes on canvas. “Peasant with a Bridle” from 1883 is one such example. […]

The famous Wanderer, one of the main reformers in art of the 19th century century, the painter and portrait painter Ivan Nikolaevich Kramskoy could have remained in the history of Russian art by painting only a portrait of the “Unknown”. The painting is one of the diamonds of the Moscow Tretyakov Gallery- known to everyone in the post-Soviet space. “The Unknown” is called the Russian Gioconda.

However, the artist gave the world hundreds of paintings that delight, amaze and beckon. Among them are “Moonlit Night”, “Mine of Moses”, “Mermaids”, “Christ in the Desert”. Headed in early youth“The revolt of the fourteen”, who created the association of the Wanderers, a subtle art critic - Kramskoy became the ideologist of a whole generation of realist artists.

Childhood and youth

The artist was born in the summer of 1837 in the suburban settlement of Novaya Sotnya near Ostrogozhsk, in the Voronezh province. He was brought up in the family of a clerk and a tradesman.

The ultimate dream of the parents was for Vanya to grow up and become a clerk, but the plans were unwittingly disrupted by the neighboring self-taught artist Mikhail Tulinov. He opened up the world of art to little Kramskoy and taught him to draw. watercolor paints. Since then, the boy, at every opportunity, grabbed a pencil and sketched the world around him.

At the age of 12, Ivan Kramskoy completed a course at the Ostrogozhsky School, receiving diplomas in all subjects. That same year, the teenager lost his father and went to work. He got a job in the City Duma, where his father had previously worked as a clerk. Kramskoy practiced calligraphy and was involved as a mediator in amicable land surveys. The desire to draw did not disappear, and the guy got a job as a retoucher for a photographer, with whom he traveled all over Russia.

An event that happened in 1853 changed the biography of Ivan Kramskoy. When he turned 16, a regiment of dragoons arrived in Ostrogozhsk, and with him Yakov Danilevsky, a photographer. Young artist entered the service of Danilevsky. The work of a retoucher brought Kramskoy 2 rubles. 50 kopecks per month, but most importantly, the talented photographer taught the young man a lot during the 3 years that Ivan worked for him. With him the artist moved from the provincial provincial town to St. Petersburg.

In the northern capital, Ivan Kramskoy moved on to another photographer, Aleksandrovsky. At that time, the young retoucher’s skill had reached such heights that he was called the “god of retouching.” Even then, a talented portrait painter awoke in Kramskoy. Thanks to his assistant, Aleksandrovsky became a photographer for the imperial family and received the “Eagle”, and Ivan was invited to the famous photo studio of Andrei Denyer. The St. Petersburg elite lined up for Kramskoy's retouched photo.

In St. Petersburg, Ivan Kramskoy fulfilled a dream that he had cherished since childhood: he entered the Academy of Arts. The young man was assigned to the group of Professor Alexei Markov. In the very first years, the future painter became the leader of academic youth.

In 1863 in a piggy bank talented artist found themselves Malaya silver and Malaya gold medal. From main award- A big gold medal and a paid 6-year trip abroad - Kramskoy was a little distant: for creative competition should have drawn a picture on the proposed topic.

However, to depict the plot from Scandinavian mythology 14 out of 15 applicants for the medal refused - there was growing interest in society in the realistic genre, in paintings that depicted everyday life. The rebels were led by Ivan Kramskoy. The students were denied their request to draw a different, non-mythical subject, and they left the final exam.

Painting

After graduating from the academy, Kramskoy organized and headed Artel free artists, which included graduates and like-minded people. Masters took orders for portraits and copies famous paintings, illustrated books.

Ivan Kramskoy impressed with his hard work: he painted portraits, looked for customers, distributed money, took on students. One of them became. In the mid-1860s, the artist began painting the domes of the Moscow Cathedral of Christ the Savior: Kramskoy made sketches on cardboard during his student years.

In 1869, the painter went to Europe for the first time to get acquainted with the art of the West. Impressions received by the Russian master after getting acquainted with the exhibits art galleries European capitals, turned out to be contradictory. Unlike many of his compatriots, Western art did not delight him.

After returning home, the artist had a conflict with a colleague in the artel: having violated the rules of the “fourteen”, he accepted paid money from the Academy of Arts foreign trip. Kramskoy left the artel. Without him, the community quickly fell apart.

The painter founded a new creative association, calling it the Partnership of Traveling Art Exhibitions. Together with Kramskoy, the co-founders of the partnership were Grigory Myasoedov and Vasily Perov. The Peredvizhniki artists opposed themselves to adherents of academicism and delivered traveling exhibitions to all cities of the empire, popularizing art and bringing it closer to the people.

At the exhibitions of the Itinerants, those who wished to purchase their favorite paintings. One of them, “May Night” by Kramskoy, was bought by a philanthropist and gallerist. The artist painted a mystical plot inspired by the story in Little Russia.

In 1872, Ivan Kramskoy made the final strokes on the canvas “Christ in the Desert,” which became his most famous work. Tretyakov immediately purchased the painting for 6 thousand rubles. The work created a sensation, and the painter’s alma mater almost awarded Kramskoy the title of professor, but he refused.

But Ivan Kramskoy gained greatest fame among his contemporaries as a portrait painter. His images, Sergei Botkin, according to the painter’s contemporaries, have a complete resemblance to the heroes and convey the characters, the inner light of nature.

The artist presented the canvas “Mina Moiseev” to the world in 1882. Fans of Kramskoy and art connoisseurs call the portrait of a peasant best work Russian painter. In fact, Mina Moiseev is a sketch, a sketch for the canvas “Peasant with a Bridle,” painted later. This job - shining example Kramskoy, a humanist who loved and understood the Russian people.

In the 1880s, Ivan Kramskoy amazed and split society with his painting “Unknown.” The woman depicted does not belong to high society. She's dressed according to last word fashion of those years, which was considered indecent among noble ladies.

Critic Vladimir Stasov rendered a verdict on the painting, calling it “Cocotte in a Stroller.” Many contemporaries agreed that the portrait showed a rich kept woman. Tretyakov refused to buy the painting - it was purchased by industrialist Pavel Kharitonenko.

Kramskoy’s painting technique is a subtle completeness, a careful and detailed depiction of faces. The artist did not paint landscapes, but in the canvases “May Night” and “Moonlit Night” he brilliantly depicted moonlight.

Ivan Kramskoy is rightly called the ideological leader of the Peredvizhniki movement, the brightest representative democratic art of the nineteenth century. The artist's portraits are surprisingly humane and spiritual.

Personal life

The young artist met his future wife Sofia Prokhorova while a student at the academy. He loved the girl so much that he ignored the trail of rumors trailing behind her. Sonya’s reputation was not impeccable: before meeting Kramskoy, Prokhorova lived in a civil marriage with a married artist, learning about his “unfree” status too late.

However, for Ivan Kramskoy, Sophia became a model of purity and fidelity. His wife shared with him years of hardship and lack of money; the artist consulted with her during his work and asked her to pray when he began a new canvas.

Sofya Kramskaya gave birth to her husband six children. Two of them - sons - died within 3 years of each other. On famous painting“Inconsolable Grief” depicts the painter’s wife. Ivan Kramskoy created the canvas for 4 years.

The artist’s favorite daughter, Sofya Kramskaya, followed in her father’s footsteps. In the 1930s, she fell under the skating rink of repression.

Death

In the last 5-6 years of his life, the artist’s presence was recognized by a strong dry cough: Kramskoy was diagnosed with angina pectoris (heart aneurysm). Morphine injections helped relieve the pain. The artist was treated by Sergei Botkin, who hid the name of the fatal illness from the patient. Ivan Kramskoy found out about it by chance, having read the symptoms in medical encyclopedia, carelessly left by Botkin on the table.

Heart disease (aortic aneurysm) was the cause of the painter’s death. He died at work - painting a portrait of Dr. Karl Rauchfus. Kramskoy did not live 2 months before his 50th birthday.

He was buried at the Tikhvin Cemetery of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra.

Works

• 1880 – “Moonlit Night”
• 1882 – “Mina Moiseev”
• 1871 – “Mermaids”
• 1872 – “Christ in the Desert”
• 1873 – “Portrait of the artist I. I. Shishkin”
• 1873 – “Portrait of Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy”
• 1877 – “Portrait of Empress Maria Alexandrovna”
• 1878 – “D. I. Mendeleev"
• 1881 – “Portrait of a Lady”
• 1883 – “Unknown”
• 1884 – “Inconsolable Grief”
• 1886 – “Alexander III”
• 1883 – “Portrait of the son of Sergei”
• 1878 – “N. A. Nekrasov during the period of “The Last Songs”