Ivan Aivazovsky: Seascapes

Ivan Aivazovsky - The Ninth Wave - 1850 - Oil on canvas, 221 x 332 cm - State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg (click photo for larger image)Russian-born Armenian Academic painter Ivan Aivazovsky (1817 - 1900) was most famous for his seascapes. Although born to a poor Armenian family, he nevertheless graduated with the gold medal from the St. Petersburg Academy of Art. HIs parents worked incredibly hard to provide him with his education.

Towards the 1850s the romantic features in Aivazovsky’s work became increasingly pronounced. This can be seen quite clearly in one of his best and most famous paintings The Ninth Wave, featured here.

Aivazovsky traveled to Istanbul eight times between 1845-1890, where he completed a number of royal commissions. His house in Feodosia (a town in Cremea on the Black Sea coast) became a place for artistic pilgrimage. Armenian artists were invited there and actors and musicians performed there. It was there that a number of artists started their creative lives. Aivazovsky's dream was to create a union of Armenian artists from all over the world.

“A younger generation of Russian artists, who engaged more creatively with a changing world, quickly eclipsed Aivazovsky in importance, but the market for his work remains buoyant to this day and his best seascapes still communicate a raw energy.” Ivan Aivazovsky’s paintings are noted for their magnificent use of light against waves and sea foam, which still causes art critics to marvel at his eye, skills and temporal insights.