Steppe. Arhip Kuindzhi (Kuindschi) (1842-1910)

Description of Arkhip Kuindzhi’s painting The Steppe

Arkhip Kuindzhi is no ordinary painter. He is an amazing, God-kissed artist who had such a fantastic craft as to work properly with color, light on the canvas. The magic of his art is that he skillfully used paints and of course color and light. Yes, so skillfully that at times it seemed like some kind of magic.

Here, for example, are two canvases on the theme "Steppe". The top one is a simple landscape of the Ukrainian steppe. Somewhere in the distance you can see a village, and around it is a vast steppe of yellow-light-brown color. The grass in the foreground is thorny and slightly shriveled up by the sun. And of course, the vast sky, with clouds and some even purple blue. The scale of the canvas and the scope of the steppe is striking.

And here is the second canvas, it is just to those very wonders. Landscape of the steppe, but in spring. When the grass has just appeared and there is still young greenery. And that’s where the magic of the artist comes in. The sky is a little gray, pre-dawn. A morning breeze is blowing on the ground, the grass is streaking across the steppe in waves. You have the feeling that the steppe is moving, swaying and alive.

You even have a feeling that you can hear that breeze. And of course the scale again, only this time it is pure steppe. Nothing interferes with nature, only it itself, only its breath.

Arkhip Kuindzhi is not a simple landscape painter. All his works are filled with sincere nature, and most importantly, the artist’s love for it. Basically, he described on his canvases the Ukrainian expanses, as he himself would be from there.

One of his best paintings, "Dnieper at Night," shocked the audience. But the most interesting thing is that he showed this canvas in a single version. It was just an exhibition of one canvas. And the audience went and marveled at its beauty. Exactly like these presented canvases, especially the last, the bottom one. This canvas should be seen and rejoice in the beauty.