Precipice (Ovrag. stream). 1883 64. 2h42 Ivan Ivanovich Shishkin (1832-1898)

Description of Ivan Shishkin’s painting "The Precipice".

Surprisingly beautiful landscapes are created by nature itself. It is the artist’s gift to see them and capture them. With Ivan Shishkin such paintings always turned out magnificent. After all, even on huge canvases he was able to prescribe branches, grass and leaves with almost photographic precision. And in the picture "precipice", we can see the ground, washed away by water, of which in some places stick out the roots. Here is a stump that has fallen into the bed of the ravine. Once it, apparently, still had its roots on the ground, but it was mercilessly washed away by the streams that rush here with every downpour, with every snow melt.

At the bottom of the precipice was a glaze of water. Probably the ravine descends to the river. That’s why the water rushed here so steadily, that it has dug such a ravine here over the centuries. And yet, at the bottom of the ravine, young trees have taken root and are growing and green in spite of everything.

There are many stones by the water. It is the mighty stream has rolled them here from above, from where the birches are trying to grow at the very edge, but it is difficult for them to grasp the ground, so they are bent, overhanging over the ravine.

Usually the author created such pictures by copying them from nature. He found magnificent places and went to them day after day, at the same hours, to catch almost the same state of nature, the same light.

"The precipice" he wrote on a clear summer day, when the ravine was dry and the exposed clay took on yellowish-orange hues. Shishkin painted tirelessly, working on several canvases simultaneously. His secret was that he had one painting at work - for morning hours, another - for daytime, and the third - for evening, when a penetrating misty haze could descend on the ground. And for each time of day he chose a suitable plan that looked best in a particular light.