Fallen Tree Ivan Ivanovich Shishkin (1832-1898)

Description of Ivan Shishkin’s painting The Fallen Tree

There are various works by this great landscape painter. In various ways he managed to show the harsh Russian nature. Practically all the diversity of the Russian natural complex with its costs in the form of rain, snow, drought... We have inherited many canvases from this artist and almost all of them are known to us since our childhood. His wonderful works even then delighted visitors at exhibitions and galleries. And now they are no less delighted with the passage of time. But it’s been a while.

It would seem that nothing unusual is depicted on the canvas. We just see before us a fallen medium-sized tree. The seemingly powerful tree was in fact rotten on the inside. The fact that it was rotten on the inside was the reason for its fall. Even though the roots of the tree were powerful and deeply rooted in the ground. This did not save the tree from death. And yet, surely the painter depicted this tree for a reason. For a reason...

Even then, the spirit of freedom roamed in Russia, which later led to the overthrow of the royal family and the overthrow of the revolution. When you think in purely historical terms, looking at this painting, you begin to suggest that it is just about that time. Outwardly the tree seemed powerful as the Russian Empire before 1913, but as it turned out, society was completely unprepared for the changes, which is why it collapsed. Powerful on the top, but rotten on the inside. Here it is the symbolism of the artist. Although, in fact, few can say exactly why this painting was born. Maybe the author thought otherwise. Now it is impossible to ask.

But the painting was greeted with enthusiasm by ordinary people, but the officials have met with the canvas clearly wary. At the same time hardly anyone could call Shishkin a revolutionary. Rather, he was an innovator in his field - an innovative landscape painter and he did not need anything else. Although who knows, who knows ...