vrubel a bogatyr 1898 Mikhail Vrubel (1856-1910)
Mikhail Vrubel – vrubel a bogatyr 1898
Edit attribution
Download full size: 766×1148 px (0,2 Mb)
Painter: Mikhail Vrubel
Album navigation:
Originally titled "Ilya Muromets," the painting was painted by M.A. Vrubel incredibly quickly, within a couple of weeks, with virtually no preliminary sketches or outlines. In form the painting was the usual traditional rectangle. Pointed at the top in the form of a huge, heavy triangular spear, it received later. In general, the picture reflected the most monumental and daring ideas of the artist. Writing his "Bogatyr" Vrubel began with the head of the horse, for which he was looking for the right angle of rotation.
ArtClub
Best Contemporary Atists
Description of Mikhail Vrubel’s painting "Bogatyr".
Originally titled "Ilya Muromets," the painting was painted by M.A. Vrubel incredibly quickly, within a couple of weeks, with virtually no preliminary sketches or outlines. In form the painting was the usual traditional rectangle. Pointed at the top in the form of a huge, heavy triangular spear, it received later. In general, the picture reflected the most monumental and daring ideas of the artist.
Writing his "Bogatyr" Vrubel began with the head of the horse, for which he was looking for the right angle of rotation. A real Russian crowbar like its rider, whether under its load it sagged and hooves went into the ground, or whether it grows from the depths of Mother Earth, feeding on its forces, embodying its power. Somewhere far below, pines and spruces grow without reaching my knees, and the enchanted forest can be seen in the background, curving intricately.
The figure of Russian bogatyr is outlined as a huge block, like a massive giant-mountain, forming a single whole with the body of the horse and further - with the forests, fields, earth and sky. The clothes traditionally worn by Russian bogatyrs, recognizable to us, look organically in the combination of colors, tones and lines of the painting’s general background. The Bogatyr’s image organically concentrates the power and might of the land and the people, full of majestic calm and wisdom.
The facial features are not made up for a specific hero of one of the bylinae, they have general, generalized outlines, rather symbolic than individual in nature. The painting as a whole impresses with its titanic fantasy, monstrous power and monumentality. Hyperbolism is expressed in the very approach to the embodiment of bogatyr beginning, in spirituality of nature and national creative spirit. The author himself called his work the music of a whole man, which sounds a hymn to the motherland.
You cannot comment Why?
The horse is rendered with considerable size and weight, its musculature emphasized through broad brushstrokes and a muted color palette dominated by browns, ochres, and deep reds. The animals expression seems equally subdued, mirroring the warrior’s demeanor. They are positioned against a backdrop of stylized foliage – a dense thicket of trees painted in similarly earthy tones – that creates an atmosphere of isolation and confinement.
The artist employed a flattened perspective, minimizing depth and emphasizing the decorative quality of the work. The color scheme is deliberately restrained, with a limited range of hues contributing to a sense of melancholy and introspection. There’s a deliberate avoidance of bright or celebratory colors; instead, the palette evokes a feeling of somber reflection on past deeds or impending burdens.
Subtly, the composition hints at themes beyond simple heroic narrative. The warriors posture suggests not triumph but exhaustion, perhaps reflecting the psychological toll of conflict and responsibility. The confinement within the angular frame reinforces this sense of limitation and burden. The subdued color palette and lack of dynamic action contribute to a mood of quiet resignation rather than exuberant heroism. It is possible that the work explores themes of duty, sacrifice, and the weight of legacy – a warrior not celebrating victory but bearing the consequences of it.