Birchwood. 1885-1889 Isaac Ilyich Levitan (1860-1900)

Description of Isaac Levitan’s painting The Birch Grove

This work was painted for about four years.

The artist’s great talent for finding the beautiful in ordinary things, as well as openly and directly communicating it to people, made his art sublime and inimitable. Simple, at first glance, landscapes that we see daily, the author "brought to life" by drawing our attention to the area.

What a gift it takes to express a whole flurry of human emotions in a miniature painting, to draw a simple mind into the ranks of connoisseurs and minions of creativity and art!

The canvas shows a corner of a birch forest on a beautiful and bright, sun-drenched day. The painter perfectly wields light and color, so the sun’s glare perfectly harmonizes with the white birches and lush green leaves and grass.

Flowers nod their purple-blue and white heads among the grasses. Shade and light are in perfect contrast, which gives the picture unusual liveliness and naturalness, reality. Immediately there is a summer mood, as if a breeze with a light wing is fluttering the hair and birds can be heard...

A symbol of Russia, the Russian spirit - birches, full of life. It seems as if they themselves sway, turn towards the sunlight, to get a better light and warmth. All around breathes joy and celebration, energy and light. It seems as if you’re standing in the middle of this forest, breathing the fragrance of a summer day, and all this energy passes through you, filling you with positive thoughts and moods.

The viewer, absorbed by the impression of what he sees, becomes a collaborator and continues to create the picture in his head, in his mind and imagination.

Finding the fine line between light and shadow, between rich color and technique of writing, Levitan is very close to such a trend as impressionism. The canvas absorbed all the beauty of the world around and the subtlety of human feelings and emotions.