A friend of mine just did a post on some of her favorite works of art. My comment was getting so ridiculously long I just decided to come over here and do my own art post, so here we go.
In my Russian Cultural class I took a couple years ago we spent some time on Russian art. There's a lot going on over there, I'll tell ya. Those Russians...
One of the pieces that has stayed with me since then is Ivan the Terrible Killing His Son by Ilya Repin. Here's the short version of the back story: the man we know as Ivan the Terrible was known by his people as Иван Грозный. That second word, groznei, doesn't exactly mean terrible in the modern sense. Synonyms for it might be awesome, awe-inspiring, or terrific. However, Ivan suffered from what we think was mercury poisoning--no one is quite sure--resulting in a mercurial disposition; in short, he was very beloved of his people and seen as a man who did incredible things for his country, but his mood was very quickly shifted when provoked. This became worse and eventually turned to paranoia as he aged.
One night Ivan was pacing his hallways and the wife of his son and heir passed in front of him in her night gown. He took this as an offense and hit her so hard it caused her to miscarry her baby within hours. His son was obviously angered about it and went into Ivan to take it up with him. Ivan was, again, enraged and lashed out at his son with the large staff he always carried and hit him on the temple. His son died a couple of days later, leaving as the only heir to the throne his incompetent and imbecilic brother. Repin's painting depicts Ivan and his son just moments after the strike. The fear and concern in Ivan's eyes make the painting as tragic as the story.
Other works by Ilya Repin include Barge Haulers on the Volga--one I'm sure many of you have seen--also awesome, and Sadko, which I just think is a cool painting. You can find them all at the source link under the image above.
This post is already really long, so maybe I'll just break this up into a bit of a series. I'll keep mine to just paintings, as difficult as that may be. I'll ask Mike if he'd like to participate too! Let's just get a Blog Art Festival going! And we can all thank Jessica!
In my Russian Cultural class I took a couple years ago we spent some time on Russian art. There's a lot going on over there, I'll tell ya. Those Russians...
One of the pieces that has stayed with me since then is Ivan the Terrible Killing His Son by Ilya Repin. Here's the short version of the back story: the man we know as Ivan the Terrible was known by his people as Иван Грозный. That second word, groznei, doesn't exactly mean terrible in the modern sense. Synonyms for it might be awesome, awe-inspiring, or terrific. However, Ivan suffered from what we think was mercury poisoning--no one is quite sure--resulting in a mercurial disposition; in short, he was very beloved of his people and seen as a man who did incredible things for his country, but his mood was very quickly shifted when provoked. This became worse and eventually turned to paranoia as he aged.
One night Ivan was pacing his hallways and the wife of his son and heir passed in front of him in her night gown. He took this as an offense and hit her so hard it caused her to miscarry her baby within hours. His son was obviously angered about it and went into Ivan to take it up with him. Ivan was, again, enraged and lashed out at his son with the large staff he always carried and hit him on the temple. His son died a couple of days later, leaving as the only heir to the throne his incompetent and imbecilic brother. Repin's painting depicts Ivan and his son just moments after the strike. The fear and concern in Ivan's eyes make the painting as tragic as the story.
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This post is already really long, so maybe I'll just break this up into a bit of a series. I'll keep mine to just paintings, as difficult as that may be. I'll ask Mike if he'd like to participate too! Let's just get a Blog Art Festival going! And we can all thank Jessica!
2 comments:
The Sadko is really interesting. Kind of different and ethereal and I think I like it. Probably not one I'd hang in my home {thanks to the naked bodies}, but I still like it. The "Ivan the Terrible Killing His Son" is a little too despondent for my taste. It is really raw and emotionally driven, which could be a reason to like it, but I think the vividness is too much for me.
This is fun, though! Thanks for sharing! I'd never heard of Repin before.
Yeah, I don't know that I'd hang either of those on my walls, hahahaha! But I do LOVE "Ivan Killing His Son." I think it just displays so much emotion--that's a skill I think a lot of artists of all mediums strive for but many don't achieve it. I might hang "Haulers on the Volga" in my house. It's pretty awesome.
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