Исаак Левитан Isaac Levitan 1860 1900

Meet the artist Isaac Levitan Lived 1860–1900 Born into a poor Jewish family in Lithuania His father was a minor clerk but managed to provide his children with an education In the 1870s the family moved to Moscow to give their children the opportunity to study Levitan's mother passed away in 1875 followed later by his father Young Isaac was left nearly destitute and secretly slept at the academy unable to afford housing He was even expelled for non-payment but later reinstated thanks to his talent and the advocacy of his teachers His first and foremost teacher was the renowned landscape painter Alexei Savrasov He taught Levitan not merely to copy nature but to feel it to seek its soul The second major mentor was Vasily Polenov who taught him the subtleties of color and light Levitan didn't merely paint a forest or a river he created an emotional image Levitan met Anton Chekhov in the early 1880s and their friendship became central to both of their lives They shared a deep affinity in their worldview with the same lyricism gentle melancholy and love for the landscapes of central Russia Their friendship was not without clouds and the story of their major falling-out formed the basis of Chekhov's farce Levitan is depicted here as a Rjabovsky artist Levitan was deeply hurt but in the end they made up Many of the Czech landscapes depicted in works such as The Seagull and Uncle Vanya are drawn from paintings by Levitan Chekhov once said that Levitan was the greatest Russian landscape painter He died at the age of 39 just one month short of his 40th birthday The cause was a heart valve issue Isaac Levitan lived a short but incredibly rich and creative life aving managed to reveal the infinite beauty and depth hidden it seemed in the most ordinary views of Russian land A like is a significant action—simple for you but for someone else it could be the key to discovering and watching this video The artist Zoya Yandavitskaya was with you