Description of the picture:
Amanita – Ivan Ivanovich Shishkin. 1880-1890. Canvas, oil. 12.8×19.6
Etude Shishkina "Fly agaric" – A vivid example of a talented sketch of a great Russian artist. The plot of the etude is akin to the Russian fairy tale: fly agaric is an indispensable attribute of evil spirits, magic rituals, riddles and transformations.
Before the viewer appears a family of bright mushrooms in the thicket of a virgin forest. Each of the seven fly agarics depicted seems to have its own character, biography, and fate. In the foreground, a pair of young strong handsome men guarding the elders of the clan in the center of the composition. In the center, on the contrary, are old mushrooms with traces of decay, wilting … The artist schematically, blurry and fuzzily depicts a forest around the main "heroes" pictures. Nothing should distract the viewer’s attention from the picturesque group of fly agarics. On the other хэнд, it is the green forest and brown leaves that accentuate the brightness of the mushroom caps and the white spots on the caps.
The deliberate incompleteness of the work creates a feeling of fabulousness and unreality of the image. It is as if we have a vision inspired by insidious and poisonous mushrooms in a magical forest."