Description of the picture:
Evening in Ukraine – Arkhip Ivanovich Kuindzhi. One thousand eight hundred seventy eight (modified in 1901). Canvas, oil. Eighty one x one hundred sixty three cm
In 1901, after twenty years of silence, at a private evening where only the closest people were invited, Kuindzhi presented several new works, among which was the work “Evening in Ukraine”.
By the way, this canvas could not be called completely new – as early as one thousand eight hundred seventy eight the painter presented it at the Sixth exhibition of the Wanderers entitled “Evening” paired with the painting “Forest”. However, in 1901, the author exhibited a revised version with an expanded name.
“Evening in Ukraine” all critics and admirers of Arkhip Kuindzhi’s creativity like to compare with an earlier work – “Ukrainian Night”. Stylistically, compositionally and emotionally, these two paintings are solved in the same way, although they share their years, and even decades (if we take into account precisely the latest version of the picture).
Both Kuindzhi-romantic and Kuindzhi-realist were reflected in the work. Romanticism manifests itself in the extraordinary poetry of a simple, banal plot, and the reliability of the display, the thoroughness to details – these are already signs of realistic painting. The compositional construction of the work captures the viewer’s attention and takes his eyes deep into the picture. In the foreground we see two houses, and the paths and uneven terrain, which opens the roofs of other houses to us, makes us gaze closely at each element of the canvas.
The decorativeness inherent in Kuindzhi’s brush is brought to the limit here. We see a completely amazing sunset sky with smooth tints of white, bluish and, of course, pink. The light of the sky is displayed in the bleached walls of Ukrainian huts. The absence of people and any living creatures, coupled with this magical light, gives the picture some enchanted immobility, pre-sunset numbness.
However, well-maintained houses with smooth hay roofs and trampled paths tell us that life is boiling on this farm. Huts with shining white sides are surrounded by trees with thick crowns – the pre-sunset hour мейд them dark green, almost black.
Despite the closeness of the exposition evening, rumors that Kuindzhi showed four new paintings after many years of silence persistently crawled around the city. The rapturous and astonished exclamations of those present only added fuel to the fire of public interest – it would have turned out that the master had not written out, and worked hard all these years. However, the emerging interest in Kuindzhi’s work did not become an impulse for him to get out of the shadows. After this mini-show, the artist was silent again, this time until his death."