The Artist's Road Painting the World's Beautiful Places

Autumn and Isaac Levitan



Autumn                    1892                    Isaac Levitan

   Russian artist, Isaac Levitan (1860 - 1900) filled his brief life with painting—more than a thousand works of art can be attributed to his 39 short years of life. Levitan was born into a poor but well-educated Jewish family. He attended the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture on scholarship after his parents died and the family became destitute. It was there that he studied under many of the most famous Russian artists of the day. At 17, Levitan’s works were first exhibited publicly to strong reviews. Well-known art patron and philanthropist, Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov became a collector of Levitan’s work, acquiring more than twenty pieces.

   Levitan found his muse in the Russian landscape after first painting en plein air with his teacher, Alexei Savrasov. Although he did illustrations for a magazine and painted scenery for the opera, his passion lay in the landscape. His work was considered poetic, imbued with emotion and referred to as the “landscape of mood”. He became a member of the Association of Itinerant Exhibitions whose mandate was to make art accessible to the masses. He also showed with the World of Art, a group that believed beauty to be the purpose of art.

   Levitan became very well known and was elected to the Imperial Academy of Arts. He died of a terminal heart condition. He never married or had children but was purported to have had several affairs, one with an older married woman, inspiring a play by Anton Chekhov, brother of Levitan’s long-time friend, artist Nikolai Chekhov.

   Levitan’s landscape paintings span all seasons and all lighting conditions, with many exceptional Nocturnes. This small collection of some of our favorites, is focused on his autumnal works, infused with the glorious colors of fall.

Birch Grove                    1878


Autumn Day, Aokolniki                    1879


Autumn at River Istra                              1886


Autumn Morning                              1887

Autumn                                   1889


Autumn                              1891


October                               1891


Autumn Trail in the Forest                              1894


In the Forest at Autumn                    1894


Autumn                    1895


Autumn Landscape with Church          1895


Golden Autumn                               1895


Autumn                              1896


Valley of the River                              1896


Big Road, Sunny Autumn Day                              1897


The Twilight Moon                              1898


Autumn River                              1899

   See more of Levitan's extraordinary work, featuring his Nocturnes here:  The Light of the Moon.