Иван
Иванович Шишкин

Ivan Shishkin loved very much, and especially his small homeland, he felt very uncomfortable in “cold and prim” St. Petersburg, he was afraid of loneliness more than anything, considered the landscape as the peak of painting, and in the spring, he could not tear himself away pretty girls and all this senseless and tender springtime commotion. We had to wait for the rain to finally get to work!

To devote yourself to painting is to abandon all frivolous pursuits of life.. Fine arts lead to everything beautiful, sincere, noble - to everything that is called hope, advice and consolation.

Find one true beauty in a piece of art, and you will be richer than the one that found ten mistakes in it.

The main thing for a landscape painter is a diligent study of nature. - because of this, the picture from life must be without imagination.

Strange thing is, in Petersburg, if you passed in ordinary time, not on a holiday, at what time of the day you want, every minute you meet either a big-bellied general, or an officer’s nose, or a crooked official hook - these personalities are simply innumerable, you might think that all of Petersburg is full of them, these animals ...

After Europe, returning to Elabuga, I felt the air, the radiance of colors, the depth and height of the sky.

Properties of the artist: sobriety, moderation in everything, love of art, modesty of character, good faith and honesty.

... Germans gape and say that you have nothing to learn from us, and so on and so forth bad things German.

The French are striking in their vacuity, one external chic, which is salted to the point of becoming impudent. The local aspirations and tasks in art are primarily businessmen — some craftwork, everything is based on shining, striking and standing out from the masses, and for this, all means are good. To our brother this is partly lacking, and therefore it is not bad to take a closer look, but grief is bogged down here - you lose everything that is sacred and dear to everyone who loves art. Everything, however, refers to the mass of the local majority. Separate artists are such that you do not see enough, and even colorists. From all German things there is a striking truth in life, and sometimes humor, but often even poetic, so that their things are full of interest, and remain forever in memory.

... I have recently become a completely worthless boy, I definitely do not work, but I hang around and shake money with pretty girls. Spring, and what a spring here, just out of hand good. The workshop is now a perfect casemate. For three weeks now I have been waiting for bad weather to begin finishing my work.

For me, the details and the details are the living truth of nature.

The artist, by copying nature, in which everything incessant moves and changes, cannot grab it at once more than one moment.

I love the genre, I love portraits, I love ... you never know what else I love, but I don’t do it and I won’t do it. And I really love the Russian forest and only write it. An artist needs to choose one thing that he has loved most (...). It is impossible to be scattered in any way.

Nature is always new ... and always ready to give an inexhaustible supply of their gifts, what we call life. What could be better than nature!

And now I want to give you a capital advice, on which all the wisdom of the study of nature or nature is based, as they say, as well as the secrets of art and especially the technique of painting - this is a photograph.

Ivan Shishkin's answers to the poll of the Petersburg newspaper (No. 9) of January 10, 1893:
The main trait of my character?
Directness, simplicity.

Dignity, preferred by me in a man?
Courage mind

Dignity, preferred by me in a woman?
Honesty.

My main advantage?
Frankness.

My main drawback?
Suspicion. Entropy.

My ideal of happiness?
Peace of mind.

What would be the greatest misfortune for me?
Loneliness.

Who would I like to be?
Really great artist.

The country in which I would always like to live?
Fatherland.

My favorite prose writers?
Aksakov, Gogol, Tolstoy as a fiction writer.

My favorite poets?
Pushkin, Koltsov, Nekrasov.

My favorite composers and artists?
Schumann and Serov.

Food and drink that I prefer?
Fish and good kvass.

My favorite names?
The names of my children.

How would I die?
Painless and calm. Instantly.

My state of mind now?
Anxious.

Disadvantages to which I treat most condescending?
Those that do not interfere with the lives of others.

What interests me most now?
Life and its manifestations, now, as always. The situation in Europe.

My motto?
To be Russian. Long live Russia.



The artist must be a supreme being, living in the ideal world of art and striving only for perfection.

Morning in a pine forest - for me this morning is also the morning of human life, the morning of expectations, hopes.