Nativity is one of the most beautiful and solemn Christian holidays. Throughout the Christian world, including Rus', Christmas has always been celebrated with special reverence. On this day, decorated Christmas trees stand everywhere, symbolizing the gospel tree, candles burn, like those that burned in the Bethlehem stable. In many countries, on Christmas night, children take to the streets singing carols. Christmas Eve is called "Christmas Eve".
Christmas Eve in the Christian world is considered exclusively a family dinner. On this day, peace, love and harmony reign in the house.
The selection dedicated to Christmas includes the following paintings:
1. Giorgio Vasari. Christmas.
Giorgio Vasari (Giorgio Vasari; nicknamed Aretino, July 30, 1511, Arezzo - June 27, 1574, Florence) - architect and painter, author of the first history and theory of art, “Lives of the most famous painters, sculptors and architects.”
2. Borovikovsky Vladimir Lukich. Nativity. Canvas, oil
Historical-architectural and Art Museum“New Jerusalem”, Istra, Moscow region
Vladimir Lukich Borovikovsky (1757-1825) - Russian artist, master of portraiture.
3. Jacob de Bakker. Nativity.
Backer, Jacob, Dutch painter (1608-1657), Rembrandt school, portrait painter.
4. Giorgione. Adoration of the Magi.
Giorgio Barbarelli da Castelfranco, better known as Giorgione (Italian: Giorgio Barbarelli da Castelfranco, Giorgione; 1477/1478-1510) - Italian artist, representative of the Venetian school of painting; one of the greatest masters of the High Renaissance.
5. Rogier van der Weyden. Adoration of the Magi.
Rogier van der Weyden (Dutch. Rogier van der Weyden, 1399/1400, Tournai - June 18, 1464, Brussels) - a Dutch painter, along with Jan van Eyck, is considered one of the founders and most influential masters of early Netherlandish painting. Van der Weyden's work focuses on individuality human personality in all its depth.
6. Rembrandt, Harmens van Rijn. Flight to Egypt.
Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn [ˈrɛmbrɑnt ˈɦɑrmə(n)soːn vɑn ˈrɛin], 1606-1669) - Dutch artist, draftsman and engraver, Great master chiaroscuro, the largest representative of the golden age Dutch painting. He managed to embody in his works the entire spectrum of human experiences with such emotional richness that fine art had never known before. Rembrandt's works, extremely diverse in genre, reveal to the viewer a timeless spiritual world human experiences and feelings.
7. Hugo van der Goes. Christmas.
Hugo van der Goes (Dutch: Hugo van der Goes) (c. 1420-25, Ghent - 1482, Oderghem) is a Flemish artist, whom Albrecht Dürer considered the largest representative of early Netherlandish painting, along with Jan van Eyck and Rogier van der Weyden.
8. Sandro Botticelli. Mystical Christmas.
“The Mystical Christmas” (Italian Natività mistica) is one of the last paintings by the Florentine artist Sandro Botticelli, created during a period marked in his work by the breakdown of Quattrocento optimism, the growth of religiosity and an acutely tragic perception of the world.
The painting was practically unknown until the Englishman Otley saw it at the Villa Aldobrandini and acquired it. Botticelli was "rediscovered" by art critics with the beginning of the Pre-Raphaelite movement, which is when John Ruskin gave the canvas its current name. In 1878, the London National Gallery purchased the painting for 1,500 pounds.
9. Michelangelo Merisi de Caravaggio. Christmas with Saints Francis and Lawrence.
Michelangelo Merisi de Caravaggio (1573-1610), Italian artist, reformer European painting 17th century, one of greatest masters baroque. He was one of the first to use the chiaroscuro style of painting - a sharp contrast of light and shadow.
10. Mikhail Vasilievich Nesterov. Nativity.
Mikhail Vasilyevich Nesterov (1862-1942) - Russian and Soviet painter. Honored Artist of the RSFSR (1942). Laureate Stalin Prize first degree (1941).
Nativity. The Patriarch greets the sovereign in the Golden Chamber.
Buchholz Fedor (Theodor Alexander Ferdinand) Fedorovich (Gustavovich) (1857-1942).
Illustration for the magazine "Niva". Engraved by Schubler
Christmas tree trade.
Genrikh Matveevich Manizer. Canvas, oil.
Omsk Regional Museum fine arts them. M. A. Vrubel
Christmas market.
Buchkuri Alexander Alekseevich (1870 -1942). 1906
Preparatory drawing for the painting "Christmas Tree Sale". 1918
Kustodiev Boris Mikhailovich
Christmas tree trade.
Boris Mikhailovich Kustodiev. 1918 Oil on canvas. 98x98.
Krasnodar Regional Art Museum named after. F. Kovalenko, Krasnodar
Canvases on the themes of festive provincial life are distinguished by a special, only for Kustodiev characteristic brightness, multi-color and life-like authenticity the smallest details. National holidays and celebrations are reflected in many of the artist’s works. different years. While still a student at the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts, Kustodiev’s theme thesis I chose a painting with a similar plot. He traveled to villages, wrote sketches - portraits of peasants, landscape sketches, genre scenes. “Christmas Tree Trading,” a work created by the artist in 1918, also relates to the same theme.
Glorifying the life and customs of the Russian province, Kustodiev amazingly combined painting with verbal and musical folklore - with songs and fairy tales. An attentive, thoughtful viewer not only sees, but also “hears” the artist’s work. Most likely painted from memory, the picture does not have an exact geographical address - this is Rus' in general, and not the Astrakhan or Kostroma Christmas tree market. The action on the canvas seems to take place “in a certain kingdom, in a certain state.” The spacious sky and the gilded domes of the church above the bustling human anthill - who is not among this motley crowd! The real is surprisingly combined with the fantastic: a colorful fairy tale, full of living details, appears before us. And the artist, like a real storyteller, emphasized everything funny and playful that is in this simple narrative, hiding everything serious that might be hidden in it. The Christmas tree market is depicted by the artist as a festive spectacle. The space of the picture resembles a stage. The arrangement of the figures, at first glance, is chaotic: the image can be continued both to the right and to the left. The openness of the composition and its peculiar fluidity further enhance this general impression.
A large place is devoted to the landscape in this genre scene - the church domes seem fabulous against the backdrop of the snowy sky, spruce trees are dressed in elegant winter clothes - the main item of bargaining at the fair. The artist made a brush stroke on the canvas easily, smoothly, even somehow delicately. Kustodiev attached great importance to line, drawing, and the play of color spots. In this case there is no chiaroscuro of great importance, the light becomes very conditional. Local color spots form a harmonious decorative whole. The cloud-covered sky has no depth, the domes of the church are intense in color, due to which the difference in plans is reduced to almost nothing.
On the one hand, Kustodiev noted and transferred to the canvas genuine types of the Russian province, conveyed the real atmosphere of the New Year's bustle, and on the other hand, a festive performance, a costume performance with beautiful scenery, is performed in front of us by the artist himself. A joyful, incomparable feeling of fullness with life and movement permeates the canvas. Life in this work is visible everywhere: people are busy, rejoicing and fussing, snowy winter draws its intricate patterns in the sky, and all this action is enveloped in the fresh coniferous aroma of the beautiful spruce.
The world in Kustodiev’s painting is similar magic lantern with constantly changing pictures - you can endlessly watch his varied, so simple, uncomplicated and at the same time full of deep meaning life. The blue and soft white colors of the painting pacify, delight, as if they lull, creating a gentle and poetic atmosphere of anticipation of a miracle on the eve of the holiday - timeless, always modern. They remind us, always busy and rushing somewhere, that everything in this world is beautiful, that life is amazing simply because it is life.
From the book: T. Kondratenko, Y. Solodovnikov "Krasnodar Regional Art Museum named after F.A. Kovalenko." White City, 2003.
Behind the Christmas trees
Returning from the Christmas market.
MM. Germashev (Bubello). Postcard
Preparing for Christmas.
Sergei Vasilievich Dosekin (1869-1916). 1896
Christmas tree.
Korin Alexey Mikhailovich. 1910
Christmas tree.
Nikolai Ivanovich Feshin (1881-1955). 1917
Christmas tree.
Alexander Moravov. 1921
New Year's treat.
Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna Romanova (sister of Emperor Nicholas II). 1935
Christmas day. In the monastery.
Ivan Silych Goryushkin-Sorokopudov. Illustration in the magazine "Niva"
City smelters.
Solomatkin Leonid Ivanovich. 1867 Oil on canvas
Slavers.
Solomatkin Leonid Ivanovich. 1868 Oil on canvas.
State Russian Museum
Slavers.
Solomatkin Leonid Ivanovich. Canvas, oil.
State Vladimir-Suzdal Historical, Architectural and Art Museum-Reserve
Slavers.
Solomatkin Leonid Ivanovich. Canvas, oil.
Odessa Art Museum
Slavers.
Solomatkin Leonid Ivanovich. 1872 Oil on canvas. 40.3?51.5.
Ulyanovsk Art Museum
Christoslav policemen.
Solomatkin Leonid Ivanovich (1837-1883). 1872 Oil on canvas.
Perm State Art Gallery
Leonid Ivanovich Solomatkin (1837 - 1883) attended classes at the Imperial Academy of Arts and received a small silver medal for the paintings “Secretary’s Name Day” (1862) and “City Slavers” (1864), which V. V. Stasov welcomed as “a wonderful fresh offspring of Fedotov’s schools." The last plot was subsequently repeated several times; at least 18 author’s replicas are known, although the first version has not survived. Art catalog
In the cellar during Christmas week.
Solomatkin Leonid Ivanovich (1837–1883). 1878 Oil on canvas. 26.5x21.5.
Art Gallery Khanty-Mansiysk Generations Fund Autonomous Okrug Ugra
Admission: 2003
In the film “In the Cellar during Christmas Week” Solomatkin portrays his favorite characters - wandering musicians. Is talent a burden or a gift, a blessing or a curse? Talent is destiny. Talent did not make the artist and his heroes happy, but they fulfill their purpose with dignity. The musicians depicted in the painting have seen better days. The cello played by the old man is a professional instrument, allowing the musician to claim a certain privilege, testifying to a certain level of life left in the past. The old man is accompanied by a boy who plays along with him on the pipe. Apparently, for the sake of this little boy, carefully covered with a warm scarf, the old man has to wander with a heavy tool from zucchini to zucchini, earning his bread. There is a Christmas tree in the room, decorated with toys, and masks and masquerade costumes hang on a hanger, giving the whole event a phantasmagoric touch. Art Gallery of the Generations Fund of Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug Ugra
Waits. (Children of the old village).
Fedot Vasilievich Sychkov (1870 - 1958). 1935. Oil on canvas. 63x83 cm
Mordovian Republican Museum of Fine Arts named after S. D. Erzya
With a star.
Reproduction from a painting by M. Germashev, published by the Richard company, printed in the printing house of the partnership “R. Golicke and A. Wilborg”. Petrograd, 1916
Christmas card based on a drawing by Boris Zvorykin
Carols in Little Russia.
Trutovsky Konstantin Alexandrovich (1826-1893). No later than 1864
Russian painting
Carols.
Nikolai Kornilovich Pimenko. Deut. floor. 1880s Canvas, oil. 170x130.
Donetsk Regional Art Museum
museum-painting.dp.ua
Riding on Christmastide.
Buchkuri Alexander Alekseevich (1870 -1942). Canvas, oil.
What bliss that the snow shines,
That the cold got stronger, and it was drizzling in the morning,
That foil sparkles wildly and tenderly
On every corner and in the store window.
While serpentine, tinsel, gimmick
They rise above the boredom of other possessions,
The languor of the weeks before New Year's
to endure and endure - what a wondrous fate...
(Bella Akhmadulina, December 1974)
- (Illustrator Alexander Dudin, 1953.)
I begin my New Year's review of paintings dedicated to the annual celebration of Christmas and the New Year with this general symbolic generalized illustration to create the appropriate mood for the reader. This does not mean that I will show reproductions with ordinary decorated Christmas trees and children and adults having fun around them, but I will try to show something non-banal, but original from this set of paintings on the named topic, which, as it turned out, were not so many painted by artists. If we had not collected the entire classical biblical series of paintings painted by the great masters of the past, then the name and objectives of our study would have been different. But there are modern original exclusive painting subjects that are worth highlighting and showing as a reflection of the Christmas holiday and the New Year.…
Naturally, I cannot, in my usual manner, evaluate the New Year and Christmas paintings in question from the point of view of a doctor, as I tried to do in previous reviews, but I will try to discuss the reproductions as an ordinary viewer and amateur in art. And in my present review I have the right to select non-trivial subjects and rare paintings famous artists and images that are unexpected for some authors, paintings with humor and exclusive subjects. But all of them were written on the occasion of Christmas or New Year holidays, often combining both celebrations.
For example, completely unusual picture Salvador Dali, written for a French women's magazine"Vogue" (pronounced vog, from fr. - “fashion”) - a women's fashion magazine published since 1892 by the publishing house Condé Nast Publications, is perceived as a joke of a genius.
As far as I could see and understand, it shows two parts of an open arch in the form of a leaning man and a woman, from whose mouths green Christmas tree decorations - droplets or light bulbs - are lowered on a pendant. The divided balusters are made as parts of a person's face. Above you can see spruce trees with brightly and radiantly shining lights...
- Dali's Christmas design for Vogue 1946. The artist depicted an allegorical New Year’s landscape with metaphorical details of decor and architecture...
It is quite natural that artists could not ignore such subjects that had to be transferred to canvases with their magic brushes. Where else can you find paintings for cheerful images, fabulous, colorful, cheerful and fantastic in content, if not during the Christmas and New Year holidays?
- This is one of the old German engravings, in which children and Santa Claus himself gathered at the “Claus tree” (German: Klausbaum). Engraving from the German book “50 Fables with Pictures for Children.”
Of course, it is unlikely that there will be paintings by the great masters of the past, when there were no traditions to celebrate these days and paint them in paintings. After all, the first mentions of the celebration of the Nativity of Christ in Russia appeared only at the very end of the 15th century. And to celebrate the New Year with a Christmas tree even later.
- Painting unknown artist about the New Year's Eve in peasant hut before or in the first years after the October revolution.
On December 15, 1699, Peter 1 issued a decree on a new calendar, in connection with which, New Year They began to celebrate January 1st. Because of Peter I’s passion for Europe, New Year celebrations began to be celebrated in the manner customary there. Celebrations have become more fun and a bright event for the Russian people. Based on Dutch traditions, people began to decorate their homes with pine branches, which were supposed to remain until the Nativity of Christ. The New Year holiday has its own main character- Father Frost, fairy tale character, who also came to us from Europe in the second half of the 19th century under the name Santa Claus. In Russian tradition, he had a granddaughter, Snegurochka.
On this bright holiday
On this bright holiday -
Christmas holiday
We'll tell each other
Nice words.
The snow falls quietly:
It's winter outside,
A miracle will happen here
And will set hearts on fire.
Let your smiles
On this wonderful day
They will be our happiness
And a gift to everyone.
The sounds of life flow
Happiness and goodness,
Illuminating thoughts
With the light of Christmas.
- Khomyakov Alexey Stepanovich (1804-1860)
True, even before Father Frost and the Snow Maiden, the first guest who came to the New Year was a Snow Woman or Snowman, made up of rolled balls of fresh snow, marked with charcoal facial features, a carrot instead of a nose, a bucket or pan on the head, and a broom in hands made of branches ...
Children are friends with him in the yard.
He loves frost and wind.
He won’t go wherever he wants,
And it stands from morning to night.
He doesn't eat, doesn't drink, doesn't sleep,
And a snowball is flying above him...
He was not used to living in a warm place.
From - ha - yes - whether? (Snowman)
(Alexandrenko Elena)
- "Snegurochka" (literally, "girl made of snow").
But the artist Sergei Sviridov decided to diversify the company of the usual snowmen or Snow Women and painted the Snow Maiden in the form of a small sprout of a snow granny in the typical appearance of rolled balls of fresh snow, lined with coals of facial features and buttons, a carrot instead of a nose, a red bucket or pan on the head (still , woman!) and brooms in hands made of branches... And from under the bucket-hat sticks out a blond “tuft of hair” made from wood chips or broom twigs...
This Snow girl - Snegurochka stands in the yard next to a decorated Christmas tree and waits for a real girl to appear from the window in the morning and smile at her, exclaiming: “Happy New Year, dear friend!”
Our other guest will be Santa Claus, whom he brought
- artist Valentin Gubarev in the painting "New Year's Eve". The artist, endowed with a bright personality and a special, non-trivial vision of the world, draws his subjects with great humor. One of which shows the arrival of Santa Claus, sitting on a children's sleigh with his legs curled up. The sled is pulled by a long-nosed, thin lady in a wide coat and a red hat. Probably a teacher at a local school, who was tasked by the teachers' council to organize the New Year's Eve party. A cheerful red puppy shows her the way, turning his head towards her and, with a ringing bark, advising her where to go next. Santa is riding through a Russian village with a bell tower visible in the distance...
A different vision of Santa Claus is offered to us in a beautiful image by the self-taught Canadian painter Stuart Sherwood, who loves to paint everything related to the Christmas holidays, not sparing the bright red shades and humor, as in this untitled painting. But we ourselves can describe it, as we see it:
- Here he is reclining in a comfortable position in white socks with an unkempt white shock of hair on his head and face, continuing in a long beard, on a chair with a retractable footrest, and carefully reading the list of gifts and addresses, what and where he will have to deliver all this to New Year. According to the recommendations in the book “Very good boys and girls” lying next to Teddy on the floor.
- And in this cheerful painting by the American popular artist Norman Rockwell, drawn by him in 1939, Santa Claus sits on a stepladder near a map of the world and also reads a list of “very good” children and plans his route for Christmas night. By the way, many collectors are hunting for his paintings. And at Christie’s auction in 2007, a selection of them fetched $2.5 million (the illustration graced the cover of The Saturday Evening Post magazine). (We will meet with this artist later in the story).
Now you can get acquainted with the images of Russian Snow Maidens, which have taken root only in Russia in the paintings of Russian artists. And among them is the first Snow Maiden in the painting of the same name by V.M. Vasnetsov, drawn by him back in 1899.
- The Snow Maiden - the daughter of Spring and Frost - is a favorite fairy-tale character of the Christmas holidays, although the libretto of the opera does not say about Christmas and the New Year, but reveals the tragic love story of the Snow Maiden and the shepherd Lelya and her death from the rays of Yarilo - the Sun, for having known love not being human. However, Vasnetsov painted his picture under the influence of the fairy tale “The Snow Maiden” and the opera created based on it by Nikolai Andreevich Rimsky-Korsakov (1881), written, in turn, based on the play of the same name by Alexander Ostrovsky (1873).
In the picture, as in the scenery of an opera, there is a fabulously beautiful night: a snow-covered forest, bathed in moonlight, a starry sky. Her fur coat, mittens, and hat absorbed all the shades of snow, forest, and sky. Dazzling White snow, blue-green night, young fir trees in the foreground - everything in the picture is shown reliably with the extraordinary precision of the brush of a great master - the singer of Russian nature.
- Mikhail Vrubel presented his image of “The Snow Maiden”, (1890). The painting was painted in the post-impressionist style. The prototype of the image of the Snow Maiden, his Muse (as well as the Sea Princess and Spring), has always been his wife, actress Nadezhda Ivanovna Zabela. Throughout her married life, she was a mystery to the artist with her characteristic attractive force.
In the guise of the Snow Maiden, the artist showed the girl’s snow-covered flowing curls, with large snowflakes sparkling on them like precious jewelry. In her face, which he always liked, there is a languid, slightly surprised, distant look, and there is also a certain childishness in her closed lips. Snow-covered spruce branches cast patterned shadows with a bluish tint. As the mistress of a fairy-tale forest, the Magician Snow Maiden is not afraid of cold and frost, and you just want to hide her childish, delicate bare hands in a muff or put mittens on them...
But this picture, like the previous one, only by its name refers to Christmas or New Year, symbolizing their arrival and our custom of generalizing them.
But we got distracted by the New Year's celebrations and forgot to buy Christmas trees! We immediately go to the Christmas tree markets in order to have time to purchase this important and beautiful attribute. New Year's holiday. Here is one of these paintings by Henry Manizer. And it would be a pity not to show it, because it shows all the breadth and character of the Russian soul, long fur coats for women and sheepskin coats for men, scarves and winter coats. fur hats, hubbub and unbridled joy on their faces.
- Henry Manizer "Christmas Tree Bargaining". As it is written in the footnote under the picture – “Before Christmas, three days before, in the markets, in the squares, there was a forest of fir trees. And WHAT Christmas trees! There is as much of this goodness as you want in Russia. There used to be a forest on Theater Square.”
And another Christmas tree bazaar, painted by the provincial Russian artist Alexander Bukchuri:
- Buchkuri Alexander Alekseevich (1870 --1942) in 1906. At this bazaar, a calmer public, obviously from wealthy families, with their children chooses the tree they like and other attributes to decorate the Christmas tree and home. The goods are placed around separately so that the buyer can appreciate the beauty of the tree; they are already mounted on the crosses. Buy it, take it home and immediately place it in the place you prepared in advance in the room.
And now it’s all about “Christmas Tree Sale,” painted ten years later. B.M. Kustodiev, unfortunately, was already confined to a chair due to increasing paralysis of his legs...
Folk holidays and celebrations were one of the artist’s favorite themes. And Christmas, of course, occupied a special place in his work. The painting depicts what happens somewhere in Russia on New Year's Eve. Crowds of shoppers, carts with horses loaded in them, beautiful Christmas trees carried to the sleigh. They sell Christmas trees to decorate the house, for children's amusement, for a festive mood, for the difficult but exciting process of decorating a Christmas tree, which the whole family does, as shown in the following picture.
- Boris Kustodiev. “Christmas tree auction”, 1918. Krasnodar Regional Art Museum named after. F.A.Kovalenko.
I remember the previous rush with buying a Christmas tree in advance and temporarily placing it on the balcony. And also boxes of old toys pulled out of cabinets, chests of drawers, removed from mezzanines. The appearance of new ones, especially German ones, distinguished by their beautiful colors and weightless material... The smells of old cotton wool, toys, especially soft ones, which absorbed and preserved them, traces of confetti or all sorts of powders and the crunch of broken fragments underfoot, which will be swept up, but will not disappear until the end of the New Year holidays...
Christmas
My calendar is half-scorched
blossomed in crimson numbers;
palms and opals on glass
the spell brought frost.
It poured out into a feathery pattern,
arched radiantly,
and tangerines and boron
the living room smells blue.
- Vladimir Nabokov, September 23, 1921, Berlin
- Sergei Vasilievich Dosekin - Preparing for Christmas, (1896). The tree and gifts are not yet visible in the picture, but the family has gathered to make garlands and decorations for the house. It’s not like going to a store and choosing toys at the Christmas tree market that you like or order for kids, whose fantasies sometimes exceed the capabilities of both retail chains and parents. And advertising is often to blame for this. Like this one:
On an advertising canvas, in this case a painting American artist Nicky Boehme is invited to see how best to arrange and decorate everything in the house on his cut in a series of bright and colorful paintings: “A BEAUTIFUL WINTER’S TALE FROM NICKY BOEHME.”
- The “spectators”, fascinated by the display of the interior, have already gathered and are ready to sign a press release with recommendations for consumers and retail chains. Everyone is delighted! And penguins, and a squirrel, and a cat and a dog, and also a gazelle... People had not yet gathered, but our younger brothers had already sensed it and rushed in early.
The Christmas tree is also decorated alone, if things don’t work out, or in front of the crown in a white wedding dress, as this charming girl is wearing with what seems to me to be a sad face. Although sadness can also be calm and temporary. And tomorrow her face, perhaps, will light up with a cheerful, joyful smile, and rainbow Christmas tree lights will be reflected in her eyes...
Alexey Mikhailovich Korin - Christmas tree, 1910
But there is also a sad decoration of the Christmas tree by two lonely women, perhaps a mother with an unlucky or abandoned (divorced) daughter, who has a handkerchief in her hands, perhaps she is crying...
- Jozsef Riepl-Ronai. " Winter evening. Decorating the Christmas tree" 1910. One of the women prepares another candle, attaching it to the tree. Her face is sad and thoughtful, because she is experiencing the even sadder state of the second woman, sitting at the table and covering her face with her hands. This state is referred to as "Facepalm" (English: face - face, palm - palm). This is a physical gesture - “face closed hands" which is a manifestation of disappointment, shame, despondency, irritation or embarrassment." This gesture is sometimes called “little hand” or “hand of hand”)...
This is the first time I have come across such terms... So, this is her adult daughter, her child, because under the picture there is such an entry - “Child facepalming”... Maybe. There is no arguing with the author.
And in the next painting by the same Hungarian artist, there is again the same gloomy setting on Christmas evening in which one, younger woman, writes something on an open secretary. The older woman, perhaps the mother, stands there, upset, waiting for the letter to be completed. Both are dressed in coats and hats and are about to leave the house. The elderly lady seems to have a stick in her hand for support when walking...
- Joseph Rippl-Rone. Christmas. 1903.
On the bedside table in a clay pot against the background of the carpet there is a modestly decorated small Christmas tree. On the sides are two unlit candles under burgundy lampshades... Not everyone's holidays are fun and carefree.
Christmas romance...
Your New Year in dark blue
A wave in the middle of the urban sea
Floating in inexplicable melancholy,
It's like life will start again
As if there will be light and glory,
Have a good day and plenty of bread,
It's like life is swinging to the right
swinging to the left.
(Joseph Alexandrovich Brodsky (1961)
- Edvard Munch "Christmas in a Brothel", 1904.
The painting “Christmas in a Brothel” by the famous and talented Norwegian artist Edvard Munch in the expressionist style was completed in 1904/05. and is housed in the Munch Museum in Oslo. The painting was created during a difficult time for Munch. As a result of various worries, Munch suffered from anxiety mental states, which he tried to cope with with the help of alcohol and drugs. He had to periodically undergo treatment in a psychiatric clinic.
A visit to a brothel in Lübeck at Christmas left him in a state of “slight melancholy” due to the impressionability of the situation when the “working” girls had just finished decorating the Christmas tree. He considered the picture he painted ironic, sentimental and ugly. Prostitution was Munch’s favorite theme , and later he would create a whole series of paintings, The Green Room.
But we are again distracted from the main task - to prepare for the New Year, and the toys are not all hung on the numerous Christmas trees. Some of them lie on the table, as depicted in the painting by contemporary artist T.V. Bessonova.
- Bessonova Tamara Vladimirovna "New Year", 1955
From under the sad Pierrot’s mask you can see beautiful Christmas tree paws, and between them is a colorful masquerade mask, all covered in sparkles, and a simpler one at the feet of a monkey. And fans for masquerade masks and various large balls, which little Parsley in the foreground looked at with surprise...
- An unknown artist presented "A Festive Table of Gifts for a Girl" for Christmas, (1840) . “Table of Christmas Gifts for a Girl,” unknown artist.
The girl doll sitting at the table, against the backdrop of a sparsely decorated Christmas tree, shows few objects, possibly gifts. There are yellow shoes, a white blouse with a blue belt, garlands of pink paper flowers, a basket of apples and a vase... The shoes are really for a girl, but she doesn’t care strange picture replaced by a doll... What the author wanted to say. There is no one to ask, since he is not known to us.
And if there are still few toys in the pictures presented so far, then the shops are still open and the metro is still working and it looks something like how Natasha Villon painted them: The escalators are overcrowded, barely able to accommodate all the shoppers with bags, bags, and children with toys in their hands. Everyone is rushing home to have time to decorate the Christmas tree and prepare goodies and outfits. Christmas has begun and the New Year is coming soon... The picture of the New Year's metro is filled with noise and movement. Everyone is excited and humor is visible in each of the passengers going down the escalator into the subway. The hat-cap has almost fallen onto the girl’s face, and from under the “airfield” cap only black mustaches can be clearly seen. Two loaves, like the ears of a hare, emphasize the face of a woman in a black headscarf, standing with her eyes closed and not afraid to fall due to the insuring density of the crowd... A funny girl with a large teddy bear smiles at a small dark-skinned young man with large skis.
Soon the escalator will be free of people we already know, who will disperse in different directions. And others will fill the miraculous staircase until they completely dry up...
- Artist Natasha Villon, “Pre-New Year Metro”
Sometimes a grandmother, who has more free time while still at work or at school, begins to decorate the Christmas tree herself, looking at the toys and remembering each one, what it is called and where it should be hung... It is possible that the grandmother suddenly begins to remember the Christmas holidays or celebrating the New Year in your younger years. And the toy in her hand lingers until a kaleidoscope of episodes or specific faces from the memories of distant childhood or youth passes by... Let’s not disturb her.
- Egor Zaitsev "Christmas Tree", 1996
I would like to hope that another grandmother, somewhere in Ukraine, had previously prepared all the treats for the arrival of her grandchildren and children. In any case, when you look at the tables arranged in the kitchen and what is placed on them, your mouth will water, and once you try it, you will lick your fingers. I know for sure that Ukrainian buns, pampushki, dumplings with anything are the most delicious. There are mashed poppy seeds and kutia in the makitras, under the towels there are slices or a piece of lard, fried pig in sour cream with a crispy crust, and in jars there are various pickles. In general, you can’t list everything, but judging by the picture, everything was provided for by the caring grandmother and is ready to be served.
- Nadezhda Poluyan-Vnukova (Ukraine) – “At Grandma’s before Christmas.”
Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna Romanova did the same, who became an artist in Soviet Russia. In her painting, she has also prepared a New Year's treat and the festive table, set under a decorated Christmas tree, is ready to receive guests.
- Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna Romanova (sister of Emperor Nicholas II) "New Year's treat." (1935).
In the imperial family, all children were taught painting, but only Grand Duchess Olga (the youngest daughter of Emperor Alexander III) became a fairly famous artist.
It seems to me that the colors in the picture are faded. They either faded with time, or the princess did not have the opportunity to buy better ones. After all, she was destitute in Soviet times and was no longer a princess...
And now you can invite guests and start celebrating Christmas and the New Year, which is what the artist A.F. painted. Chernyshov.
- Scenes from family life Emperor Nicholas I.
Christmas tree in Anichkov Palace.
Artist Chernyshev A.F.
In the picture there are women in elegant ball gowns, men in tailcoats and uniforms, children in elegant and fashionable dresses and suits for their age. The Christmas trees in the hall are decorated, and there are huge chandeliers on the ceiling. Everything is solemn and orderly, because the presence is felt royalty or members of his family, or even the Emperor of Russia himself.
Charles Green (?). "Christmas Comes Only Once a Year" (1896). Charles Green, “Christmas Comes But Once A Year,”
Rich family. Christmas dinner (another name for the painting). Guests are served by a maid or cook (cook, cook) in a cap and apron. She brings out a platter of steaming roast turkey, which catches the guests' eyes. Although some are indifferent and busy talking. Obviously, the owner is standing and keeping order on the table and in the service...
This is all I could find out about this picture, which was shown on the Internet more than once. Even about the artist it was not possible to find any information except his name, but the picture corresponds to the idea of describing the chosen topic.
- Viggo Johansen "Merry Christmas" (1891) Viggo Johansen. "Merry Christmas", 1891. Museum HIRSCHSPRUNG.
The Dane Viggo Johansen, a representative of the Skagen Artists group and director of the Danish Academy of Arts, could not resist the temptation to depict Christmas.
A decorated, beautiful Christmas tree shines brightly in a darkened room. Around her, the mothers or older sisters of the children staged a round dance, in which all the participants, holding hands, dance, lead a round dance and sing in Danish...
So, New Year and Christmas days have come and continue. As the celebrations progress, new ones arise or all sorts of shortcomings and worries arise. Like, for example, these two charming little girls (maybe the eldest one is gentle boy– the viewer will figure it out) we decided to light additional decorative scented candles under the Christmas tree on the roof of a beautiful medieval castle. Or install a flag on the tower...
- Felix Ehrlich “Christmas”, (1889). “Christmas” Felix Ehrlich (1866-1931), a German artist, beautifully and subtly painted this tender children’s picture. What a pleasant and beautiful face the older girl (boy?) has, soft pink, white hands, all of her in a natural pose. Just like the youngest, frozen by the impression and watching with attention what her sister is doing. I also look and can’t tear myself away from these adorable kids...
Karl Olof Larsson was considered a “hillbilly” by some of his critics for his desire to depict rural subjects. (Carl Olof Larsson, 1853-1919). Swedish artist and author of frescoes, oil paintings and watercolors, considered one of the most revered Swedish painters. Larsson's mother was a laundress, and his father was a simple worker.
- Carl Larsson dressed the girl in a clearly rural outfit in typical folk style. This colorful blouse and bright red apron on a black skirt are very suitable for the same colored hat, dashingly put on the head of the teenage beauty, that it is impossible to admire her. It was not for nothing that she was placed on a chair, probably not for empty staring, but for the performance of poetry or a song. Although she seems to be attaching a candle to a tree branch. But the girl is shy and, blushing, lowered her head...
In another picture by the same author, a boy in a Santa Claus hat and funny oversized boots is either adding toys or reading out the text, and one of the older girls or mother is watching and listening to the boy. And Karl Larsson exclaims in his painting:
Now it's chirstmas again! Now it's Christmas again!
The children will go to bed early
On the last day of December,
And they’ll wake up a year older
On the first day of the calendar.
The year will begin with silence,
Unfamiliar with last winters:
Noise behind the double frame
Barely perceptible.
But the guys are calling outside
Winter day through ice glass -
Into the refreshing cold
Of cozy warmth.
With a kind word we'll remember
Years old care,
Starting early in the morning
New day and new year!
(The children will go to bed early... S. Marshak)
- Early in the morning, not even dressed yet, the children hid at the door of the room where there was a decorated Christmas tree, looking out to see if there was a bag of gifts under the tree...
American artist Henry Mosler in his painting “Christmas Morning” (1916) depicted a moment of anticipation of pleasure and exciting anticipation from the possible receipt of familiar and long-awaited gifts from Santa Claus, who never forgets about them. He won't forget!
It’s not for nothing that he guards the pre-dawn pre-New Year’s dream of a girl in a painting by another American artist, admiring her and the serene expression on her face...
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- "Santa Claus", (1921). The work of American artist and illustrator Norman Rockwell.
Wise, kind Santa Claus plucks his beard and carefully looks at the expression on his face and listens to the breathing of the sleeping girl, trying to unravel her dream and guess her future. And on her beautiful and gentle face you can see a light, kind smile. Probably a pleasant dream, like morning dreams often are when you don’t want to wake up at all...
Another Christmas morning in a large family.
Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller "Christmas Morning", (1844). Belvedere, Wien. Father, mother, grandmother, a still married, possibly childless couple - all are busy with seven (I didn’t count more) children of different but close ages, who are not yet fully dressed, but are already active, cheerful and cheerful. This mood is transmitted to adults and gives them joy and satisfaction on this bright festive Christmas morning.
Another painting by the same master shows a cheerful scene of the whole family and grandchildren arriving at their grandmother’s with Christmas greetings and gifts.
- Norman Rockwell depicts the stormy and noisy moment of a family's arrival at their estranged grandmother. And the grandson shouts at the top of his voice: We have arrived, grandma! Merry Christmas! We arrived in our new Plymouth! Merry Grandma…We Came in Our New Plymouth! (The picture was painted in 1951)
It seems strange to me the number of gifts, but we don’t know the composition of the grandmother’s family...
And for the road there are several paintings by animal painters depicting the moments when cats are half-prepared for the New Year.
- Painting by the talented successor of the dynasty of artists of Neftekamsk - Alexander Mokhov, 2005.
The author of the picture talks about a curious red cat with white spots on its face, swinging a large ball with its paw, hanging on Christmas tree “paws” inserted into a vase. The cat admires the changing highlights of color on it as the ball rotates. On the table are the remains of a meal with orange peels, a burning candle in a glass and a wine glass. Nearby is a dark bottle of wine.
- I. Demina “New Year’s Table” from the album “New Year is Coming” 2013. Contemporary young artist. Born in 1988. Her picture of a mischievous, cunning and serene dirty gray-brown cat is difficult not to notice and appreciate. Leaving on festive table his leftovers, neatly stacked on plates, he lies in a serene pose, resting his head on his paw, brazenly looking at the stunned hostess, expecting a thrashing from her, but continues to suck wine from the glass, thinking: “What will be, will be!” . Like, not the first time... Meowing at them all....
Cute and funny kittens treat the doll very carelessly, tearing off her wig and braid while reclining on it... And the Christmas tree is barely visible, since kittens are the mise-en-scène of the plot.
But it’s already midnight, which means that the New Year has already arrived and we should celebrate it properly with a glass of champagne in hand, which the last picture brought to your attention:
The work of world-famous illustrator Inge Lök. Inge Look is a well-known artist in Finland, famous for her cheerful lady aunts, and in Russian translation - laughing old ladies. Pictures of them have long been posted on social networks. So in this picture, the aunties, having glued their mustaches, celebrated the New Year with a cake and a glass of champagne...
What I wish you all to do is when the fiery (or “roasted”) rooster - the symbol of the future of 2017 - pecks at you...
The State Museum of Fine Arts named after A.S. Pushkin has implemented another significant project. In the halls of the Moscow museum there was an exhibition, dedicated to creativity outstanding artist Michelangelo da Caravaggio. The exhibition takes place as part of the Year of Italy in Russia.
The exhibition includes 11 works by the master from the collections of Italy and the Vatican. The exhibition is small, but rare in its content. Among the works presented are such masterpieces of European painting as “Boy with a Basket of Fruit” from the Borghese Gallery, which almost never leaves the walls Vatican Palace“Entombment”, “Supper at Emmaus” from Milan’s Brera Gallery, “Conversion of Saul” from the Church of Santa Maria del Popolo and other paintings.
The selection dedicated to Christmas includes the following paintings:
4. Giorgione. Adoration of the Magi.
5. Rogier van der Weyden. Adoration of the Magi.
6. Rembrandt, Harmens van Rijn. Flight to Egypt.
7. Hugo van der Goes. Christmas.
10. Mikhail Vasilievich Nesterov. Nativity.
12. Eugene Henri Paul Gauguin. Christmas.
Giorgio Vasari(1511-1574) - Italian painter, architect and writer.
Vladimir Lukich Borovikovsky(1757-1825) - Russian artist, master of portraiture.
Giorgio Barbarelli da Castelfranco, better known as Giorgione(1476/1477 – 1510)) - Italian artist, representative of the Venetian school of painting; one of the greatest masters of the High Renaissance.
Rogier van der Weyden(1399/1400 – 1464) – van Eyck’s rival for the title of the most influential master of early Netherlandish painting.
Rembrandt Harmens van Rijn (16-6-1669) - Dutch artist, draftsman and engraver, great master of chiaroscuro, the largest representative of the golden age of Dutch painting.
Hugo van der Goes(c. 1420-25 – 1482) – Flemish artist. Albrecht Dürer considered him the largest representative of early Netherlandish painting, along with Jan van Eyck and Rogier van der Weyden.
Sandro Botticelli(1445-1510) is the nickname of the Florentine artist Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi, who brought the art of the Quattrocento to the threshold of the High Renaissance.
Michelangelo Merisi de Caravaggio(1573-1610), Italian artist, reformer of European painting of the 17th century, one of the greatest masters of the Baroque. He was one of the first to use the chiaroscuro style of painting - a sharp contrast of light and shadow.
Mikhail Vasilievich Nesterov(1862-1942) - Russian and Soviet painter. Honored Artist of the RSFSR (1942). Winner of the Stalin Prize, first degree (1941).
Shebuev, Vasily Kozmich- (* 2 (13) April 1777 in Kronstadt - † 16 (28) June 1855, St. Petersburg) - Russian painter, actual state councilor, academician, honored rector of painting and sculpture of the Imperial Academy of Arts (1832), one of leading masters of late classicism and academicism.
Eugene Henri-Paul Gauguin (1848-1903) – French painter, sculptor, ceramicist and graphic artist. Along with Cezanne and Van Gogh, he was the largest representative of post-impressionism.
New Year's palette and colors of Christmas on the canvases of Russian artists. Considering with Natalia Letnikova.
A holiday artist in the pre-New Year bustle. Following Boris Kustodiev, we will go to the “Christmas Tree Market”. In search of the fair colors of the pre-holiday days, the painter traveled through provinces and villages. “Everything is so simple and beautiful,” the master said in admiration. This is true. High sky, gilded domes, ringing frosty air, fluffy Christmas trees in the snow. And also - the hubbub and laughter that sound from the canvas.
B. Kustodiev. Christmas tree trade. 1918
The picture is like a photo from a family album. Artist Zinaida Serebryakova, while dressing her daughter Katya in a blue blouse and a dashing cocked hat, did not take her to a newfangled photo studio. In the best family traditions - the descendants of Benoit and Lanceray - I took paper and pastels and “stopped the moment” at the home Christmas tree. The painting ended up in the collection instead of the family archive Pushkin Museum. The girl became a Parisian just two years later. Whimsical birds on a home Christmas tree are one of the last childhood impressions of Russia.
Z. Serebryakova. Katya in blue at the Christmas tree. 1922. Pushkin Museum im. Pushkin
A small table with a white tablecloth, elegant service, a simple treat. A samovar polished to a shine can compete in shine with Christmas tree toys lavishly decorated Christmas tree. "New Year's treat" of Grand Duchess Olga Romanova. All children in the imperial family were taught painting, but only the youngest daughter of Alexander III became an artist. One of the most nostalgic among two thousand, the picture was painted in a foreign land. Olga Alexandrovna lived in Denmark and Canada, but carefully preserved Russian traditions.
Grand Duchess O.A. Romanova. New Year's treat. 1935
Calm, quiet, fabulous. Family evening by artist Alexander Moravov - painting “Christmas Tree”. A family gathered at one table under a lampshade, reading. Looking forward to the New Year, looking forward to Christmas. As if outside the window in the evening twilight it’s not 1921 and no Civil War. Alexander Moravov managed to complete the canvas just between two periods of “Christmas tree fall” - first as bourgeois relic, then - as a religious one. An ordinary family evening, which the smell of spruce makes even more cozy.
A. Moravov. Christmas tree. 1921
Cheerful, noisy, joyful. The New Year is exactly the same as it was brought to Russia by the main crowned lover of entertainment - Peter the Great. Masquerade - as illustrator Nikolai Ustinov saw it. A little story from the lyricist. The room is simply decorated: the only festive things are a Christmas tree, masks and swirling couples. An exciting moment for youth - invitations to dance. New Year is a time of hopes and dreams. What a dream it is when you are 16... And the New Year almost seems like a new life.
