Famous paintings by Kramskoy with titles. Ivan Nikolaevich Kramskoy - realist artist of the second half of the 19th century

Unknown

The artist Ivan Nikolaevich Kramskoy is an outstanding Russian master of painting who lived and worked in the second half of the nineteenth century. He is not just a painter - he is one of the founders of the movement of realist artists in Russian and world art.

Since Ivan Nikolaevich stood at the origins critical realism, a very tempting idea arose to present the artist as a revolutionary painter who led a rebellion at the Academy of Arts, spoke out against biblical painting and, accordingly, the reactionary tsarist system. All this is politicking. And nothing more. The truth, as always, is somewhere in the middle.

Biography of the artist Ivan Kramskoy

Self-portrait

The artist Ivan Kramskoy was born on May 27, 1837 in the Voronezh province, near the city of Ostrogozhsk, in the family of a tradesman. He graduated from a real school with honors, but was unable to enter the gymnasium - the boy’s father died in 1849 and the family lived very modestly. After graduating from real school, Ivan worked for some time in the City Duma. It was in the City Duma that he became interested first in calligraphy and then in painting.

The desire to paint was so great that Ivan constantly asked his older brother for help - his brother could arrange him as an apprentice to some local painter. He annoyed his older brother with these requests for two whole years and, as a result, was assigned to study with one of the Voronezh painters. Ivan Nikolaevich did not work long in the icon-painting workshop - he ran away. Subsequently, he recalled that in the icon-painting workshop he was not allowed to paint, but was used as a household assistant - to bring, carry, wash.

Mermaids

After escaping, young Kramskoy met M.B. Tulinov, who was a passionate lover of painting and the emerging photography. For some time, Ivan Nikolaevich lived with Tulinov, and then moved to Kharkov and got a job as a retoucher in the photo workshop of Ya.P. Danilevsky. During this period, the future artist became interested in reading and began to study the theory of painting and the theory of art.

Christ in the desert

Kramskoy worked in Kharkov for three years and decided to enter the Academy of Painting.

Life in St. Petersburg turned out to be far from cheap and the money earned in Kharkov quickly ran out. Kramskoy decided to combine his studies at the Academy and work as a retoucher in a photo workshop. The combination turned out to be successful - the young artist was able to rent a small (by nineteenth-century standards) apartment of three rooms on Vasilyevsky Island. It was this apartment that became the place for almost daily gatherings of fellow students, a place for heated discussions and ambitious dreams about the future.

Moonlight night

Kramskoy's training at the Academy was quite successful. For the work “The Mortally Wounded Lensky” in 1860, student Kramskoy received a second silver medal, in 1861-1862 for the painting “The Prayer of Moses upon the Israelites Crossing the Black Sea”, seven portraits, the painting “Oleg’s March to Constantinople” and two large copies of paintings by Y. Kapkov and P. Petrov (paintings on religious themes) were nominated for the second gold medal.

Forester

In 1862, Kramskoy was hired as a teacher at the school of the Imperial Society for the Encouragement of the Arts.

To complete training at the Academy, one had to complete the program to receive the First Gold Medal. The first gold medal allowed the artist to receive a class rank and a state pension for a business trip abroad for the purpose of developing and studying painting.

Beekeeper

However, in 1863, the Academy Council developed new rules for students wishing to receive the First Gold Medal. The conditions were so difficult (simply impossible) that 14 graduates, led by Ivan Kramskoy, appealed to the Council with a request to exempt them from participating in the competition. Exactly with a request. Not with a demand or a revolutionary appeal.

Offended Jewish boy

This is how the legend of the “Revolt of the Fourteen” arose. However, the reluctance to participate in the competition became a challenge and outraged the leadership of the Academy. But was it a rebellion?

Moses' prayer after the Israelites crossed the Black Sea

Students were released from the Academy without a title cool artist, which significantly complicated future life young painters. And Kramskoy proposed creating the “St. Petersburg Artel of Artists” - a community of young painters with a mutual aid fund and mandatory contributions to the cash desk from each work sold at a percentage established by the comrades.

Peasant with a bridle Mina Moiseev

Ivan Nikolaevich was involved in the affairs of the artel with great desire, but the community very soon disintegrated - one of the comrades began to petition the Academy for the allocation of a pension for him personally to travel abroad. Kramskoy was indignant, but the majority of the participants in the artel supported the apostate. It turned out to be an ugly story. It must be said that Kramskoy was not only ideological inspirer artel, but also its main patron of the arts - it is known that only in 1869 he contributed more than 3,000 rubles to the artel’s cash desk. It turned out that he supported artists whom he considered like-minded people, and his comrades were in the artel solely for material gain and, when they received greater benefits, they easily left the artel.

While reading. Portrait of Sofia Nikolaevna Kramskoy, the artist’s wife

Kramskoy himself left the artel and soon this community of artists disintegrated.

Female portrait

In 1870, the Association of Traveling Art Exhibitions was formed. And one of the organizers of this society, as you may have guessed, was Ivan Nikolaevich Kramskoy, who was not only the creator - he simply put his soul into the Partnership.

Girl with a loose braid

Portrait of Sofia Ivanovna Kramskoy, the artist’s daughter

The artist died on March 25, 1887. I was painting a portrait of Dr. Rauchfus, when I suddenly froze and fell. The arriving doctor confirmed the death of the great artist.

I won’t talk about the artist’s works – I’ll show you some of them.

A picturesque sketch for the painting "Unknown", which is kept in Prague, in a private collection (1883).

This is perhaps the most famous work Kramskoy, the most intriguing thing, which remains incomprehensible and unsolved to this day. By calling his painting “Unknown,” the clever Kramskoy forever attached to it an aura of mystery. Contemporaries were literally at a loss. Her image evoked concern and anxiety, a vague premonition of a depressing and dubious new thing - the appearance of a type of woman who did not fit into the previous system of values. “It is unknown who this lady is, decent or corrupt, but a whole era sits in her,” some stated. Stasov loudly called Kramskoy’s heroine “a cocotte in a stroller.” Tretyakov also admitted to Stasov that “ previous works“He likes Kramskoy more than the latter. There were critics who connected this image with Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina, who had descended from her heights social status, with Fyodor Dostoevsky's Nastasya Filippovna, rising above the position of a fallen woman, the names of ladies of the world and demi-monde were also called. By the beginning of the 20th century, the scandalousness of the image was gradually covered by the romantic and mysterious aura of Blok’s “Stranger.” IN Soviet time Kramskoy’s “Unknown” became the embodiment of aristocracy and secular sophistication, almost Russian Sistine Madonna- ideal unearthly beauty and spirituality.

In a private collection in Prague there is a picturesque sketch for the painting, convincing that Kramskoy was looking for ambiguity artistic image. The sketch is much simpler and sharper, what has been said and more definite picture. It reveals the insolence and power of a woman, a feeling of emptiness and satiety, which are absent in the final version. In the film “Unknown,” Kramskoy is captivated by the sensual, almost teasing beauty of his heroine, her delicate dark skin, her velvet eyelashes, the slightly arrogant squinting of her brown eyes, her majestic posture. Like a queen, she rises above the foggy white cold city, driving in an open carriage along the Anichkov Bridge. Her outfit - a "Francis" hat, trimmed with elegant light feathers, "Swedish" gloves made of the finest leather, a "Skobelev" coat, decorated with sable fur and blue satin ribbons, a muff, a gold bracelet - all these are fashionable details of a women's costume of the 1880s years, claiming expensive elegance. However, this did not mean belonging to high society; rather, on the contrary, the code of unwritten rules excluded strict adherence to fashion in the highest circles of Russian society.

The exquisite sensual beauty, majesty and grace of the “Unknown”, a certain alienation and arrogance cannot hide the feeling of insecurity in the face of the world to which she belongs and on which she depends. With his painting, Kramskoy raises the question of the fate of beauty in imperfect reality.

Russian painter and draftsman, master of genre, historical and portrait painting; art critic

Ivan Kramskoy

short biography

Ivan Nikolaevich Kramskoy(June 8, 1837, Ostrogozhsk - April 5, 1887, St. Petersburg) - Russian painter and draftsman, master of genre, historical and portrait painting; art critic.

After graduating from the Ostrogozh district school, Kramskoy was a clerk in the Ostrogozh Duma. In 1853 he began retouching photographs. Kramskoy’s fellow countryman M.B. Tulinov taught him in several techniques “to finish photographic portraits with watercolors and retouching,” then the future artist worked for the Kharkov photographer Yakov Petrovich Danilevsky. In 1856, I. N. Kramskoy arrived in St. Petersburg, where he was engaged in retouching in the then famous photographic studio of Aleksandrovsky.

In 1857, Kramskoy entered the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts as a student of Professor Markov.

Riot of the fourteen. Artel of artists

Portrait of the artist Shishkin. (1880, Russian Museum)

In 1863, the Academy of Arts awarded him a small gold medal for his painting “Moses Bringing Out Water from a Rock.” Before finishing his studies at the Academy, all that remained was to write a program for a big medal and receive a pension abroad. The Academy Council offered students a competition on a theme from the Scandinavian sagas “The Feast in Valhalla.” All fourteen graduates refused to develop this topic and petitioned to be allowed to each choose the topic as they wished. Subsequent events went down in the history of Russian art as the “Revolt of the Fourteen.” The Academy Council refused them, and Professor Tone noted: “If this had happened before, then all of you would have been soldiers!” On November 9, 1863, Kramskoy, on behalf of his comrades, told the council that they, “not daring to think about changing academic regulations, humbly ask the council to exempt them from participating in the competition.” Among these fourteen artists were: I. N. Kramskoy, B. B. Wenig, N. D. Dmitriev-Orenburgsky, A. D. Litovchenko, A. I. Korzukhin, N. S. Shustov, A. I. Morozov , K. E. Makovsky, F. S. Zhuravlev, K. V. Lemokh, A. K. Grigoriev, M. I. Peskov, V. P. Kreitan and N. P. Petrov. The artists who left the Academy formed the “Petersburg Artel of Artists”, which existed until 1871.

In 1865, Markov invited him to help paint the dome of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow. Due to Markov's illness, the entire main painting of the dome was done by Kramskoy together with the artists Wenig and Koshelev.

In 1863-1868 he taught at the Drawing School of the Society for the Encouragement of Artists. In 1869, Kramskoy received the title of academician.

Wandering

The grave of I. N. Kramskoy at the Tikhvin cemetery in the Alexander Nevsky Lavra (St. Petersburg)

In 1870, the “Association of Traveling Art Exhibitions” was formed, one of the main organizers and ideologists of which was Kramskoy. Under the influence of the ideas of Russian democratic revolutionaries, Kramskoy defended an opinion consonant with them about the high public role the artist, the fundamental principles of realism, the moral essence of art and its nationality.

Ivan Nikolaevich Kramskoy created a number of portraits of outstanding Russian writers, artists and public figures(such as: Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy, 1873; I. I. Shishkin, 1873; Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov, 1876; M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin, 1879 - all are in Tretyakov Gallery; portrait of S. P. Botkin (1880) - State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg).

One of famous works Kramskoy - “Christ in the Desert” (1872, Tretyakov Gallery).

A successor to the humanistic traditions of Alexander Ivanov, Kramskoy created a religious turning point in moral and philosophical thinking. He gave the dramatic experiences of Jesus Christ a deeply psychological life interpretation (the idea of heroic self-sacrifice). The influence of ideology is noticeable in portraits and thematic paintings - “N. A. Nekrasov during the period of “The Last Songs,” 1877-1878; "Unknown", 1883; " Inconsolable grief", 1884 - all in the Tretyakov Gallery.

USSR postal envelope, 1987:
150 years since the birth of Kramskoy

The democratic orientation of Kramskoy's works, his critical insightful judgments about art, and persistent research into objective criteria for assessing the characteristics of art and their influence on it, developed democratic art and a worldview on art in Russia in the last third of the 19th century.

IN last years Kramskoy was sick with a heart aneurysm. The artist died from an aortic aneurysm on March 24 (April 5), 1887, while working on a portrait of Dr. Rauchfuss, when he suddenly bent over and fell. Rauchfuss tried to help him, but it was too late. I. N. Kramskoy was buried at the Smolensk Orthodox cemetery. In 1939, the ashes were transferred to the Tikhvin cemetery of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra with the installation of a new monument.

Installed in Tsarskoye Selo sculptural composition Kramskoy and Unknown by sculptor Alexander Taratynov.

Family

Sofya Nikolaevna Kramskaya (1840-1919, nee Prokhorova) - wife
- Nikolai (1863-1938) - architect
- Sophia - daughter, artist, repressed
- Anatoly (02/01/1865-1941) - official of the Department of Railway Affairs of the Ministry of Finance
- Mark (? −1876) - son

Addresses in St. Petersburg

1863 - apartment building of A.I. Likhacheva - Sredny Avenue, 28;
1863-1866 - 17th line V.O., building 4, apartment 4;
1866-1869 - Admiralteysky Prospekt, building 10;
1869 - 03/24/1887 - Eliseev's house - Birzhevaya line, 18, apt. 5.

Gallery

Kramskoy's works

Mermaids, 1871

Christ in the Desert, 1872

Kramskoy was born on May 27, 1837 in the city of Ostrogozhsk, Voronezh province, into a poor middle-class family. His attraction to art did not meet with the support of his family, and he was forced to paint on his own. Having become a retoucher for the traveling photographer Danilevsky, he traveled with him to many provincial cities and finally ended up in St. Petersburg. There he met young artists who advised him to take up painting seriously, and at their insistence, in 1857 he entered the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts.

The inertia that reigned there provoked protest from progressive democratic youth. Kramskoy led the young artistic forces in the struggle for realism in art against classicism abstracted from life. Several people walked out of the academy in protest. The performance of the artists marked new era in the development of Russian art. “It’s time to think about creating a Russian school national art"- said Kramskoy.

In the early 70s, the Association of Traveling Art Exhibitions arose. It united leading Russian artists - V. G. Perov, V. E. Makovsky, A. K. Savrasov, I. I. Shishkin. A.I. Kuindzhi and others. Later it included I. E. Repin and V. I. Surikov. The soul and leader of this organization was Kramskoy.

Painting "Mermaids". Ivan Kramskoy

For the first traveling exhibition in 1871, Kramskoy presented the painting “Mermaids” based on the story of N.V. Gogol “May Night”. In this painting, the artist wanted to convey the magical charm of moonlight. Mermaids move smoothly near an overgrown pond. The bluish-green moonlight makes everything around mysterious and enigmatic...

Painting "Moonlit Night". Ivan Kramskoy

Kramskoy returned to depicting moonlight in 1880. They paint a romantic, deeply poetic picture “Moonlit Night”.

Mighty poplars lined the alley. Lush bushes are showered with white flowers. White water lilies were found in the pond. Everything is illuminated by fabulous moonlight. A woman full of charm, quiet lyrical sadness and mystery sits on a bench in a white robe.

Painting "Christ in the Desert". Artist: Kramskoy

At the next exhibition, the painting “Christ in the Desert” (1872) appeared. Kramskoy portrays him as an ordinary person. He walked for a long time in silence. Exhausted and tired, he sat down to rest on a stone in the Palestinian desert. The hands are convulsively clenched, the head is lowered. Traces of deep emotions are visible on his face. Christ for Kramskoy is the embodiment of human conscience and duty. The artist was characterized by an unusually keen awareness of his civic duty, an awareness of the need for self-sacrifice in the name of a common cause.

Ivan Kramskoy: painting “Inconsolable Grief”

Among Kramskoy's works there are a number of magnificent female portraits. They showed the artist’s ability to express emotional states person. The painting “Inconsolable Grief” (1884) was painted after death little son artist. Kramskoy conveyed his mother's immeasurable grief - her personal grief, which no one can share with her.

A woman in a tight black dress, leaning her hand on a chair, looks with an absent gaze. She is shocked. Weeping eyes, a wrinkle on the forehead, a gray strand of hair. She brought the handkerchief to her mouth, as if holding back sobs... The dearest creature left her life, but everything around remained the same: this carpet, and the curtains, and the paintings, and the albums on the table... The coffin is not visible. Only in the chair there are boxes with wreaths and white light cloth, and on the floor there are pots with blooming tulips. The room is filled with gray winter light... The woman’s pose and facial expression embodies a deep emotional drama mother.

Ivan Kramskoy. Description of the painting “Unknown”

Sitting in the carriage, leaning back on a back upholstered in dark yellow leather, is an elegant young woman. She turned slightly towards the sidewalk, feeling admiring glances. In her gaze is the arrogance and pride of a woman aware of her charm. Large sparkling eyes cold and dispassionate. Her figure is silhouetted against the background of the light haze of frosty winter air and the pinkish Anichkov Palace. Strict architecture seems to complement the image of this beautiful, majestic woman. Velvet coat, fur, purple satin ribbons, white ostrich feather, thin leather gloves, tightly fitting arms, emphasize the gracefulness of the figure.

This is a portrait of “Unknown” by Ivan Nikolaevich Kramskoy. Although this picture is not typical for the artist’s work, the mere mention of his name brings to mind the image of this captivating woman.

Kramskoy: portrait of Tolstoy

Kramskoy created a number of portraits of Russian writers - Saltykov-Shchedrin, Nekrasov, L. Tolstoy, Grigorovich. The artist depicts people immersed in deep thought.

Tolstoy's pose is simple and natural. The writer’s eyes attract attention, demanding and attentive. Tolstoy appears as a man of will, a clear and energetic mind in Kramskoy’s portrait.

Portraits of peasants

The artist’s democratic views are reflected in a series of peasant images - “Peasant” (1871), “Beekeeper” (1872), “Forester” (1874), “Mina Moiseev” (1883) and others. These are bright types, each characteristic and expressive in its own way.

Kramskoy died on March 25, 1887 while working on another portrait. The paintings and portraits created by the artist are on a par with the best creations of his contemporaries.

T. Shakhova, magazine “Family and School”, 1962, facts of the biography of the artist Ivan Nikolaevich Kramskoy, paintings, descriptions of paintings, material for essays.

Self-portrait

Kramskoy Ivan Nikolaevich (1837-1887), Russian artist of genre, historical and portrait painting. Born in Ostrogozhsk, into a poor middle-class family, he received his initial education at a district school. Kramskoy was self-taught in drawing since childhood, and then, with the help of the advice of one drawing lover, he began to work in watercolors. At the age of sixteen, he became a retoucher for a Kharkov photographer.

Maria Feodorovna, born Princess Dagmara of Denmark, wife of the Russian Tsar Alexander III. 1880

Having moved to St. Petersburg in 1856, Kramskoy continued to do the same with the best photographers in the capital. The next year he decided to enter the Academy of Arts, where he soon made rapid progress in drawing and painting. As a student of Professor A. T. Markov, Kramskoy received a small silver medal for the painting “The Dying Lensky” (1860),

Painting of the main dome of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow. 1863

Prayer of Moses after the Israelites crossed the Red Sea 1861

a large silver medal for a sketch from life (1861) and a small gold medal for the painting painted according to the program: “Moses pours out water from a stone.” Kramskoy was supposed to compete for a big gold medal, but at that time doubts arose and ripened among the young academic artists about the correctness of academic teaching, and they submitted a petition to the academy council that they would be allowed to each choose their own theme for a painting to compete for a big gold medal. medals. The Academy of Arts reacted negatively to the proposed innovation.

Christ in the Desert, 1872 Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow

Unknown, 1883 Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow

Girl with a loose braid, 1873 Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow

Alexander III, 1886 Russian Museum, St. Petersburg

Maria Fedorovna 1880

One of the academy’s professors, architect Ton, even characterized the young artists’ attempt this way: “in the old days you would have been given up as a soldier for this.” As a result, 14 young artists, led by Kramskoy, refused in 1863 to paint pictures on the theme set by the academy - “A Feast in Valhalla” and left the academy. First, to find a means of livelihood, they formed an artistic artel, and in 1870, some of them, joining young Moscow artists, headed by Myasoedov, founded a partnership of traveling exhibitions. Kramskoy became a portrait painter. In his further artistic activity Kramskoy constantly showed a desire for paintings - works of imagination and willingly surrendered to it when everyday circumstances allowed it. Even when he was an academician, Kramskoy brought great benefit to his professor Markov, having spent a year drawing cardboards for the ceiling in the Church of the Savior (in Moscow), according to Markov’s sketches.

Grand Duke Mikhail Pavlovich

TO the best works Kramskoy’s non-portrait paintings include the following paintings: “May Night” (according to Gogol), “Lady in moonlit night", "Inconsolable Grief", "Forester", "Contemplator", "Christ in the Desert" and some others. Kramskoy put a lot of work into composing the painting “Jesus Christ, ridiculed as the King of the Jews” - a painting that he called “Laughter”, and he hoped a lot for it.

But Kramskoy was unable to provide for himself in such a way as to completely devote himself to this work, which remained far from finished.

Sculpture Christ 1883

Forester 1874

The Contemplator 1876

Mermaids (May Night) 1871

Moonlit Night 1880

Kramskoy, painting portrait to his daughter, Sophia 1884

Artist's family

Children in the forest 1887

Kramskoy painted many portraits; Of these, portraits of S. P. Botkin, I. I. Shishkin, Grigorovich, Mrs. Vogau, the family (female portraits) of the Gunzburgs, a Jewish boy, A. S. Suvorin, unknown, Count L. N. Tolstoy, Count Litke deserve special mention , D. A. Tolstoy, Goncharov and many others. They are distinguished by their complete similarity and talented characterization of the person from whom the portrait was painted; the above-mentioned painting “Inconsolable Grief” is actually a portrait, which has all the qualities and advantages of the painting.

Portrait of Sofia Kramskoy, 1869

Portrait of landscape painter Fyodor Vasiliev (1850-1873), burned out from consumption - a friend of the artist

Portrait of Leo Tolstoy 1873

Portrait of the artist Shishkin, 1873

Portrait of the artist Ivan Shishkin, 1880

Portrait of the philosopher Solovyov, 1885

Portrait of a Woman 1881

Inconsolable grief 1884

But not all of Kramskoy’s works are of equal strength, which the artist himself admitted without hesitation; sometimes he was not interested in the person from whom he had to write, and then he became only a conscientious recorder. Kramskoy also understood landscape, and although he did not paint a single picture of this genre, in “May Night,” as well as in the other “Night,” he perfectly conveyed the moonlit illumination not only of human figures, but also of the landscape setting.

Forest path, 1870

Village-Yard-in-France, 1876

Kramskoy had a painting technique of subtle completeness, which some sometimes considered unnecessary or excessive. Nevertheless, Kramskoy wrote quickly and confidently: in a few hours the portrait acquired a resemblance: in this regard, the portrait of Dr. Rauchfus, Kramskoy’s last dying work, is remarkable (The portrait was painted one morning, but remained unfinished, since Kramskoy died while doing this work.)

Many of Kramskoy’s works are in the famous Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow (paintings “Inconsolable Grief”, “Christ in the Desert” and “May Night”; portraits of P. M. Tretyakov, count L. N. Tolstoy, D. V. Grigorovich, N. . A. Nekrasova, P. I. Melnikova, V. V. Samoilov, M. E. Saltykov and others; drawings: “A green oak tree near the Lukomorye”, portrait of V. Vasistov, N. Yaroshenko and other works).

Portrait of the artist Nikolai Dmitrievich Dmitriev-Orenburgsky, 1866

Portrait of Academician Ruprecht Franz Ivanovich. (etching)

Kramskoy also engaged in engraving on copper with strong vodka; Among the etchings he executed, the best were portraits of Emperor Alexander III, when he was the crown prince, Peter the Great and Taras Shevchenko. It is difficult to say whether Kramskoy would have become a major historical painter. The artist’s rationality prevailed over imagination, as he himself admitted both in an intimate conversation and in correspondence, placing I. E. Repin above himself in terms of talent. In general, Kramskoy was very demanding of artists, which earned him many critics, but at the same time he was strict with himself and strived for self-improvement. Kramskoy's comments and opinions about art were not of the nature of mere personal conviction, but were usually demonstrative, to the extent possible in matters of aesthetics.

Ivan Kramskoy, Portrait of Empress Maria Alexandrovna. 1877

Its main requirement is content and nationality works of art, their poetry; but no less than that, Kramskoy also demanded good painting itself. In this regard, Kramskoy should be noted, and this can be seen by reading the artist’s correspondence, published by A. Suvorin according to the thoughts and edited by V. V. Stasov (“Ivan Nikolaevich Kramskoy, his life, correspondence and art-critical articles.” ( St. Petersburg, 1888). It cannot be said that Kramskoy judged correctly based on first impressions, but he always more or less motivated a change of opinion. Sometimes his opinions remained hesitant for a long time until the painter found a compromise.

Ivan Goncharov

Kramskoy did not have much education, he always regretted it and made up for this deficiency with constant serious reading and community intelligent people, as a result of which he himself was a useful interlocutor for artists (Kramskoy is also known for his pedagogical activity, as a teacher since 1862 at the drawing school of the Society for the Encouragement of Artists).