Sunset

Sunset — unspecified as to location but likely Ukrainian steppe or Caucasian in character — was one of the subjects Kuindzhi returned to most consistently throughout his career, treating the transition from day to night as a phenomenon requiring continuous and systematic attention. The sunset was for Kuindzhi what the haystack was for Monet: a container for the investigation of changing light, repeated across canvases under varying conditions. The Russian Museum's collection of his late work includes several sunset studies that demonstrate the range of approaches he developed for this single phenomenon, from the near-abstract chromatic fields of his most extreme works to more conventionally atmospheric treatments.

Kuindzhi structures the sunset through a horizon-centred composition with a wide, luminous sky above a dark land or water strip. Warm glazes built up in multiple layers create the deep, saturated glow he was known for, with the transition zones between warm and cool handled in carefully gradated mid-tones.