Seascape

Ivan Aivazovsky was the Russian Empire's greatest marine painter, whose sea paintings — executed over a career of extraordinary length and productivity — captured the Black Sea, the Mediterranean, and the Northern waters with both technical mastery and romantic intensity. This 1885 seascape, now in the Hermitage, belongs to his mature period when his ability to render light on water and the drama of storms and sunsets was at its most refined. The Hermitage holds the world's largest collection of Aivazovsky's work, a fitting home for Russia's most celebrated maritime artist.

Aivazovsky's technique on water is unrivaled — the sea's surface rendered with extraordinary illusionistic precision, the movement of waves and the reflective quality of water captured through years of practiced observation. His palette ranges from the deep blues and greens of calm sea to the warm golds and oranges of sunset-lit water. Light effects on water are handled with particular brilliance throughout.