Wind-Fallen Trees

Ivan Shishkin's Wind-Fallen Trees (1888) depicts the aftermath of storm damage in a Russian forest — the fallen giants whose rootballs tower above the surrounding undergrowth, the broken trunks half-covered in moss and lichen, the gap in the canopy that the storm has created. Storm damage in forests was a subject that allowed Shishkin to explore disorder within his characteristic subject of forest order — the fallen trees offering both the compositional challenge of unusual forms and the symbolic resonance of mortality within the living forest.

The wind-fallen trees subject gives Shishkin unusual compositional material: the massive rootballs and exposed earth where the trees have fallen, the broken trunk forms, the tangle of fallen branches — all requiring different treatment from his characteristic vertical tree studies. His palette for the fallen trees combines the grey-brown of weathered dead wood, the earth tones of exposed rootballs and soil, and the vivid greens of living moss and lichen colonizing the fallen forms. The handling is meticulous as always.