Painting by I. I. Shishkin “Ship Grove”


A small forest lake, like the epic heroes, was frozen by giant pine trees, warmed by the hot sun. They seem to be hungry for a life of vitality on this hot day, soaking up it with mighty roots. Branches of pine trees flew high above the ground. The crowns of these age-old giants tightly closed. It is felt that the sun’s rays hardly make their way through the dark green needles. Diva is given, as a man could with the help of a brush and paints transfer this forest miracle to the canvas.

Ivan Ivanovich Shishkin gave the picture an amazing name: “Ship Grove”. From the name it becomes clear that these pines will once serve the man – go to the construction of ships, majestic buildings… It seems that next to the picture we breathe more freely and deeper. From the canvas it seems like a resinous scent of pine, fresh forest dampness, prelju of pine bedding.

You pay attention to the fence from the branches, which seem to protect the dense forest from

uninvited guests. The presence of a person who cares about the protection of green giants is felt. And who can threaten the forest? Only a man with an ax. Here is a forest lake – like a barrier to the path of an accidental traveler. True, the log, thrown across the water surface, serves as a kind of index to the traveler. In the right corner of the picture, a path is guessed, which is lost somewhere behind the turn.

The sky in the picture takes a small place, but the sunlight floods the entire foreground. He warms the trunks of the pines, pierces to the bottom of the lake, a hillside behind him, caresses young pine trees. I want to go to the other side, corner to fight in the thicket and wait for some miracle. A miracle is the trees themselves. They are in front of us. They are open to our gaze.

His masterpiece “Ship Grove” Shishkin wrote in 1898, the same year he died. From the “Ship Grove” it bears a majestic tranquility and unperturbed strength. The artist told us about the eternal life of his native nature, about the inexhaustible strength of his native land and its ageless, ever-renewing beauty.


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Painting by I. I. Shishkin “Ship Grove”