Bay of Naples by Ivan Aivazovsky was created in 1842 and is in The Aivazovsky National Art Gallery. The size of the work is 91 x 142 cm and is made of oil on canvas.

About the Work

When creating a new painting, Ivan Aivazovsky would begin by painting the sky. He always aimed to complete a work in a single session, so as to preserve a sense of a unified, dynamic space. The artist himself said that he was painting “air.” The patron Alexei Tomilov—one of the first to recognize Aivazovsky’s talent—agreed with this perspective, noting that Aivazovsky’s paintings “showcase air and water.”

In this particular work, the night sky and the sea occupy more than half of the canvas. They are the primary subjects of the landscape, defining the viewer’s initial impression of the painting.

Aivazovsky worked quickly; he created most of his paintings in a single day. Yet, each one was preceded by a period of preparation. The artist would often visit the location he intended to paint, absorbing the atmosphere and noting details, but he would only produce quick, outline-based pencil sketches on-site. The bulk of the work took place not en plein air, but in the artist’s studio.