Storm in the North Sea by Ivan Aivazovsky was created in 1865 and is in The Aivazovsky National Art Gallery. The size of the work is 267 x 196 cm and is made of oil on canvas.
About the Work
Aivazovsky created the painting Storm in the North Sea in a few days, and we can observe this easiness of brushwork in every smallest detail. Improvisation was one of his favourite styles. He claimed: ‘Movements of the living elements are too subtle to be captured by the artist’s brush: it is unthinkable to paint a lightning, a wind blast or a wave splash from life…’Aivazovsky created his best paintings using his imagination.
This painting is also striking because of its size — its surface makes about 6 square metres. The artist depicted a shipwreck in the open sea with the sky lit by phosphoric moonlight in the background. In a masterly fashion, he painted the ragged clouds and the hurricane wind causing the ship in the background to take a list. The full moon is peeping out from the black clouds — it illuminates the wild waves, the wrecked ship and the desperate survivors on the stump. The catastrophe in front of our eyes is so scary, that the artist preferred to put a veil of night darkness over it. Read more in The Aivazovsky National Art Gallery
