At the edge of the pine forest, Shishkin, 1882 
- Posted by Ivan Ivanovich Shishkin
- Museum: Lviv Art Gallery
- Year: 1882
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Overview of the painting :
At the edge of the pine forest – Ivan Ivanovich Shishkin. 1882. Oil on canvas
An evening walk through the pine forest led the young woman to the edge. As always in the artist’s works, a person against the background of nature looks fragile and small. High pine trees filled with sunset light majestically rise above a person. The tail on the trees looks slightly silver. The sky above the forest is almost cloudless, the green grass at the edge of the sun is not touched, the light got lost in a dense pine forest.
It seems that the path leads a person, not a person walking along the path. The master perfectly conveys the lightness and aroma that is in the evening air.
The colors of the picture create a special mood in the work: peace, joy, peace. At first, a female figure in a gently blue outfit seems like an extra, invented detail. Having examined more carefully, you can make sure that the presence of a person in the landscape is organic and natural.
The summer umbrella in the hands of a young woman is folded, the summer heat subsided.
The forest seems to glow from the inside. As if the sun itself had fallen into the thicket and was getting ready for bed there. Silence and nega spilled over the edge.
Man left the forest, and nature healed its free life.
On the edge of the edge, stumps from felled trees are noticeable, a dry branch that has not lost brown leaves. These are all the fruits of human activity. The tale was left there, behind. Ahead of the world of people constantly changing the world around them for their needs. The author is unobtrusive. There are no calls or protests in his work. The artist does not impose his point of view on the viewer, offering to enjoy the beauty of Russian nature and think about his role in changing it, maybe even violence against it.
It is interesting that under the same name another work of the author is known, written two years later, long in a private collection in the Czech Republic.