Picture “Autumn Day. Sokolniki ”, Levitan – overview 
- Posted by Isaac Ilyich Levitan
- Museum: Tretyakov Gallery
- Year: 1879
Overview of the painting :
Autumn day. Sokolniki – Isaac Ilyich Levitan. 1879. Oil on canvas. 63.5 x 50 cm
Map “Autumn Day. Sokolniki ”can be called one of the most important works in the life of Isaac Levitan, because it is from her that the fame of the painter originates.
It all started with how Alexey Savrasov lured his young artist Isaac from Vasily Perov into the full-scale class. Under the leadership of Savrasov, the complete reincarnation of Levitan occurred. The complex miserable life of the novice painter did not turn into accusatory plots, but rather, reincarnated Isaac Ilyich into a thin lyric, feeling and contemplating. That is what Savras demanded of him: “… write, study, but most importantly – feel!”And the young Isaac studied … and felt, of course.
Already in 1879, a wonderful picture appeared dedicated to Sokolniki Park on one of the gloomy autumn days. At the nineteen-year-old student of the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, the public immediately drew attention, and most importantly, Pavel Tretyakov. The keen eye of this outstanding Russian patron did not miss a single significant work, especially when not only technique was read in it, but also poetry of color, plot, truthfulness, soul, finally. “Autumn day. Sokolniki ”answered all these parameters, so it is not surprising that he bought work directly from the student exhibition, which immediately attracted the close attention of the company to its author.
What do we see in the picture? The desert alley of the park is strewn with yellow fallen leaves. The grass is still green, but this color is not as bright as in summer, but rather, in a autumn, it is rotten. Young trees grow along the road. They were recently planted, which is why they are so thin, with rare crumbling foliage, and in some places it is completely absent. As a contrast to this young pig, the edges of the picture “collarized” the old trees of the park. Tall, mighty, dark green and a little gloomy. And over all this poetic landscape, clouds float, gray and gloomy, creating a feeling of raw cloudy day.
The central element of the picture is the heroine, but her presence “does not steal” the main role of nature. Rather, it acts as a kind of tuning chamber created by this park and autumn day. As Shishkin had nothing to do with the bears from his most famous work, so Levitan is not the author of this remarkable, lonely figure. The girl in a dark dress, walking straight from the canvas towards the audience, was written by Nikolai Chekhov, a Russian artist and sibling of the famous writer Anton Pavlovich.
The general mood of the canvas is sad-tastic, and there is an explanation for this. It was during this period that Levitan was first evicted from Moscow, according to a decree prohibiting the residence of Jews in the city. Living in Saltykovka, Levitan recalled his favorite landscapes, lovingly transferring them to the canvas.
A close examination of the picture reveals a wide manner of writing – both the road and the crowns are written in a sweeping smear. However, taking a couple of steps from the frame, all these wide brush movements merge into the iridescent surface, and the blurry palette adds a landscape to the air.
Another amazing property of the canvas is sound imaging. It seems that you can quite clearly hear the gusty, but short movements of the autumn wind, the creak of tall pines, lonely rustling steps along the path, rustling leaves.
Everything is amazing and atmospheric in this picture. The look stubbornly clings to individual elements that line up into a whole, concise, but emotional image. And the last detail is a quick look at the name, catchy and capacious. Like a block sacramental “Night. Street. Lantern. Pharmacy ”, Levitan has no less comprehensive -“ Autumn Day. Falconics. “.