Occasionally we want to document an artist who stuns us with some of their work. Today it’s Ivan Aivazovsky, whose style reminds us of an ocean-based version of gothic master Caspar David Friedrich (1774-1840).

A hybrid of romanticism alongside capturing the historical value of maritime era, where war was common and life at sea beyond treacherous.

Heck, there still wasn’t even a cure for scurvy in Aivazovsky’s day.

Come with us, then, on a journey across the oceans. It all began in a small town in what’s now Ukraine, but it led to a life packed with spectacular artwork we can all enjoy over 100 years after the artist’s passing.

Taking a Look at Aivazovsky’s Various Sweeping Masterpieces

“In his storms there is the thrill, the eternal beauty that startles a spectator in a real life storm … when portraying the endless diversity of the storm, nothing can appear exaggerated.” Fyodor Dostoevsky

When Dostoevsky is a fan of your work, you know you’re doing something well. Another literary great, Anton Chekov (see The Seagull), even popularised a Russian proverb about the painter:

“Worthy of Aivazovsky’s brush.”

It’s not difficult to discern its meaning. As in, referring to something lovely. A description that sums up the vast body of Aivazovsky’s astonishing work.

The painting at the top of this feature is the dramatic Tempest (1855) and our favourite work of the Russian great. But he was also highly capable of displaying tranquil scenes, such as with the below Lago Maggiore in the Evening (1858).

You can click on these images for a closer look, by the way!

As for the above, it makes us think of the remarkable Caravaggio (lunatic thug though he was). Aivazovsky had the capacity to capture the way light glints off objects.

It just provides such a lifelike, eye-catching quality to his work.

That’s the The Bay of Naples at Moonlit Night from 1842.

Yet as his era was a time of serious naval warfare, his travels did ensure he could engage Hollywood Blockbuster Mode whenever he needed to. This is Battle of Çeşme at Night (1856).

We struggle to think of a more prominent artist who documented so extensively the trials and tribulations of a nation across half a century.

There’s so much work he completed we urge you to go off and have a look around online. Granted, Aivazovsky’s name doesn’t trip off your tongue the way Vincent van Gogh does.

Nor did he hold the life of a troubled genius.

As such, we’d not heard of the guy (shame on us) until recently. But then the splendours of oceanic artwork splashed down on us and we went for a swim in it all, which was rather the enlightening experience.

Analysis of Aivazovsky’s Artistic Style

Aivazovsky was largely a Romantic painter, an artistic style focussed on emotions, mystery, passion, and a sense of imagination.

Caspar David Friedrich, Francisco Goya (see the terrifying Saturn Devouring His Son), and William Blake are famous examples of the movement.

Where Aivazovsky differed was with his focus on maritime activity.

His style has been described as “highly academic”, which isn’t surprising given the artist’s lengthy educational process. Karl Bryullov (1799-1852), of The Last Day of Pompeii (1833) fame, was a significant influence on Aivazovsky.

His work soon became notable for its epic grandeur.

There’s a clip below you can watch and you’ll see the staggering enormity of the pieces the artist worked on. Some of the canvases are enormous. That seems apt enough given the colossal scale of the world’s oceans. Needs to be big to convey that!

The Ninth Wave (1850) is often thought of as Aivazovsky’s best work. And the epitome of his particular genius.

Art critics pinpoint this as a notable turning point from Romanticism with elements of Realism, although the artist stayed true to his roots and never did abandon the latter.

Living in the remote Feodosia he was cut off from the modernising world and it’s natural he’d keep that traditional creative mindset.

A Brief History of Ivan Aivazovsky

The above clip is in Russian, but we do know the exhibit took place at Moscow’s State gallery Tretyakov. The lady talking at the start is gallery director Zelfira Tregulova. She said:

“A sinking ship, a boat or a sailing ship in rough sea – Aivazovsky was a past master of this kind of seascape. He developed an amazing technique and manner of depicting water and light shining through water. Strange as it may seem – I believe many visitors will notice it today. He is very close to the great British landscape artist William Turner.”

Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky was born on 17th July 1817 in the city of Feodosia, Crimea, of the Russian Empire (now it’s part of Ukraine).

He was the son of a merchant family, with his Armenian father emigrating from Galicia, Poland, in the early 1800s. His parents had five children.

Aivazovsky learned to draw thanks to the efforts of local architect Jack Koch who took the young lad under his wing. In his formative years, he moved to Saint Petersburg to study at the Imperial Academy of Arts where he graduated in 1837.

The same year he’d joined a battle-painting class and also took part in Baltic Fleet campaigns in Finland. He was appointed an academician of the Imperial Academy of Arts and essentially became the official artist of the Russian Navy.

By 1845, he was travelling to the likes of the Aegean Sea to depict on canvas various seascapes and navy battles.

Eventually, he travelled with Russian emperor Nicholas I to Sevastopol during 1851. After the Crimean War began in 1853.

With its conclusion in 1856 he opened an art studio in his hometown of Feodosia from 1865 and then began a series of much travel, painting, and accolades from the 1860s through to the 1880s.

Aivazovsky’s reputation led him to host exhibitions of his work in far flung places such as London and America.

Across a 60-year career Aivazovsky created at least 6,000 unique works—many of them are thought of as total masterpieces.

Most of his work depicts the sea, although he didn’t paint whilst in nature. Instead, he stored everything in his memory and committed it to canvas later. University professor Alexander Rogachevsky noted:

“His artistic memory was legendary. He was able to reproduce what he had seen only for a very short time, without even drawing preliminary sketches.”

Unlike so many other artists, Aivazovsky did achieve acclaim throughout his lifetime, with his fame reaching outside of Russia.

The artist was aware of his prominence and turned his Feodosia home into an art gallery. He held the first exhibition there in 1845 and added further halls to the building from 1880.

This is now the Aivazovsky National Art Gallery and is open to the public.

At the age of 82, Aivazovsky died on 2nd May 1900 and a white sarcophagus (created by Italian sculptor L. Biogiolli) marks his final resting place.

His younger wife, Anna, led a quiet life after his death. She survived him until July 1944 whereupon she was buried next to her husband.