The Landscape of Mood.
Levitan's work was a profound response to the romantic charm of the Russian landscape. Levitan did not paint urban landscapes; with the exception of the View of Simonov Monastery (whereabouts unknown), mentioned by Nesterov, the city of Moscow appears only in the painting Illumination of the Kremlin. During the late 1870s he often worked in the vicinity of Moscow, and created the "landscape of mood", in which the contour and condition of nature are spiritualized, and become vehicles for the conditions of the human soul. Typical in his work is a muted and nearly melancholic daydream amidst pastoral landscapes largely empty of human presence. Fine examples of these qualities include The Vladimirka Road, 1892 Evening Bells, 1892, and Eternal Rest, 1894, all in the Tretyakov Gallery. Though his late work displayed familiarity with Impressionism, his palette was generally subdued, and his leanings were more true-to-life and lyrical than optical or technical.
Comments