Makovsky K.E. "Mermaids"

In the history of classical Russian painting, there are many mysterious and amazing episodes that allow us to talk about the existence of paintings with a “bad reputation”. This list includes several works by the famous itinerant artist Ivan Kramskoy. The largest number of legends is associated with his painting "Mermaids".

I. Repin. Portrait of the artist I. N. Kramskoy, 1882. Fragment

The idea of ​​"Mermaids" arose from the artist under the impression of N. Gogol's story "May Night, or the Drowned Woman". According to folk beliefs, drowned girls became mermaids after death. It was them that Ivan Kramskoy decided to write. This topic was very unexpected and new for the realist artist. The artist loved Gogol very much and re-read all his works many times. He wanted to convey the very atmosphere of May Night, to immerse the viewer in the mysterious world of Ukrainian folklore.

I. Kramskoy. Self portrait, 1867

While working on the painting, the artist was haunted by several themes. First, he was obsessed with the idea of ​​conveying the bewitching beauty of moonlight, which he could not do: “I'm trying to catch the moon at the moment. They say, however, that a particle of the moonlit night did get into my picture, but not all of it. The moon is a difficult thing ... ”, the artist complained. The task was complicated by the fact that the moon itself was not in the picture - only its glare on the ghostly figures of mermaids.

M. Derigus. Illustration for the story by N. Gogol *May Night, or the Drowned Woman*: Ganna, 1951

Secondly, the very theme of ghosts and the underworld was said to be dangerous. Many of Kramskoy's contemporaries seriously believed that Gogol's stories could drive painters crazy. “I am glad that with such a plot I didn’t finally break my neck, and if I didn’t catch the moon, then something fantastic came out,” said Kramskoy.

A. Kanevsky. Illustration for the story by N. Gogol *May Night, or the Drowned Woman*: The Liberation of the Sister-in-Law

Critics agreed that the plan was successfully implemented, and called the picture "the extreme likelihood of a fantastic dream": make the most pleasant, refreshing impression on the public. However, the favorable responses ended there. And then the magic began.

V. Vlasov. Illustration for the story by N. Gogol *May Night, or the Drowned Woman*: Sleeping Levko, 1946

At the first exhibition of the Association of Wanderers "Mermaids" I. Kramskoy was hung next to the painting "The Rooks Have Arrived" by A. Savrasov. At night, the landscape suddenly fell off the wall - then they joked that the mermaids did not like such a neighborhood. However, soon there was no time for jokes.

P. Tretyakov bought both paintings for his gallery after the exhibition. For the "Rooks" a place was immediately found - in the office, and for a long time the "Mermaids" could not find a suitable place, they were hung from room to room. The fact is that from the hall where the picture of Kramskoy was hung, barely audible singing could be heard at night and it was cool, like water. The cleaners refused to enter the room.

O. Ionaitis. Illustration for N. Gogol's story *May Night, or Drowned Woman* | Photo: subscribe.ru

Not inclined to mysticism, Tretyakov did not believe the rumors, but once he himself drew attention to the fact that he felt tired when he was near this canvas for a long time. Gallery visitors also complained that it was simply impossible to look at this picture for a long time. And soon there were rumors that the young ladies, who looked at the "Mermaids" for a long time, went crazy, and one of them drowned herself in the Yauza. Of course, there was no hard evidence of the relationship between the incident and the art gallery.

O. Ionaitis. Illustration for N. Gogol's story *May Night, or Drowned Woman* | Photo: subscribe.ru

The old nanny, who lived with the Tretyakov family, advised to hang the picture in the far corner so that the light would not fall on it during the day: “It is difficult for mermaids in the sunlight, because they cannot calm down even at night. And as soon as they get into the shade, they will stop roaming at once! Tretyakov, far from superstition, nevertheless listened to the advice. Since then, gallery visitors have not complained about this picture.

I. Kramskoy. Mermaids, 1871

Fantastic painting occupies a special place in the bouquet of paintings by Russian artists. This is due to our culture with many fairy tales and polytheistic beliefs. One of the artists who clearly caught the connection between the fictional and the real was Ivan Nikolaevich Kramskoy. In his canvases there is no obvious division into fiction and true story, these two factors are smoothly intertwined and give the viewer a whole story. The principle of a certain nebula or even “dullness” of the surface, careful selection of images and soft colors give the very fabulousness inherent in the paintings of Ivan Nikolaevich. For example, we can definitely say that “Mermaids” is a painting by Kramskoy, its description coincides with the characteristics of other paintings by this author: mysticism is adjacent to calm nature. By the way, if we talk about realism, then we can see quite familiar landscapes, huts and houses with clearly drawn details.

Kramskoy: from clerk to painter

The artist was born in May 1837. His father was a clerk, so he wanted his son to follow in his footsteps. And so it happened. After graduation, Ivan worked as a clerk at the Duma in his city. But in 1853, his attention turned to other activities, he began to process photographic images, he was taught this by Tulinov, who was a countryman of Kramskoy.

Thus began the path of the painter as an artist. Already in 1857 he entered the Art Academy in St. Petersburg. The successes of the young man were so obvious that Ivan Nikolaevich received a gold medal for one of the paintings.

Among the works of the draftsman were portraits of famous people, with the help of which he got his hand in this genre, but his most famous painting is “Christ in the Wilderness”. She became the peak of Kramskoy's development in religious painting.

An unimaginable number of paintings and photographs were left to the heirs in memory of a wonderful artist who died of heart problems at the age of fifty.

The mysticism of the painting “Mermaids”

Perhaps one of the most ardent lovers of mysticism in Russian painting is Kramskoy. The painting "Mermaid" has gathered around itself so many reckless opinions about her bad reputation that, unfortunately, it is impossible to list everything. The history of the work is connected, oddly enough, with Gogol and his story “May Night or the Drowned Woman”. According to popular rumor, drowned girls became mermaids after death, inviting travelers into their networks. It was them that the draftsman wanted to depict in the picture.

Why Gogol? As you know, Nikolai Vasilievich was also not averse to writing about something mysterious, even remembering “Viya” or “Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka”, and Kramskoy re-read these works several times. Probably, this attraction to Gogol became the starting point in the field of fantastic painting. The artist wanted to convey the atmosphere of the May night in Ukraine in small details, hence the co-presence effect. As Kramskoy himself said, the picture of the “Mermaid” does not fully meet his requirements, because he so wanted to depict the light of the moon, but he did not succeed in “catching” it. Although we see how the cold light of the night luminary glides over the images of the mysterious mermaids. But this is only part of what the author himself conceived.

It was believed that mystical stories were dangerous, and if you write them off from the works of Gogol, then in general you can go crazy. Kramskoy even joked about this: “It’s good that with such a plot I didn’t finally break my neck, and if I didn’t catch the moon, then something fantastic came out.”

Indeed, in galleries and exhibitions, she could never find a place. The paintings next to the “Mermaids” were falling, and a barely audible singing could be heard from the room and it was cool. But after the canvas was hung in a far corner, far from the sun, the supernatural stopped, probably the mermaids were too hot in the sunlight.

The picture is like a plausible fantasy dream

But no matter what Kramskoy himself says, the picture of the “Mermaid” was a success, because it made a strong impression on many, though not always positive. This is due to the fact that the artist wanted to depict on the canvas. And the faces of the drowned women, and nature itself seem to evoke unpleasant dreary thoughts.

The expression on the faces of the girls betrays sadness for life, dreams of the past, and hopelessness. The whole picture is a symbol of deep sadness. Unusual images of mermaid girls are immediately striking. They do not have tails, as you can see, they move very well on their own two on the ground, only the viewer gets the impression of weightlessness, since the white robes of the undines make them look like ghosts.

Although he was not entirely satisfied with the work of Kramskaya, the painting “Mermaid” was duly appreciated by professionals: many art critics equated this work with a magical dream, everything is so realistically depicted on it.

Pushkin's assessment

The sun of Russian poetry spoke extremely positively about the canvas of Ivan Nikolaevich. What amazed Pushkin in Kramskoy's "Mermaid"? Yes, everything is the same as all connoisseurs of good creativity. He felt the atmosphere that the author was trying to convey, he admired the shades of mood, because Alexander Sergeevich saw here playfulness, dreaminess, and sadness. In the images of girls, he caught the real thing, which, alas, sometimes you will not find in living people. It was this kind of psychologism, not usually characteristic of portrait painters, that captivated Pushkin.

This work turned the world of artists, it had a huge impact on the subsequent work of the same author, as well as on the work of his followers. As Kramskoy wanted, the painting “Mermaids” caught its moonlight, thanks to the competent use of folklore and culture of the Russian people on the canvas. Many schoolchildren consider the reproduction of the work as an illustration for Gogol's "May Nights", and then write their impressions of what they saw. However, an essay based on the painting “Mermaids” by Ivan Nikolaevich Kramskoy requires not only the ability to correctly express one’s thoughts, but also to understand the feelings of not only the characters, but also the artist himself.

I post here my collection of paintings with mermaids. The ones you like the most.)

The waves gently whisper something
As they once sang to me as a child,
Embrace my shoulders
And rock like in a cradle...

I would rush up like a seagull
Drown in the ocean of sky
So as not to desperately look for you
Among the endless waves... I would...

Salty drops on cheeks
Maybe splashes, maybe tears...
My heart is sinking - a boat,
Torn sails - dreams ...

The night has spread the nets of stars,
Catching souls... Take it, it's not a pity!
Let no one know in the world
How sad is the love of a mermaid...



I don't care what others say.
I live with my heart and mind.
Let the evil envious prophesy,
What not to be with you together.

If you love, then a miracle will happen:
My tail will be turned into legs.
How could I, a mermaid, fall in love
In a man, what in the earthly world?

It's just sometimes lonely in the sea,
And the coral garden is cold.
And when I'm a little sad
I'm sailing to watch the sunset.

People still don't recognize me
Only with you I want to see the lights.
And I believe: my tail will still be
Transformed into two earth legs.


What's left of me?
I am gradually changing
In sea lacy foam
And I dry on the rocks.
Mermaid... Stupid amphibian
Then I fell into this network
When I shouted to every fish
That I can sing...
Swallowed hook scratched
unprepared throat,
The magic voice dripped with blood,
And even the screams were erased by the wind.
I remember: a blunt knife,
And the taste of drink on the tongue,
And pain and footprints
On the bloodied sand...
And a witch in torn pantyhose
Dancing in my footsteps
She just chuckled, "Idiot!
You were already dead!"






I don't know what happened to me
The soul is troubled by sadness,
Everything haunts me
An old fairy tale.
Cool air. It's getting dark
And Rhine fell asleep in the darkness.
Flaming with the last ray
Sunset on the coastal cliff.
There is a girl singing a song
Sits on top of a steep.
Her clothes are golden
And the comb in the hands of gold.
And her gold braid curls,
And she scratches them with a comb,
And the magic song flows
Full of unknown power.
Overwhelmed by insane sadness,
The rower does not look at the wave,
He does not see the rocks in front of him -
He looks over there.
I know the river is fierce
Forever will close over him.
And it's all Lorelei
She made her singing.



Two mermaids - he, she
In the purple abyss
Reached the bottom of the sea
For just one reason.

Burned them too hard
Their love is the language of fire!
The bottom called with its coolness,
The song of the ghostly beckoning.

And two mermaids descended -
He, she - where it's cold
To underwater meadows
Satisfy your hunger for love.

It all went away when it got dark
Everything is gone and forever;
The abyss cooled the body,
Water diluted the blood.

And the two mermaids returned
But already completely different;
I felt very sorry for them
And they laughed wickedly...



Who has a dump in his heart,
Who has the opposite
And in my soul a mermaid
Settled and lives.

Did she show mercy
Whether vented anger
Did it just happen...
Settled where I had to

And treat me like
To the environment:
Stirred up that the river,
Wrap your tail in the water.

Grabbing my neck
Pulls, I feel, to the bottom.
I drown in my soul,
Seeing her there alone.



How sweet is the silence
The splash of water and the smell of the sea.
Where is the depth of the sea
There is no pain or grief.

I only want to be with him
Share both life and happiness;
But in the bottomless depths
Lonely. And again I

I will call the silent surf
The rustle of grass and the singing of the wind,
Because I am peace
I will find only with him, probably ...

No. I know exactly what to love
Destined for me from above
And I can't swim to the bottom.
But I believe, I believe ... Do you hear?






A mermaid emerged
At night on the shore-bed,
Wet hair -
On hot skin.

full moon spell
Rules recklessly
Stole kisses -
And swam back.









I live at the bottom of the sea
In the palace of lilies
Together with sisters, father,
Weird fish.

I have a wish -
Become an earth girl:
I will run and dance
And laugh out loud













And there used to be mermaids
In secluded forest lakes
Under the arch of crystal water,
Now - blue, then - black-black,

With eyes of cold steel
And fox hair
With coral lips
And amazing voices...

Rode on snow-white
Horses - unicorns,
With mistletoe clothes
Confusing the strict druids...

Wreaths of water lilies
Woven on Ivan Kupala,
Hidden in the woods
Agate, turquoise, opals...







At the forest stream water
Blazed with silvery fire:
A star rolled across the sky
And fell to the bottom of it at night.

But to the stream between trees and rocks,
Looks old, unattractive and miserable
There was a magician. Picked up a star
I put it in a ring and gave it to the mermaid.

A mermaid love him
Gave someone forever
And she said: "Do not tear with me,
Even evil spirits in love are human.

If you forget me
Then you will lose a star at the same moment.
You will be happy until the day you die
You don't know anything about me."

Days and years fly by
People love without knowing sorrow
And a star sparkles in the sky
And the stream seems to cry at night.

If the water is salty in the sea, it means that someone is shedding tears there, -
Then the Little Mermaid sits by the shore and waits for the handsome prince.

The little mermaid has a fishtail
And in the heart of longing and ice,
I would invite her to visit us,
But how will she come?

Tears fall marvelous pearls to the seabed.
She does not want to, but she will have to return to the depth again.
I'll get a small scuba gear and go down to her underwater house,
Let's sit side by side, like girlfriends, and cry with might and main together.

A necklace is burning on a mermaid,
And the rubies are sinfully red,
These are strange, sad dreams
World, sick hangover.
A necklace is burning on a mermaid,
And the rubies are sinfully red.
The mermaid has a twinkling look,
The dying look of midnight
It shines, sometimes longer, sometimes shorter,
When the sea winds scream.
The mermaid has a charming look,
The mermaid has sad eyes.
I love her, undine maiden,
Illuminated by the mystery of the night,
I love her stare
And rubies burning with bliss...
Because I myself am from the abyss,
From the bottomless abyss of the sea.

Original entry and comments on

Let's talk a little more about the paintings in which the artists depicted mermaids.
Ivan Vladimirovich Kosmin.
Guesses about mermaids are found every time in the folklore of different countries.

In most cases, a mermaid is a water spirit. Less often terrible old women.

Artists are trying to depict mermaids with green hair.

In countries where mermaids were mistaken for water spirits, they were represented as girls with fish tails.

Sadko at the sea king. I. Repin.
On the full moon, the little mermaids will come out onto land and begin to comb their streaming

droplets of water always flow from the hair to the shoulders. These faces are pale, but they are endowed with

unearthly beauty! Mermaids sing charmingly with an unprecedented voice confusing

lost travelers. Woe to those who fall under their spell! He will fall under the strongest

the arms of a river maiden, and she will drag him to the bottom of a deep pool. No one has escaped her yet.

reservoir, no one would want to get away from such beauty. In the warm season, mermaids come out of

rivers and lakes and go to protect the rye and ride on the birch branches, and the moonlight becomes for them

even brighter.

Viktor Korolkov drew mermaids during Mermaid Week.

Mermaid Week always started on Trinity Day. Then no self-respecting girl

agree to go into the forest alone without girlfriends, because he is afraid of getting caught by mermaids!

After all, they can lead away, intoxicate to such an extent that you won’t come back, or even

tickle until you die. And for men, grief at all: mermaids also want to know “what is

love with a person ”and therefore they are capable of anything! They are most dangerous on Thursday-

the mermaids have a great day. On such days, in no case was it possible to swim, and even more

leave the village, but if you just need to leave the village, then you definitely had to

take sagebrush with you, saying mermaids hate it. It was also forbidden to work! The one who

break, the mermaids could be severely punished by trampling crops and damaging livestock.

On Trinity Thursday, the girls had to weave a lot of wreaths, then they had to

take them to the forest. In order to make the little mermaids a little kinder, they hung a lot of yarn on trees.

The ancient Slavic people believed that Mermaids

symbolize fertility. And in the 19th century, people performed mermaid songs, that is, round dances.

People called on the spirit of a mermaid so that she would help them in the fields And when in people's lives

Christianity got worse, then mermaids began to be mistaken for evil spirits. People started comparing

mermaids with vampires! And even found similarities ...

Ivan Kramskoy. Mermaids.
(on a plot from the work of N.V. Gogol "May Night").
1871. Oil on canvas. 88x132.
Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, Russia.

The period of the 1870s in the life of Kramskoy is directly related to the intense activity of organizing the Association of the Wanderers, so the letters of this time are imbued with the tireless energy of the spiritual leader of the Wanderers. At the same time, another Kramskoy lives in these same letters, who enthusiastically describes the beauty of the moonlit Ukrainian night, fascinated by the mystery of the night light.

It was decided to open the first exhibition of the partnership at the end of 1871. For this exhibition, Kramskoy wanted to finish work on the painting "Mermaids". Many years ago, Kramskoy wrote in his diary: “Oh, what an amazing person this Gogol was!” He lovedGogol, many times re-read all of his works, especially "Evenings on a farm near Dikanka". And now, reading "May Night", he again plunged into the world of the Ukrainian folk tale with its witches, sorcerers, mermaids, with magical moonlit nights. And even though this is only a fairy tale, and the house on the mountain seems fabulous, and the dense forest, and the deaf, overgrown pond, and mermaid girls, but after all, in every fairy tale there is always a grain of truth, and Kramskoy wanted to paint a picture so that the viewer behind this fairy tale I saw real life, heard a sincere Ukrainian song, felt anxiety and pity for those “earthly” peasant girls who had such a sad fate.

The picture cost Kramskoy a lot of work. Sketches have been preserved that clearly show how the artist gradually moved away from the illustrative method, looking for means of pictorial embodiment of the poetry of the moonlit night: that “fabulous impression” about which he wroteVasilievin August 1871, when, belatedly arriving at the estate of P.S. Stroganov, Khoten, Kharkov province, where they had agreed to meet, he did not find Vasilyev, who had left for Yalta. The influence that the twenty-year-old Vasilyev had not only on his peers, but also on Kramskoy, is evidenced by the painting itself and the letters, Kramskoy was never able to achieve a result that would satisfy him: “I’m trying to catch the moon at the moment. They say, however, that a particle of the moonlit night did get into my picture, but not all of it. The difficult thing is the moon.

It was excruciatingly difficult to “catch the moon”, to show how everything changes under its light, becomes wonderful, a little disturbing. But he nevertheless “caught” the moon and painted a wonderful poetic picture of a moonlit night.

The painting represents a river bank on a moonlit night. On the right is a hillock, on it is a manor, surrounded by poplars. In the background is a forest. On the bank overgrown with reeds, on the trunk of a poplar giant that had fallen down and thrown across the river, in the soft waves of moonlight, a whole host of drowned women settled down. Their picturesque poses are dull, their pale faces are full of hopeless longing. The whole picture has a deep seal of poetry and quiet sadness. The general tone is in harmony with the character of the artist's talent, who himself considered himself to be a "quiet jet".

Kramskoy himself was not entirely satisfied with the picture - his exactingness towards himself knew no bounds. Several times he began to redo the picture, and even a year after it was bought by Tretyakov, he wrote to him and asked him to send the picture: “I wanted to rework it a little, in the summer I saw something else, and I would like to correct it.”

And yet, Kramskoy's work was in its own way significant for Russian painting, because in it, as in V.M. Maksimov's "Grandmother's Tales", for the first time an interest in folk poetry was shown, still indirect, perceived in literary processing, but already laying path to follow firstV.M.Vasnetsov, and then other Russian artists.

Reviewers noted with great pleasure in Kramskoy's painting "the extreme plausibility of a fantastic dream", and such rare qualities of modern art as sincerity, the absence of falsehood, lies, and bias. “We are so sick of all these gray peasants, clumsy village women, drunken officials ... that the appearance of a work like “May Night” should make the most pleasant, refreshing impression on the public,” the press noted after the exhibition.

Konstantin Egorovich Makovsky Mermaids 1879

Makovsky, Konstantin Egorovich - Russian painter; son of a famous Moscow art lover in his time, one of the founders of the local school of painting, sculpture and architecture, Yegor Ivanovich M. (1800-1886), b. in Moscow in 1839; under his father's influence, at the age of 12, he entered the aforementioned school, in which his mentors were M. Scotty, S. Zaryanko and V. Tropinin, and in 1857 received a small silver medal from Akd. arts. The following year, he moved to St. Petersburg. and enrolled in the students of the academy; was awarded a small gold medal for the painting "Agents of Demetrius the Pretender kill Feodor Godunov", in 1862. Upon receiving this award, the young painter had to participate in the competition for a large gold medal, but he, along with 12 of his comrades, dissatisfied with the fact that they were denied choosing competitive tasks at their own discretion, left the academy with the title of an artist of the 2nd degree and took part in the establishment of St. Petersburg. artistic artel, a member of which, however, did not remain long. In 1867, for the paintings "Poor Children" (located by D.V. Stasov in St. Petersburg) and "The Herring Girl" and for three portraits (gen. Kaufman, general. Rokasovsky and Mrs. Voronina) he was recognized as an academician, and through year, for the colossal and complex painting "Maslenitsa in St. Petersburg", elevated to professor. In 1876 he made a trip to the Balkan Peninsula and Egypt. Numerous works of M. - portraits and paintings of historical, everyday, purely genre and partly fantastic content - made him a reputation as one of the most talented representatives of modern Russian painting. With these works, he first appeared at the annual academic exhibitions, and then (from 1874 to 1883) at the exhibitions of the Association of Traveling Exhibitions, later he began to arrange separate exhibitions from them. Some of his paintings were, moreover, exhibited in Paris and North. America and spread his fame beyond Russia. Effectiveness of composition and lighting, expressive, although not quite correct drawing, strong, brilliant, but too flowery coloring, skill of the brush, especially when writing costumes, and so on. accessories, distinguish all the works of M. in general, among which, in addition to the above, the main ones can be considered: "Funeral in the Village" (1872; K. Soldatenkov in Moscow), "The Return of the Sacred Carpet from Mecca to Cairo" (1876 in Imperial Hermit ., repetition in the Anichkov Palace), "Bulgarian Martyrs" (1878), "Mermaids" (1879, in Imperial Ermit.),"A wedding feast in a boyar family" (1885), "The choice of a bride by Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich" (1886), "The Death of Ivan the Terrible" (1888), "Under the crown" (1890), portraits: A. S. Dargomyzhsky, senator of Weimarn, A. E. Timashev, the artist's wife with children, c. Muravyov-Amursky, c. S. R. Stroganov, singer O. Petrov and some. others