The Black Sea

Чорне море

ArtistIvan Aivazovskyi

MovementRomanticism

Year1881

MediumOil on canvas

LocationTretyakov Gallery, Moscow

A vast, brooding seascape of the swelling Black Sea under a gathering storm.

About the Artist

Ivan Aivazovskyi

1817–1900

Armenian marine painter of Crimea, among the greatest seascape masters of the 19th century.

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Movement

Romanticism

Romanticism—an ideological and artistic movement in European and American culture from the late 18th century to the first half of the 19th century—is characterized by the affirmation of the intrinsic value of the individual’s spiritual and creative life, the depiction of intense (often rebellious) passions and characters, and the portrayal of nature as inspiring and healing. It spread to various spheres of human activity. In the 18th century, anything strange, picturesque, and existing in books rather than in reality was called romantic. At the beginning of the 19th century, Romanticism became the name for a new movement, opposed to Classicism and the Enlightenment.

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