Red Sunset on the Dnipro

Red Sunset on the Dnipro[1] or Red Sunset on the Dnieper, originally titled Red Sunset, is an early 20th-century painting by Arkhip Kuindzhi. Done in oil on canvas, the painting depicts a sunset in the sky above the Dnieper river. Sunset is typical of Kuindzhi's style, as he was known for his large landscapes, and can be described as a unique work of Russian luminism—a style of art not widely embraced in Imperial Russia.[2][3] Kuindzhi made two sketches preceding his painting of Sunset.

Red Sunset on the Dnipro
ArtistArkhip Kuindzhi
Year1905–8
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensions134.6 cm × 188 cm (53.0 in × 74 in)
LocationMetropolitan Museum of Art, New York City
Accession1974.100

Description

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Sunset depicts a blooming red sunset on the Dnieper river in Ukraine, then part of the Russian empire. The painting displays many of the hallmarks of Kuindzhi's style, namely the central position of a light source, incorporation of a low horizon, and aerial perspective.[4]

Kuindzhi painted Sunset sometime between 1905 and 1908. At the time of its rendering, the painting broke with de facto conventions of Russian Realism, which had not been overly influenced by Luminism. The large painting was one of Kuindzhi's last major works.[4] The painting was originally known as Red Sunset, with "on the Dnepr" (Dnepr being an alternative name for the Dnieper) being added by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which acquired the painting in 1974.[4]

References

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  1. ^ Cybriwsky, Roman Adrian (2018). Along Ukraine's river: a social and environmental history of the Dnipro. Budapest New York: Central European University Press. p. 134. ISBN 978-963-386-205-6.
  2. ^ "Red Sunset on the Dnieper". www.metmuseum.org. Retrieved 2020-05-16.
  3. ^ Rebecca A. Rabinow. Masterpieces of European Painting, 1800–1920, in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2007, pp. 160, 265, no. 149, ill. (color and black and white).
  4. ^ a b c Bowlt, John E. "A Russian Luminist School? Arkhip Kuindzhi's Red Sunset on the Dnepr": Metropolitan Museum Journal, v. 10 (1975)