Over Eternal Peace is a landscape painting by Russian artist Isaac Levitan (1860–1900), completed in 1894. It belongs to the State Tretyakov Gallery (Inventory No. 1486). The size of the painting is 150 × 206 cm (152 × 207.5 cm, according to other sources).
The painting's creation began in the summer of 1893, while Levitan was in Tver governorate, specifically in the area of lakes Ostrovno and Udomlya. In 1894, the canvas Over Eternal Peace was exhibited at the 22nd exhibition of the Society for Travelling Art Exhibitions ('Peredvizhniki') in Saint Petersburg. Prior to the exhibition's opening, Pavel Tretyakov had already purchased the painting from the author.
Over Eternal Peace is one of the three largest pieces created by the artist, alongside By the Pool (1892) and Lake (1899–1900). Over Eternal Peace, along with By The Pool and Vladimirka (1892), from the first half of the 1890s, are occasionally grouped together as the 'gloomy' or "dramatic" trilogy by Levitan.
According to the writer and publicist Vasily Mikheev, the canvas Over Eternal Peace is "a true landscape painting," this work by Levitan – "a symphony, strange at first sight, but subtly embracing the soul once you trust its impression." Art historian Aleksei Fedorov-Davydov wrote that Over Eternal Peace explores "the relationship between human existence and the eternal life of nature," and "from this juxtaposition of nature and the traces of human existence in it, a landscape filled with sublime sorrow and tragic heroics is formed." According to art historian Vitaly Manin, the painting is "one of the artist's most expressive works, dynamic and 'associative'."
History
Creation of the painting Isaac Levitan began working on the painting Over Eternal Peace in the summer of 1893 while living in Tver governorate. First, he was invited to visit the Garino estate on the Msta River by artist Lavrentiy Donskoy. Then, Levitan arrived at Troitsa station (now Udomlya), that was a part of Moscow-Vindavo-Rybinsk Railway at the time, by train with his companion, the artist Sofia Kuvshinnikova. Upon arrival, Filipp Petrov, a peasant from the village of Doronino, recommended that they stay at the Ushakovs' estate Ostrovno, as they welcomed holidaymakers. Levitan followed Petrov's advice and stayed at Ostrovno. The estate was situated on the shore of Lake Ostrovno, which derives its name from the three islands located within it.
The estate was owned by Ekaterina Nikolayevna Ushakova (née Seslavina, 1821–1910) and her children Varvara Vladimirovna (1849 – around 1919), Sofia Vladimirovna (1851 – around 1919) and Nikolai Vladimirovich (1859–1917). The owners provided a warm welcome to Levitan and Kuvshinnikova, striving to create the best possible conditions for their creative work. In his memoirs, artist Vitold Byalynitsky-Birulya, who visited Ostrovno in the 1900s, describes the house where Levitan lived in 1893: "The old Ushakov house in the Empire style, with greenish-blue glass in the windows and a wide staircase, descending several flights and balcony platforms into the garden, was full of lilacs. It filled the greater part of the estate, and was almost the same age as the old house." Levitan and Kuvshinnikova rented two rooms on the second floor. Byalynitsky-Birulya wrote: "The rooms in the house were very bright, white, without wallpaper, the windows of one room faced west, from there Levitan could watch the sunset, and the other room had a balcony and a wonderful view of the lake. In this room there was an antique harpsichord. From the balcony a staircase led to a fabulously beautiful lilac garden."
During their time at Lake Udomlya, located six kilometers from Ostrovno, Levitan and Kuvshinnikova resided at the Garusovo estate. The estate was owned by the Arakcheyevs, distant relatives of Count Aleksey Arakcheyev, a prominent statesman and military figure of the early 19th century. At that time, Mikhail Mikhailovich Arakcheyev (around 1850 – around 1917), who enjoyed fishing, permanently resided in the estate. The owners provided their guests with the attic on the second floor for recreational purposes. Levitan's painting At the Lake (1893), now in the Radishchev Art Museum, depicts the shore of Lake Udomlya near Garusov. Kuvshinnikova said that when Levitan was working on Over Eternal Peace, "the terrain and, in general, the whole motif were taken from nature during one of our rides on horseback." Sophia Petrovna remembered that Levitan painted the artwork "with great passion." He requested her "to play Beethoven, particularly the symphony héroïque with its Marche funèbre."
During the creation of the canvas, Levitan produced graphic sketches and several studies. He also made a large sketch of the future painting Over Eternal Peace (canvas, oil, 95 × 197 cm, 1893, now in the State Tretyakov Gallery). In late 1893, the artist continued working on the canvas in Moscow, and it was completed in early 1894. Upon finishing the work, Levitan signed it in the lower left corner: (Russian «И Левитанъ 94»).
22nd traveling exhibition and selling the painting
The canvas Over Eternal Peace was exhibited at the 22nd exhibition of the Society for Travelling Art Exhibitions ('Peredvizhniki') in Saint Petersburg on 6 March 1894 (according to other sources, 8 March), along with other works by Levitan, including the paintings At the Lake (At the Lake in Tver Region), Evening Shadows, Venice. Etude, and several pastels. In April of the same year, the exhibition moved to Moscow. The exhibition's Saint Petersburg segment took place in the Society for the Encouragement of Arts building. Critics highlighted several landscape paintings, including Ivan Shishkin's Forest Cemetery, Yefim Volkov's Deserted Coast, Nikolay Dubovskoy's The Land, Valentin Serov's In the Crimea, Nikolay Dosekin's Surf, and others.
According to reports, the painting Over Eternal Peace was "significantly mispresented" during the exposition in Saint Petersburg. This was due to the organizers hanging it in a disadvantageous place for perception. Prior to the opening of the 22nd travelling exhibition in Moscow, which was to be held at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, Levitan wrote to the artist Ilya Ostroukhov requesting that the painting Over Eternal Peace be displayed in an area with optimal lighting conditions for the canvas. In a letter dated March 12, 1894, Levitan wrote: "Dear Ilya Semyonovich! Tomorrow I'm leaving Moscow and will not be at the arrangement of the Moscow Itinerant, so I ask you, if you are the organizer – or even if you are not, then pass on my request to the organizers. To put my big painting either in the natural class in the place of my "At the pool," or in the place of last year's painting "Wooded shore" in the figure class." To ensure that his enquiry reached the organizers of the exposition, Levitan sent a letter on 9 April 1894, from Nice to the artist Apollinary Vasnetsov, repeating his request.
Prior to the opening of the travelling exhibition, Pavel Tretyakov purchased the painting Over Eternal Peace from the author. In a letter dated 18 May 1894, Levitan wrote: "I am so unspeakably happy with the knowledge that my last work will again get to you, that since yesterday I have been in some kind of ecstasy. And it is actually surprising, because you have enough of my things, but the fact that this last one has come to you touches me so much because I am all in it, with all my psyche, with all my content, and it would hurt me to tears if it had passed your colossal collection."
The painting Over Eternal Peace received a lot of attention from viewers and reviewers, but opinions on it were divided. Many critics characterised the painting as "causing bewilderment in the audience." Not having understood the philosophical idea that Levitan tried to put into his work, some critics found its title too pretentious and aimed at "raising the value" of the painting. For instance, the author of an article in 'Moskovskiy Listok' (, 11 May 1894) about the travelling exhibition wrote that "it would be better to title the painting more modestly." The author also criticized the painting for "an abyss of pretensions and lack of rights, broad ideas and poor execution." Some reviewers perceived Levitan's desire to convey his deep thoughts and experiences as an attempt to follow the fashionable "pessimistic tradition." They also felt that the title of the painting contradicted the dynamics of its depiction, which was "far from eternal peace." In particular, the author of an article in the journal "Nablyudatel" (No. 9 for 1894), wrote, calling the water space a river: "The river runs, bubbling, the clouds are painted a little too heavily on the horizon, the earth blooms, in short – life is everywhere; but the artist is possessed by pessimism, so he is in a hurry to make the viewer sad and remind him of the hour of death, if [at least] with the caption, the title of the painting"
In a review article about the Peredvizhniki exhibition published in the newspaper "Nedelya" (No. 14, 3 April 1894), the author acknowledges that the idea of the painting Over Eternal Peace is "so new and interesting that it deserves mentioning" and analysis, and concluded that "you cannot see perfection in an attempt to paint a vast space, but it shows that the artist is looking for a new path and, judging by his other, smaller works, probably will find this path." In the note "At the exhibition of the Peredvizhniki," published in the magazine "Vsemirnaya Illyustratsiya" (vol. 51, No. 1314 in 1894), the critic Vladimir Chuiko, considering the painting unsuccessful in artistic terms, at the same time recognised that "despite, however, all these technical shortcomings, the painting nevertheless has a mood: Mr Levitan has managed to express the impression of some kind of dead peace, reminiscent of the idea of death, it is only a pity that this idea is expressed so strangely."
Several authors of publications about the travelling exhibition have noted the pictorial weakness of the painting Over Eternal Peace. For example, a correspondent of the newspaper "Novosti Dnya" (No. 3903, 28 April 1894), who signed his initials M.U., noted that "the land seems as if cut out and pasted on the water, the cloud does not have its reflection in the river." Other critics believed that "the clouds are too inky painted," that "the distant plan is too heavily painted with indigo," that the water is painted with "completely white paint," etc. According to the art historian Alexei Fedorov-Davydov, "the new character of the painting with its decorative features and the desire to solve monumental tasks in this way was taken for a strange oddity, for incompleteness, for "indefinite ointment," posing as a special "manner," for the laying of new paths."
In periodicals of that time, there were also openly unfriendly publications. The authors of these publications attempted to blatantly insult the artist and his work. Thus, in "Peterbugskiy Listok" (No. 67, 10 March 1894) under the signature "Realist" was published a quatrain, addressed to Levitan, of the following content: "You smeared a lot ... You have not glorified yourself. / Pastels, canvases – worthy of a smile. / "Over Eternal Peace" accidentally you / Put rocks in the sky, my friend, by mistake." Another example of this is a feuilleton by journalist Vlas Doroshevich published in the "Peterburgskaya Gazeta" (No. 77, 20 March 1894), "Mobile Geniuses. Misunderstanding in Act I," which took the form of a dialogue between Isaac Levitan and the critic Vladimir Stasov. As a result of their "discussion" Levitan's painting "is recognised as suitable only for making Stasov's sirwal out of its canvas."