The favorite river of Russian artists (PICS)

There are countless large and small rivers in Russia. And the beauty of many of them has been captured on canvases by artists. But no river has received as much attention from Russian painters as the Volga.

“The Volga, like an endless mirror, covered in transparent mist, softly reflects the charming pale beauty of the night and the sleepy, precipitous shore…” wrote Taras Shevchenko, the famous Russian-Ukrainian poet of the 19th century.

‘Mother Volga’, as it is endearingly dubbed, has long been one of the main symbols of Russia. It has served and continues to serve as a source of inspiration for poets, writers, filmmakers and, of course, painters.

The popular Soviet poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko wrote of the river thus: 

“And I’ll be youthful and hell-raising,

and always flourish, make a din,

as long as Volga flows amazing,

as long as I’m of Russian kin.”

Isaac Levitan. An Evening on the Volga, 1888.

Isaac Levitan/The State Tretyakov Gallery

Barge Haulers on the Volga, 1872-1873.

Ilya Repin/The Russian State Museum

Evening. Zolotoy Plyos, 1889.

Isaac Levitan/The State Tretyakov Gallery

Song of the Volga, 1906.

Vasily Kandinsky/The Centre Pompidou

Fishermen on the Volga River, 1872.

Alexei Savrasov

On the Volga, 1922.

Boris Kustodiev

On the Volga, 1887-1888.

Isaac Levitan

Fresh Wind. Volga, 1895.

Isaac Levitan/The State Tretyakov Gallery

On the Volga. 1892.

Nikolai Dubovsky

On the Volga River, 1889.

Abram Arkhipov/The Russian State Museum

The Volga River, 1887.

Ivan Aivazovsky/The Aivazovsky National Art Gallery

After the rain. Plyos, 1889.

Isaac Levitan/The State Tretyakov Gallery

The Volga near the Zhigulyov mountains, 1887.

Ivan Aivazovsky/National Museum "Kyiv Picture Gallery"

Volga. Quiet Day, 1895.

Isaak Levitan

The Volga near Simbirsk, 1881.

Mikhail Klodt

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