Mikhail Vrubel sitting demon description. First come first served basis. But Vrubel did not stop at this image, he was always in search, constantly changing the appearance of the Demon. He himself changed dramatically: he did not leave the workshop for whole days, did not communicate with anyone,
In 1891, on the 50th anniversary of the death of Mikhail Lermontov, a two-volume set of the poet’s works was published with illustrations by the best artists of that time. The anniversary edition also included works by Mikhail Vrubel, these were illustrations made in black watercolor for the poem “The Demon”. At the same time, the artist painted the painting “Seated Demon”, which became the first and most famous painting, dedicated to the hero of Lermontov's poem.
Mikhail Lermontov worked on “The Demon” for ten years. Written in 1839, the work was not allowed for publication by censorship and was first published only in 1860.
Let's remember the poem. A sad Demon flies over the beautiful mountains and rivers of the Caucasus. But nothing attracts him, he is bored, even tired of unlimited power over the earth. And suddenly he saw preparations for the wedding of the daughter of the Georgian prince Gudal. In her father's house, while waiting for the wedding, the beautiful girl Tamara performs a dance with a tambourine. She loves the groom and therefore is happy, the guests admire her.
The demon returns to Gudal's estate and also admires the beautiful Tamara. Feelings arise in his soul, he cannot allow the wedding and acts like an evil tyrant. The demon unleashes robbers on the groom. Having taken away all the wedding gifts, they wound and then kill the princess’s lover.
Tamara mourns her beloved, she cannot sleep, but someone’s gentle voice calms her down. Every evening a beautiful “alien” flies to her on wings. The girl understands that this is not an angel, but rather evil spirit and asks her father to send her to a monastery.
But even here she is haunted by this a pleasant voice and the same eyes of an unearthly guest. The princess falls in love and prays to him. However, the Demon knows that the closeness of a mortal girl with an unearthly creature will lead to her death. He tries to resist his feelings, but his wing does not rise and he remains with the princess. The demon incarnates into a beautiful, courageous winged young man, swears his love and that he will not deceive Tamara.
Soon the watchman, passing by the nun’s cell, heard unusual sounds of tenderness and love, and then Tamara’s groan and death cry.
The father buried Tamara high in the mountains, where there is a small temple, where no one can reach.
The demon in Vrubel’s painting is depicted against the backdrop of mountains and a scarlet sunset. We see a beautiful but lonely young man. He sits surrounded by flowers, but there is no life in the flowers, they are like frozen crystals, and the clouds look like stone. The demon is sad, and his clenched hands speak of doubts and worries; he is calm, but at the same time he is a powerful and strong-willed young man.
His soul rushes about in search of the meaning of life, but there is no answer to his questions either on earth or in heaven. Vrubel's demon is not absolute evil, but a suffering creature. He is able to admire nature and sympathize with Tamara, who has lost her fiancé, and at the same time kill her with a kiss.
Mikhail Vrubel’s painting “The Seated Demon” was created in 1890. Later in 1899 he wrote The Flying Demon. Unlike the motionless character of the first canvas, here the ruler of the world is depicted in a stream of air, in free flight. The work “Demon Defeated,” written in 1901-1902, is filled with the chaos of the fall. On the canvas we see a hero with desperately outstretched arms and powerless, broken wings. He corrected this picture even while presenting it at an exhibition in front of an astonished public. The demon drained all the artist's strength and devastated his soul. The artist's fate is tragic - the death of his young son, madness and blindness.
Mikhail Vrubel is one of the most significant Russian artists at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. His works, reminiscent of the shimmer of precious stones, combined ghostly dreams, reality and folklore themes. Vrubel was an innovator, ahead of his time in many ways. He was admired by artists Valentin Serov and Konstantin Korovin, Ilya Repin. And at the same time, many contemporaries did not recognize Vrubel’s work, his paintings were often not accepted for exhibitions, many illustrations were not published, and critics, at best, remained silent. The artist dreamed of creating brilliant works and worked hard. Throughout almost his entire life, Mikhail Vrubel was haunted by the image of the Demon, which appeared in many of the artist’s works. One of the very first images of the Demon was the painting “Seated Demon,” which is now kept in the Tretyakov Gallery.
Early pictorial images of the Demon are unknown, as they were destroyed by the author himself. But, probably, Vrubel began working on this image while painting for the St. Cyril Church in Kyiv, the restoration of which was led by Professor Adrian Prakhov. In 1984, he suggested that the artist, at that time a student at the Imperial Academy of Arts, take on this commission. In Kyiv, from 1884 to 1889, Vrubel completed the paintings of the St. Cyril Church, icons for the same temple, and developed sketches for the painting of the Kyiv Cathedral of St. Vladimir, of which only the ornaments were realized. He painted many portraits, made sketches, sketches, and began working on the theme of the Demon. For Vrubel, this image was partly an expression of the artist’s inner world; it allegorically reflected his negative experiences, failures, and disappointments.
"Head of the Demon", 1890-1891
In 1889, Mikhail Vrubel came to Moscow. From this time began one of the most fruitful periods in the artist’s work. He turned to new areas of creativity: theatrical painting, majolica, created his central works in the genre of portraiture, paintings with a fabulous mystical sound. In 1890, Vrubel created the sculpture “Head of the Demon”, and at about the same time - a drawing of the same name.
Vrubel’s work was supported by entrepreneur and philanthropist Savva Mamontov. In his house in Moscow in 1890, the artist painted the painting “The Seated Demon” (oil on canvas 114x211 cm). Vsevolod Savvich, the son of a philanthropist, recalled how hard Vrubel worked on this work, changing the composition, as a result of which the Demon’s head began to extend beyond the boundaries of the picture. The artist removed the canvas from the stretcher, stretched it again, increasing the free space in the upper part. It was precisely this composition, in which the figure seemed to be constrained by space, that clearly revealed Vrubel’s plan. He created the image of a troubled spirit that is unable to escape. In terms of technique, the painting resembles stained glass or panels; it seems to consist of crystalline facets. The artist achieved this effect with the help of flat strokes made with a palette knife.
The painting “Seated Demon” can be seen in the Tretyakov Gallery
Mikhail Aleksandrovich wrote about working on the painting at the end of May 1890: “For a month now I have been painting the Demon, that is, not exactly a monumental Demon, which I will paint over time, but a demonic one - a half-naked, winged, young, sadly pensive figure sitting , hugging her knees, against the backdrop of the sunset and looking at the flowering meadow, from which branches stretch out to her, bending under the flowers.”
The artist used photographs to create the background Caucasus Mountains, but nature becomes only a hint. The figure of the seated Demon - the compositional center - is close to the viewer, but his head is turned in profile, his gaze is directed into the distance, his pose is closed - the Demon is alien to the world around him. The space to which his gaze is directed remains unattainable. In his pose, the artist expresses his unpreparedness for movement, but rather its impossibility. Flowers-stones blooming around the Demon, a landscape with golden light in the background of the picture create an image of a ghostly, beautiful, but unattainable world. The same idea is expressed in the color scheme of the canvas. The rich, bright shades of the landscape are a dissonance to the image of the Demon himself, revealing the contradiction between him and those around him, the tragedy of a captive spirit that cannot be involved in the beauty of God's world.
The artist returned to the theme of the Demon again and again until his death, which indicates how significant this image was for him. In 1899 he created the painting “The Flying Demon”. It is part of a series of illustrations for Mikhail Lermontav’s poem “The Demon”. The painting was not completed for an unknown reason.
"Flying Demon", 1899
In 1902, Vrubel turned to the image of the defeated Demon. It seemed as if the artist had invested all his creative and spiritual strength into this work. The death of the Demon seemed to break the author himself. Vrubel worked tirelessly on the painting. Even when the canvas was already at the exhibition of the World of Art association in St. Petersburg, he continued to rewrite the Demon’s face, the background again and again...
"The Demon Defeated", 1902
The image of the Demon constantly lived in the artist’s mind. The extreme strain of strength led to a nervous breakdown and illness. In 1902, after a severe attack, his wife, opera singer Nadezhda Zabela-Vrubel, took her husband to her dacha in the Ryazan province. As a result, the artist was sent to the Serbsky Clinic at Moscow University, where the diagnosis of “progressive paralysis due to syphilitic infection” was confirmed.
The artist's condition from April to August 1902 was so grave that even his wife and sisters were not allowed to see him. By September he became calmer. The artist Alexandre Benois and Sergei Diaghilev decided to prove to the public Vrubel’s sanity and organized in November 1902 an exhibition of thirty-six of his works, including all three of his “Demons” paintings. This exhibition became a turning point in the attitude of critics and the public to the artist’s legacy.
It seemed that after treatment, Vrubel’s sanity was returning, but a new misfortune befell the family. At the invitation of the philanthropist Vladimir von Meck, Vrubel went to his estate in the Kyiv province. But on the way, his and Nadezhda’s three-year-old son Savva fell ill. On May 3, 1903, the child died in Kyiv. The artist could not bear the shock, he mental condition got worse again. He was treated in Riga, then in Moscow. The artist again spent the first half of 1904 in Serbsky’s clinic.
"Portrait of the Artist's Son", 1902
On November 28, 1905, the already mortally ill Vrubel was awarded the title of academician “for fame in the artistic field.” In December, his vision deteriorated sharply, but Vrubel continued to work. At Usoltsev’s clinic, he creates a beautiful portrait of the poet Valery Bryusov and the painting “The Vision of the Prophet Ezekiel.” The artist was supported in the clinic almost exclusively by his wife, which was not an easy task, because a month’s stay with Usoltsev cost 100-150 rubles, versus nine at the university clinic with Serbsky.
At the end of February 1906, the artist lost his sight. This blow was no less terrible for him than the death of his only son and an incurable illness. Doctors allowed Vrubel to go to St. Petersburg, to be with his family, he no longer required treatment. The artist died on April 1, 1910. At the funeral, the only speech was made by the poet Alexander Blok: “He left us his Demons, as spellcasters against purple evil, against the night. I can only tremble at what Vrubel and his ilk reveal to humanity once a century. We don’t see the worlds they saw.” Many researchers of the artist’s work consider the Rebellion of the Demon to be a reflection of the complex turning point era at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries, when political upheavals and changes were approaching.
8 interesting facts about Mikhail Vrubel
1. The future artist was born on March 5, 1856 in Omsk. His father Alexander Vrubel, a Pole (in Polish the word “vrubel” means “sparrow”), an officer in the Russian army in the military-legal department, came from landless nobles. The artist's mother, Anna Basargina, died when Vrubel was only three years old. In 1863, my father later married Elizaveta Wessel. My father was often transferred to different positions. The family lived in Astrakhan, St. Petersburg, Saratov, and then in Odessa.
2. Mikhail Vrubel began drawing at the age of five, and at the age of seven he attended the drawing school of the Society for the Encouragement of Artists in St. Petersburg, then studied at the gymnasium in Odessa. Since 1870, Vrubel began painting portraits in oil, copying Aivazovsky and J. Doe. In 1870 and 1872 he attended the drawing school of the Society of Fine Arts in Odessa.
3. In 1874, 18-year-old Vrubel, having graduated from high school with a gold medal and settled in St. Petersburg, on the advice of his father, entered the Faculty of Law university. Having studied at the gymnasium Latin language, read in the original Ovid, Horace. But Vrubel was increasingly interested artistic creativity. Already finishing his studies at the university, Vrubel began attending evening classes at the Imperial Academy of Arts. He entered the Academy in the fall of 1880, when he was 24 years old.
4. In the fall of 1884, Mikhail Vrubel, while working on the paintings in the St. Cyril Church, traveled to Italy on the advice of Professor Adrian Prakhov, as well as Western Europe. Later the artist said: “There is somehow more equality and understanding there. But I don’t like one thing: they despise poverty there. This is unfair and wrong and not good. But in Russia there is kindness, and there is no mercantile stinginess.”
5. When painting images of saints, as well as working on portraits, as a rule, Vrubel painted the eyes last, completing the work and expressing its idea.
Fragment of the icon “The Virgin and Child” by Mikhail Vrubel for the St. Cyril Church in Kyiv (1884-1885)
6. Philanthropist Savva Mamontov commissioned Valentin Serov and Konstantin Korovin to develop a sketch for the painting “Christ Walking on the Waters” for the church at the secondary mechanical-technical school in Kostroma. The solution was never given to the artists. Then Vrubel, who was watching their work, quickly made the necessary sketch on a sheet of gray cardboard. This is how one of the most famous works arose. However, Vrubel almost destroyed it. At the last moment, Korovin was able to persuade the artist not to cut the sketch, but to sell it to him.
7. Vrubel worked 10-14 hours a day, often from 8 am to 8 pm, taking only an hour break for lunch, but at the same time the artist reproached himself for laziness and frivolity. He said: “You have to draw for 10 years for 5 hours: only then will you understand, maybe. Draw every day - this is the prerequisite for all art."
"Pearl Shell", 1904
8. The year 1895 became extremely important for Vrubel. He designed performances for the Private Russian Opera and met Nadezhda Zabela, who became his wife. She had a lyric-coloratura soprano and captivated the artist with her voice and beauty. Vrubel made many costume sketches for her. For example, the costume of Margarita, in almost the same attire he depicted her in the panel “Faust and Margarita”. But Vrubel was especially worried about the image of Tamara in her performance in “The Demon”. Nadezhda Zabela inspired the artist to create one of his most famous paintings, “The Swan Princess” from 1900. Her image in theatrical costume became not a realistic portrait, but the embodiment of the artist’s idea of half-real, half-fairy-tale beauty, sophisticated and mysterious.
"The Swan Princess", 1900
Three quotes from artist Konstantin Korovin about Vrubel
“Vrubel was a pure Slav... a Pole, and he had the sophistication of great Poland, a sophistication equal to France. In appearance he is a foreigner, but at heart he is a Slav, the son of an unjustly and painfully oppressed country, with a veil of high cult, the dandyish grace of precious frivolity, high impulses of loving feelings, music, arts, with celebration and enthusiasm in his soul.”
“Vrubel drew ornaments amazingly, never borrowing from anywhere, always his own. When he took the paper, he noted the size, holding a pencil, or a pen, or a brush somehow sideways in his hand, in different places of the paper he firmly drew lines, constantly connecting in different places, then a picture emerged. Serov and I were amazed by this.”
“Great envy of your real genius talent. He was viciously persecuted. His great talent was persecuted and reviled and the dark forces of misunderstanding called upon him to trample him, destroy him and not let him live.”
The material uses data from the book “Mikhail Vrubel” by E. A. Skorobogacheva.
Mikhail Aleksandrovich Vrubel's painting The Seated Demon is one of the most mysterious works in world painting. The artist was inspired by Lermontov's poem. P...
Painting by Mikhail Vrubel "The Seated Demon", 1890: history of creation and Interesting Facts
From Masterweb
03.04.2018 12:00Mikhail Aleksandrovich Vrubel's painting "The Seated Demon" is one of the most mysterious works in world painting. The artist was inspired by Lermontov's poem. The work of the Russian poet tells the story of the beautiful princess Tamara, destroyed by a restless demon. In 1891, Vrubel created about thirty illustrations for the anniversary edition of Lermontov's works. But it was the image of the “spirit of exile” from the famous poem that haunted him for many years.
It is worth citing interesting facts from the artist’s biography before telling the story of the creation of the painting “Seated Demon.” Mikhail Alexandrovich Vrubel was a talented painter. However, he suffered from a mental disorder, which, however, did not deprive him of the opportunity to engage in creativity.
Mikhail Vrubel
The future artist was born in 1856 in Omsk. For many years he was engaged in church painting. In 1890 he left for Moscow and became one of the most fashionable artists. This period began with work on the painting “The Seated Demon.” It ended with a canvas depicting the same image, but in a different quality. Last years the artist spent in St. Petersburg. This was a very sad period in his biography.
After graduating from high school, Vrubel did not plan to become an artist. His parents sent him to St. Petersburg University. According to family tradition, he was supposed to become a lawyer. However, in the capital, the young artist learned about the bohemian lifestyle, which affected his future fate.
However, Mikhail Vrubel spent a lot of time reading philosophical literature, and was especially interested in Kant’s aesthetics. He painted little during this period. One of the few surviving sketches made by Mikhail Vrubel in his youth is a small sketch of a scene from Tolstoy's novel Anna Karenina. In this composition, the main character is depicted during a meeting with her son.
The money that Vrubel received from relatives was not enough. He actively worked as a tutor. At the age of 24 he entered the Academy of Arts. What influenced Vrubel’s decision to devote himself to painting is unknown. There is a version that the influence of Kantian aesthetics played a major role in the choice.
In 1880, Vrubel began studying in the workshop of the teacher and artist Pavel Chistyakov. The studies lasted four years. Among Chistyakov's students there were also Surikov, Repina, Vasnetsov, Polenov, Serov. The latter had a strong influence on the work of Mikhail Vrubel.
The young artist combined creative pursuits with fulfilling orders. In addition, he participated in a competition to receive an award from the Society for the Encouragement of Artists. During this period, he painted a picture depicting the heroes of Shakespeare's tragedy "Hamlet". The work was done in the style of Raphaelian realism. Vrubel spent several years in Kyiv, where he was mainly engaged in church painting. Vrubel's works - "Angel with a Censer", "The Virgin and Child", "The Prophet Moses", "The Swan Princess".
Eccentric painter
The author of the painting “The Seated Demon” - M. A. Vrubel - was an extraordinary person. In recent years he has suffered from a personality disorder. In addition, there were several tragic events in the artist’s life that worsened his mental state.
In 1902, Mikhail Vrubel presented to the public a painting that depicted a demon - but not an evil spirit, but rather a sad young man doomed to loneliness. It was a different canvas, not the one that will be discussed below. The painting was called "The Demon Defeated." It was first shown at an exhibition in St. Petersburg and immediately attracted the attention of fans of symbolism - an art direction that was very popular at the turn of the century.
Vrubel by that time was a fairly famous painter. Friends and relatives have repeatedly noticed oddities in his behavior. But these were not the oddities that are usually explained by a creative gift. The artist talked incessantly about his painting, he desperately argued about the image of the demon, about how incorrectly his colleagues portrayed him on canvas, and writers in their writings.
Tragedy in the painter's family
In 1901, the artist had a son. Vrubel's wife was the famous singer Nadezhda Zabela at that time. Future parents accustomed to social life, could not even think that after the birth of their son they would not be able to go to Europe for an exhibition. They were going to Paris, where they were supposed to present the painting “The Defeated Demon” to the court of zealous art connoisseurs. But with the birth of his son, a series of troubles began in the artist’s family.
The child was born with a split lip, which greatly upset the parents. They called him Savva. Vrubel painted a portrait of his son a little later. It was a painting depicting a boy with an anxious and at the same time sad look.
The boy lived only two years. Before his death, his father had already spent several months in a psychiatric hospital. At first, Vrubel’s oddities were expressed in extremely high self-esteem, bordering on delusions of grandeur. Then attacks of aggression and violence began - the patient developed extraordinary physical strength, he tore into small pieces everything that came into his hands: clothes, bed linen. But he wrote, as before, masterfully.
Rumors spread throughout St. Petersburg about the illness of the famous artist. Critics immediately appeared, believing that Vrubel’s paintings had nothing to do with art, but were just “the scribbles of a madman.”
Second crisis
Vrubel recovered and returned to work. After the first course of treatment, the artist’s condition improved, he calmed down and even began to paint new paintings. However, the death of his son crippled him. He again ended up in the hospital, but this time the disease had completely different symptoms. Mikhail Vrubel constantly wrote self-deprecating letters to his beloved wife. It was as if there had never been any signs of megalomania.
Death
And after the second crisis there was an improvement, but not for long. At the end of his life, the artist did not recognize his acquaintances, lost his sense of reality, and sank deeper and deeper into his own fantasy. Mikhail Vrubel died in April 1911. Buried in St. Petersburg.
There is a version that the cause of the illness lies in a series of paintings to which he devoted more than ten years. Among them is "The Seated Demon". Vrubel painted this picture in 1890. "The Defeated Demon" - twelve years later. Signs of the disease became especially obvious while working on these paintings. Vrubel, as already mentioned, was inspired to write “The Seated Demon” by Lermontov’s essay. What is the poem about?
"Demon" by Lermontov
The sad spirit of exile hovers above the ground, observing the Caucasian landscapes and caves from above. That's how main image Lermontov's poem depicted by Vrubel in the painting "The Seated Demon". Nothing in the Russian artist’s character evokes negative emotions or unpleasant associations. There is neither anger nor deceit in the demon's gaze. Just a strange coldness and sadness.
What is Lermontov's poem about? One day the Demon sees Princess Tamara, who is to marry the ruler of the Synodal. But she is not destined to become the wife of a rich man, because he becomes a victim of abreks. Tamara is inconsolable in her grief. But one day he hears a voice coming from somewhere above. The girl understands that this is none other than the “evil spirit.”
Tamara asks her father to send her to a monastery, but even there, in her cell, she hears the annoying voice of the Demon. He confesses his love to the beauty and promises to turn her into the “queen of the world.” Ultimately, the heroine of Lermontov's poem dies in his arms. This is the plot of the work that formed the basis of the plot of Vrubel’s painting “The Seated Demon.” How the artist depicted this artistic image on his canvas can be seen in the photo in the article.
Painting "Demon Seated" by Vrubel
In 1890, the artist created a sketch of the painting. It is kept in the Tretyakov Gallery. Vrubel worked on the painting “Seated Demon” in the house of Savva Mamontov. The artist sought to depict on his canvas an image of doubt, internal struggle, and the strength of the human spirit.
Description of “The Seated Demon” by Vrubel: a young man, personifying the forces of evil, sits with his hands tragically clasped, his sad gaze directed into the distance. The canvas depicts unusual flowers. The background is a mountainous area and a scarlet sunset. When analyzing Vrubel’s “Seated Demon,” art historians emphasize that the canvas was painted in the individual style characteristic of this artist. The artist’s work resembles a panel or stained glass window.
Analysis of the picture
The figure of the Demon seems to be constrained, squeezed between the lower and upper crossbars of the frame. The artist achieved the unusual effect using a palette knife - a tool that is usually used to remove or mix paint residues.
When analyzing Vrubel’s painting “The Seated Demon,” it is impossible not to recall other paintings by the Russian artist that depict Lermontov’s character. There are three such paintings in total. In 1890, Vrubel worked on two paintings: “The Seated Demon,” the description of which is presented above, and “Tamara and the Demon.” The second is an illustration for the Golden Fleece magazine. Both in plot and technique, it has little in common with the painting “The Seated Demon.”
Mikhail Vrubel was apparently captivated by the image of the “evil spirit.” In 1902 he painted the painting “The Demon Defeated.” This was one of his last works. There is a version that the reason for the illness of the Russian symbolist artist lies in his passion for the demonic theme.
Possessed by a demon
This image, starting from 1890, became perhaps the key image in the work of the Russian artist. Moreover, as Vrubel’s colleagues and friends claimed, on each new canvas the devil became more terrible and angrier. At the same time, the painter’s mental state deteriorated. However, anyone who looks at the painting “Seated Demon” for the first time by Vrubel is unlikely to guess that this work depicts a creature related to devilish forces.
Lonely soul
On the canvas we see a thoughtful young man who is saddened by something. He has regular facial features, a strong body, thick dark hair. Nothing in this image evokes negative emotions or is associated with malice and deceit. After the painting “Seated Demon” (1890) was presented at one of the exhibitions, Mikhail Vrubel told a friend in a letter about his rather strange ideas about the symbol of evil and deceit. The artist argued that people are mistaken about this creature. They consider the devil to be an enemy, but in fact, this is not the case. The word "demon" translated from Greek means "soul". He compared him to the suffering of a lonely person who does not find a place for himself in this world.
So, in 1890, the painting “Seated Demon” was completed. But Vrubel did not stop there. He continued to work on his favorite image. At the beginning of the 20th century he painted the painting “Demon Defeated,” but even after that he did not calm down. The image of a rebellious creature did not leave him. The artist, enchanted, worked on the sketches.
"Demon Defeated"
Soon Vrubel was diagnosed with an illness, and doctors advised him to go and rest. But something haunted the artist. He increasingly complained that no one understood him. In a short period of time, he changed beyond recognition. His wife was afraid to leave him alone with his troubled thoughts. Vrubel changed as rapidly as the image in the painting “The Defeated Demon.”
It is noteworthy that the artist’s state of mind did not in any way affect his work. He said strange things, imagined himself to be a genius, compared him to Pushkin, but his sketches did not look like the drawings of a madman. And the doctor who treated him said: “As an artist, he is healthy.” In people suffering mental disorders First of all, performance decreases.
Nothing like this happened to Vrubel. It worked as before. But the demon in the next sketch acquired new features.
Art therapy
Modern psychologists put forward the following theory: Vrubel was treated with creativity, work curbed his illness. He, without realizing it, invented a method that thirty years after his death would be called art therapy. While in the clinic, Vrubel constantly drew. He transferred onto canvas everything he saw every day - doctors, the landscape outside the window, his roommates. And the disease subsided for some time.
When Vrubel left the hospital, he was calm and even peaceful. But a family tragedy occurred that irrevocably deprived him of his peace of mind. When his son died, the artist was able to pull himself together for a while. He organized the funeral, supported his wife, who did not utter a word for several days. And soon a new wave of obsessions began.
Now Vrubel considered himself not a genius, but a villain who had killed his own son. He was sure that the paintings depicting the demon were to blame for the boy’s death. Since Vrubel spoke continuously about his guilt, they rushed to send him to the hospital again, but to a different one. The patient was taken to a clinic located abroad. Nadezhda Zabela paid monthly for her husband’s treatment, for which she had to, despite her recent loss, participate in theatrical productions. Meanwhile, the artist's condition worsened. In addition, he began to lose his vision. He never completed the last painting - a portrait of the poet Bryusov. Mikhail Vrubel lived blind for four years; he never learned that his “demons” had received worldwide recognition.
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The paintings of one of the most famous, and at the world level, Russian artists - attract and fascinate. First of all, these are his Demons... It is impossible to pass by them without looking into the eyes of these “bad guys”. Probably, filmmakers copied the images of the most famous cynics from them, whose souls not every woman can warm, but every woman wants to.
First of all, the history of the creation of the painting “Demon Seated” is interesting. Many people associate it with M. Yu. Lermontov’s poem “The Demon” and they are right. M. Vrubel drew about 30 illustrations for the anniversary edition of the poet’s works, among which is that same Demon. Now this painting is in the Tretyakov Gallery, exciting the thoughts of more than one generation of people.
A young man sits against the background of a crimson sky, looking into the distance. In his eyes there is pain, sadness, torment, surprise, but not repentance. Once upon a time he was expelled from paradise and wandered the earth. The Caucasus Mountains, the places where he is now, surround the Demon with their silence. The wanderer is lonely, and all his deeds, terrible and immoral, will remain with him forever - the Almighty does not allow him to forget about them, “and he would not accept oblivion.”
The first parallel that comes to mind for anyone who has ever seen “The Seated Demon” is Aeschylus’s tragedy “Prometheus Bound” - the young man depicted in the picture seems unfree in his own body and longs to get out of it, but he just doesn’t know how.
The second association is the color of Vrubel’s character’s clothing. If you remember the paintings and icons that depicted God, Jesus and the Virgin Mary, then pay attention to the fact that their clothes are dominated by blue colors or they are depicted against a blue sky. The Demon's robe in the picture is a rich blue color, which is also called the color of the “Moroccan night.” Didn’t Vrubel want to say what Lermontov could not say, namely, that the Demon would still earn forgiveness and return to heaven?
Another parallel is the pose of the character in the picture - he is sitting. At all times, it was in this position that a person sat, who was depicted as thoughtful, sad and sad. Later, other artists began to use the “demon pose”, because it conveys grief, all-encompassing and irresistible. His hands are closed “in a lock” - psychologists say that this is how closed people or those who have something to hide behave. These limbs of the Demon are not raised, not rested on the sides, they are simply lowered limply - he is tired of wandering. The artist clearly describes the young man’s developed muscles, his gaze, and his flowing black hair.
It is noteworthy that the figure of the Demon itself and the color and shade of the evening sky are clearly drawn - from violet to purple, interspersed with the golden sun illuminating the horizon in the background. The rest of the composition of the picture has a certain dissonance - the strokes are rough and blurry, mosaic and flat.
The flowers depicted in the picture are somewhat similar to crystals; they have no life. Many critics say that these are dead anemones.
If you look at “The Seated Demon” from a long distance, you get the feeling that this is not a painting, but a stained glass window or panel. To achieve this effect, the artist worked with a palette knife, painstakingly cleaning it with a knife.
The color scheme of the painting is dominated by dark tones. The sky is bloody color, and only it has smooth transitions. All other boundaries are clear and specified. The series of colors “black - red - blue” speaks of a certain danger, because the very word “demon” makes many people wary. Demons are considered merciless, and are depicted in light shades of pastel with emphatically dark lines, his clothes are a rich shade - this is how the artist demonstrates the duality of the hero.
The golden sun, white shades of flowers, red sky, orange highlights of the sunset should set you in a positive mood, but they only worsen the overall impression. One gets the feeling of some brute force that has invaded the fragile world of nature.
The dimensions of the canvas on which the Demon is depicted are non-standard for that time - the painting is oblong, uncomfortable and cramped. In fact, this is one of Vrubel’s artistic techniques - everything should emphasize the external and internal constraint of the hero, and convey that same Lermontov “neither day nor night, neither darkness nor light.”
It is amazing how strong the influence of Lermontov’s work on M. Vrubel is. For the poet, the demon is not evil in its pure form, he is able to enjoy the beauty of the nature of the Caucasus and feel Tamara’s grief, console her and demonically kill her with a kiss. Lermontov's hero is more of a rebel than a creature of darkness and hell, seeking to destroy all life in his path. Vrubel said the same about his Demon. According to the painter, it is in vain that they do not differentiate him from the devil and Satan, and do not delve into the origin of the name. The Greek synonym for “devil” is “horned,” and “devil” means “slanderer.” The inhabitants of Hellas called a demon a soul that rushes about in search of the meaning of life, unable to pacify the passions that boil in its soul. He does not find answers to his questions either on earth or in heaven.
What is noteworthy is that many of the critics of literature and art of the late 19th and early 20th centuries spoke about the artist’s “misunderstanding of Lermontov.” This was greatly facilitated by the deterioration of Vrubel’s health and psyche. The latter gave rise to a legend about a man of art who sold his soul to Satan.
...After the exhibition dedicated to the anniversary of M. Lermontov’s work opened, M. Vrubel closed in his studio and continued to work on paintings about demons. The painter claimed that the Demon changed not only under the strokes of his brush, but also appeared to him live. Well, the artist fought with a fallen and exiled angel, and it is unknown who emerged victorious from this war.
Vrubel's work is mysterious and mystical. If you have not yet made sure of this, visit the Tretyakov Gallery or look at his demons, images of which are full of images on the Internet. One thing can be said without a doubt - Vrubel’s demons torment the souls of many contemporary artists.
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Even people who do not understand art cannot help but know Vrubel’s “Demon”. This work is amazing. A seated, athletic male figure against a sunset background is painted using a very unusual technique. It seems that this is not even a painting, but a panel. How did the famous artist come up with the idea to draw a mythical creature? Read about it below.
History of creation
Vrubel's "Demon" appeared in connection with the anniversary edition of Lermontov's poem of the same name. The artist was invited to illustrate the book, as he was recommended for this position by Sava Mamontov himself, who was famous for his excellent artistic taste. For the young artist Vrubel, the demon became a real breakthrough. After all, up to this point, the former student had not yet had time to really work. His work was limited to painting the Kyiv monastery, where he restored frescoes. Surprisingly, in Kyiv the artist was painting the Mother of God, and in Moscow he was offered to paint a demon. It must be said that the artist already had experience in such drawing. The story of Vrubel's "Demon" begins with unrequited love. An artist in Kyiv fell in love with Emilia Prahova, the wife of his customer. His beloved was a married lady, so there was no question of any mutual feelings. In order to somehow express his unrequited love, Vrubel draws a demon and draws his beloved’s head on it. The artist destroyed this sketch. The resulting sketch scared Mikhail Alexandrovich. But in Moscow he remembers the pencil sketch, and on its basis the artist creates his cult masterpiece “The Seated Demon.”
Description of the picture
Vrubel's "Demon" was written in a very interesting technique. The picture was created not from brushstrokes, but as if from crystals. When looking at the canvas, it seems that what is in front of your eyes is not a painting, but a well-made appliqué. According to the idea, the seated demon should personify the titan. The young man depicted in the painting took a thoughtful pose. He sits with his arms wrapped around his legs and looks into the distance. His tension is revealed by tightly clenched hands. Looking at the sitting demon, one can understand that this young man has already had to endure a lot. His bare torso looks very impressive. The muscles on her tanned arms bulge, which looks very unusual in contrast to her young face. A description of Vrubel’s painting “The Demon” would not be complete without mentioning the landscape. The demon is painted sitting on a mountain, surrounded by flowers. Surprisingly, beautiful and delicate plants seem to be sculpted from stone. The artist took a lower angle to deliberately make his already large demon even larger. The figure seems so huge that some of it doesn’t even fit into the canvas. A pensive man does not seem repulsive to us. His gloomy expression, questioning wrinkles on his forehead and sad eyes evoke sympathy rather than disgust.
Color spectrum
Vrubel's "Demon" is written in contrasts. Blue color, which is present both in the youth’s clothing and in the ground on which the figure sits, represents hope. The cool shades in the painting are supported by the purple colors of the sunset. The rest of the painting is done in warm orange-brown tones. The figure is illuminated by the sun, which makes it less mystical and more earthly.
One can consider the cold shades in the picture as the birth of some new world that the demon dreams of. All the tension in the protagonist’s pose tells the story that the character’s reality is not very satisfying. The sunset of the day, painted in cold shades, should convey to the viewer the idea that everything bad in life comes to an end. A new day will come regardless of whether a person wants it or not. But before the morning dawns, the gray-black colors will take effect. The shadows of the coming night can already be seen in the picture. But the white stone flowers to the right of the figure give hope. They balance the composition, acting as a counterweight to the open space on the left. Without these white spots, the figure would visually fall to the side.
Analysis of the picture
On the canvas, the seated demon is depicted as a young titan. This analogy is not accidental. Vrubel himself did not associate his demon with either the devil or the devil. Vrubel wrote that a demon is the state of his soul. Today you can hear the opinion of critics that the artist went crazy precisely because he chose an otherworldly creature from hell as the main character of his paintings. But Vrubel had a different opinion on this matter. He believed that it was simply impossible to express his inner essence in any other way. You should look at the picture carefully, and you can find many contradictions in it.
For example, the titan's figure is powerful and muscular. But the face is very young and very sad. The viewer can understand that the main character does not like the fate of the demon, but he cannot do anything about his fate. The film well conveys three states: constraint, melancholy and helplessness. The cold peace that the demon found at the top of the mountain is not what he expected to see there.
The style in which the picture is painted helps to better understand it. Crystal fragments seem to form a figure. The viewer can assume that the artist wanted to convey to him that even those individuals who are made of stone can have a subtle and vulnerable soul.
Criticism
Contemporaries warmly received Vrubel’s painting “The Demon”. Where is this painting located today? In the same place where it was located two centuries ago - in the Tretyakov Gallery. It was there that the painting was first exhibited before the whole world saw it. Chaliapin said about the painting that the demon shocked him. The singer admitted that the demon shook him to the core, and it was simply impossible to take his eyes off the picture. Blok, like many of his contemporaries, believed that Vrubel managed to fully embrace Lermontov’s thought and penetrate every line of the poem. Despite this, many critics believed that the artist’s demon was not disgusting enough; he could not become the embodiment of evil and vice, which any manifestation of dark forces needs to be. It is surprising that the film of the young talent was able not only to win the hearts of the domestic public, but also to gain recognition abroad. Picasso said that it was thanks to the style that he first saw in Vrubel that he got the idea to create a new style in art. Inspiring and giving confidence to his colleagues that art needs a new look - these are the artist’s main achievements.
Sculpture
The demon appeared not only in the artist’s paintings. Vrubel created his sculptures on a similar theme. The most famous of them is the “Head of the Demon”; unfortunately, it has not reached us, as it was badly damaged at the hands of a vandal. The sculpture was exhibited at the Russian Museum when one of the visitors to the exhibition could not contain his feelings and threw the work off the pedestal. They say that the man was crazy, but maybe someone was simply terrified to see the manifestation of the devil in the flesh.
But Vrubel enjoyed making his sculpture. He made it immediately after he painted the painting “The Seated Demon.” But if the face of the titan from the painting was sad and romantic, then in the sculptural portrait the face was transformed. It was a scary mask covered with a mane thick hair. To add more realism to his work, the artist decided to paint the sculpture.
Demon and Tamara
Where else, besides paintings, can you find a mythical hero in the works of Mikhail Alexandrovich Vrubel? “The Demon and Tamara” is one of the illustrations for Lermontov’s collection. The illustration was made on whatman paper with watercolors. Vrubel decided to show the audience his vision of the moment of the meeting of the Demon and Tamara. In the drawing, the main characters do not seem to experience any feelings. Tamara's detachment and lack of premonition of death makes the illustration more meaningful. How were Mikhail Alexandrovich Vrubel’s illustrations assessed? “The Demon and Tamara”, as well as other illustrations, were not so highly rated by the audience. Publishers believed that Vrubel’s drawing style was too pretentious, and therefore did not fit well with the illustrations of other artists. Naturally, the publishers were afraid that the book would sell worse if buyers could not appreciate the illustrations presented in the printed edition. Vrubel even had to redraw some illustrations. But the artist was unable to fully adapt to the required style. He was too original and freedom-loving. Rigid boundaries limited his creativity and did not help him create masterpieces - this is what the artist believed. But Vrubel didn’t really want to sell his talent for money. He wanted to create not for the sake of large fees, but for the sake of the process itself.
flying
In the wake of his success, the artist decided to return to the topic that interested him most. “The Flying Demon” is a painting by Vrubel, which appeared 9 years after the first painting, which earned worldwide recognition. But unlike his first demon, the artist left the second unfinished. It's difficult to say what caused this. Perhaps Vrubel was disappointed by the topic, perhaps in the process of bringing the idea to life, the inspiration left the artist. But one thing is clear: the picture was well thought out in advance. Some sketches have even survived to this day. Vrubel’s painting “The Flying Demon” depicts a mountainous area and the figure of a hero in the middle. Unlike the first creation, the second image became less allegorical and less detailed. The figure in the picture is barely outlined. But the folds of the cloak and the background are well worked out. The demon flies between heaven and earth, cutting through the narrow space allotted to him by the author. The freedom that the character represents seems too compressed.
Portraying a flying demon, Vrubel reflected on the change of eras. Fame had already come to him, his paintings were successfully exhibited abroad. But for some reason the future seemed to the artist as something gray and uncomfortable. Probably, for the second time, Vrubel again wrote about his state of mind. But if the first time he was able to clearly express his feelings, then the second attempt clearly failed. There are no specifics, everything is gray and blurry. Although the likelihood that this is exactly the condition the artist had is very high.
Defeated
The last demon that the artist painted became prophetic for him. As always, when creating his mythical character, Mikhail Alexandrovich turned his soul inside out. At the time when the picture was being painted, changes were taking place in the artist’s life. And they weren't happy. “The Defeated Demon,” written by Vrubel, has a gray color scheme. This is not surprising. The artist suffered from a psychological disorder and therefore gradually lost his sight. It's hard to imagine how this can be dealt with. But the artist held out until the last. In Vrubel’s painting “The Defeated Demon,” the character is depicted in a strange pose and with a clearly distorted face. When the painting was exhibited for the first time, it received a big storm negative reviews. Even the artist’s friends noticed that the demon was too disproportionate. Perhaps it was these remarks that forced Vrubel to come to the exhibition more than once and redraw his character right there.
They said that the demon changed before our eyes, took different poses, and the expression on his face changed from day to day. When analyzing Vrubel’s painting “The Defeated Demon,” one cannot help but say about the background on which the character is located. The mountain gorge looks like a grave, and the feathers from the wings scattered nearby were supposed to show the viewer that the higher a person climbs, the harder it will be for him to fall. The action of the picture takes place against the backdrop of sunset. This symbolic background draws a line under the life of the demon and Vrubel. There is an opinion that the artist wanted to show with his demon his invincibility in the life of every person. Even though the hero has fallen, he still breathes and will live. But the impression the canvas makes is such that it seems as if the demon is too weak and will die any minute. But one should not deny the fact that the artist was never able to complete the idea he started, so now viewers do not have the opportunity to admire what should have turned out in the end.
Demons in creativity
Every person has internal problems, and everyone struggles with them differently. Some go to a psychotherapist, others keep a diary. Demons occupy a central position in Vrubel’s work for the reason that they were images of his soul. As the artist himself admitted, he felt better more than once after he poured out his soul on canvas. But why did Vrubel associate his inner tenant with a demon? The fact is that the artist did not consider this character to be something evil or vicious. For Vrubel, a demon is neither a devil nor a devil. This is a fallen being who is trying to find his place in this world. Agree, it’s allegorical. If you look at all the demons painted by the artist, you can trace the mental state of their author. Some say that Vrubel created prophetic paintings. But you can look at the problem from a different angle. The pictures were not prophetic. The artist through his creativity expressed his mental anguish, his illness, which destroyed him. The subject matter of his work has nothing to do with it. After all, his first creations were considered a miracle and a revolution in art. So it’s stupid to believe that it was the “dark” theme chosen by the artist that ruined the creator.
Influence on followers
Were all geniuses crazy? Hard to tell. But we can say for sure that Mikhail Alexandrovich Vrubel and the demons he wrote changed the course of history. The artist did not immediately gain popularity. Many did not understand the creator's style. It seemed too pretentious and unrealistic. The artist's uniqueness was attributed to his illness and strange way of thinking. But as Vrubel’s attending physician said, there is nothing strange in the creative manifestation of his patient. After all, each person has his own picture of the world.
When did true fame come to the artist? This happened during his lifetime, but at that time Vrubel was already blind and was living out his days in a psychiatric hospital. But it was not the creator’s compassion that prompted the public to reconsider their views on the artist’s work. At the turn of the century, fashion changed. Paintings by artists such as Monet and Degas became popular. At this time, Ge, Benois, Chaliapin and Gorky revised their attitude towards the special style of their contemporary.
It is difficult to say whether the artist was ahead of his time. Mikhail Vrubel lived in his own world and painted his own vision. Naturally, the artist’s taste was formed under the influence of his contemporaries and fashion. But Vrubel managed to develop a unique style before Cubism became fashionable. Although, as already written above, Picasso said that it was thanks to the work of Mikhail Alexandrovich that he changed his style of writing and interpreted the artist’s style in his own way.
What happened to the illustrations of Lermontov’s demon? They were warmly received by the public. The books were sold out both at the time of their publication and are still sold today. The artist managed better than others to understand the feelings of the great poet and depict the image on paper. It must be said that after Vrubel no one even tried to take on the illustration of Lermontov’s work. It is difficult to withstand the competition of an artist who spent his entire life merging with the image he created and did not stop creating his demons until his last days. Vrubel taught a lesson to the entire modern generation. There is no need to be afraid of your uniqueness. Each artist should try to develop his own unique style in order to be different from others. With talent and perseverance you can achieve a lot in life.
