In 1900, Mikhail Vrubel wrote a truly mesmerizing painting - “The Swan Princess”, which belongs to the “fairy tale” cycle of this artist. It includes paintings “Pan”, “By Night”, “Lilac”, “Pearl” and unites their time of action - at night or in the evening, and the fact that their characters in reality do not exist, and are the fruit of Vrubel's imagination, or rather, his vision of mythical heroes.
Except that the prototype of the Swan Princess from Pushkin's fairy tale was a character more than real, and very close to Vrubel - his wife Nadezhda Zabela.
The Swan Princess
She sang in opera and deservedly drew the admiration of many music critics and opera fans, which at that time there were many more available. “Her marvelous shimmering voice, expressive, wide-set eyes in which one can drown, flexible stanza and charming smile - it seems that it was impossible not to fall in love with her” - wrote about Nadezhda Zabel music critics.
All was so - in 1896 Vrubel, who has already become quite a famous artist, created the scenery for Panaevsky theater. There he saw Zabela, immediately fell in love, forgetting about his natural shyness, during a break went to her to give flowers and say enthusiastic compliments, and a few days later offered to marry him.
Lilac
Zabela agreed - to be the wife of a famous artist was honorable, and then Vrubel has not yet suffered from mental illness, although here is a calculating and able to count money man, a real pillar of the family with a strong character to call it was difficult, but the unconditional talent redeemed all these shortcomings.
The wedding was played in Switzerland, where Zabela went on tour and at first were really happy. Vrubel several times painted her portraits, and they were really worthy.
Portrait of the artist N.I. Zabela-Vrubel, the artist's wife, in an Empire summer toilet, executed according to the artist's design
But Tsarevna-Lebed though was a peculiar variation of the image of Zabela, playing her in the opera by Rimsky-Korsakov, but there is practically no external resemblance. This is absolutely not the type - Nadezhda Zabela herself was a lady, strong, “blood with milk” and her beauty is the beauty of a healthy and strong woman, not something otherworldly and ephemeral, as in the paintings of Vrubel. “Do not look into her eyes - bewitched” - so said some critics and indeed, in that image there is some kind of obsession, and the intense gaze of huge, very expressive eyes is impossible to forget.
Pan
Rimsky-Korsakov's opera was to take place in 1900. Vrubel created the scenery for it, and at the same time seriously interested in the very image of the Swan Princess, a wise woman and a powerful sorceress, a kind of good witch who can turn into a beautiful bird. And Vrubel painted her on the border between these two hypostases - when she has just begun to turn into a swan, still retains a human appearance, but has already grown majestic wings. They occupy a significant volume of the painting, and are painted with sweeping strokes, seeming almost weightless and contrasting sharply with the darkness of the thickening twilight. And above this confrontation of light and darkness, the queen herself appears in her human form of a beautiful maiden with a magical and enchanting gaze, which reads both destruction and great reward.
By Night
She does not seem to be a character unambiguously kind and simple, there is something demonic in her, as if the occupation of magic has distorted her original essence of a pure and pure maiden. And something reminds me of a siren, whose beautiful songs it is better not to succumb to, otherwise, following them, you can drown in the abyss of the sea.
The Pearl
A year before “Demon Flying” was painted, and a couple of years later “Demon Defeated”. So the theme of the demon was Vrubel very close, it's a pity only that with his own he could not manage, and a couple of years after the painting “The Swan Princess” was in a psychiatric hospital. Indeed, this look was though mesmerizing, but it promised certain doom.
Buy handmade goods or modern art you can on artAlebrio - is an international marketplace for people who want to create, sell, buy and collect unique items and art - buy the best with us artAlebrio.com.
By confirming your order you unconditionally accept these General Conditions of Sale
