What the Prince-Swan Vrubel

Mikhail Vrubel was forever an unsolved mystery in world culture.

So it happens with a genius: it is called strange, emotions swirl around it, passions are seething, rumors are creeping, and real recognition comes late. Contemporaries appreciated Vrubel's amazing gift only when he was already on his deathbed. The artist was proclaimed the symbol of the era. About "wonderful colors" in the works of Vrubel and about "bizarre drawings stolen from Eternity" spoke in a farewell speech at the grave of the painter Alexander Blok. The painting "The Princess-Swan" by Vrubel hung in the cabinet of the poet in Shakhmatovo.

Russian myth

Vrubel was always attracted by the poetry of a fairy tale, folklore mystification, embodied in the images of mysterious magicians and wizards from folk works. The first major artistic experience in this sphere was the monumental panel "Mikula Selyaninovich", which the master presented in 1896 at the All-Russian Exhibition in Nizhny Novgorod. The work caused a scandal, the commission of the Petersburg Academy of Arts recognized the work as "non-fiction." This could not but injure the forty-year-old artist. However, soon Vrubel had a muse that inspired him to create in the spirit of Russian folklore. The artist got acquainted with the singer Nadezhda Zabela, who fell in love with her unique voice - "smooth, light, gentle-puffy, full of colors," as contemporaries recalled. This surprisingly echoed in the artistic consciousness of Vrubel with expressive shimmering shades and semitones of his peculiar painting. The artist and the singer were married in the same year.

History of the painting

The creation of the painting "The Swan Princess" by Vrubel was inspired by the production of the opera "The Tale of Tsar Saltan" by A.R. Pushkin, where Nadezhda Zabela-Vrubel played the role of the fairy-bird-bird . At first it was conceived as a sketch of a costume for a performance, but then grew into something much more - in a mysterious and enticing image, hypnotizing longing for the unearthly worlds. The painting "The Swan Princess" by Vrubel became a kind of anthem for the female image of the modernist era - irrational, almost bodiless, elusive and foreshadowing certain changes.

Music colors

Immersion in the world of music Rimsky-Korsakov was a beneficial turn in the creative destiny of Vrubel. Nadezhda Ivanovna, the artist's wife, recalled that, for example, the opera "Sadko" Mikhail Alexandrovich listened to about a hundred times. He said that he can listen to the orchestra endlessly, especially the scenes of the sea, that every time he finds new fantastic tones in it. Their master embodied and in his amazing works. Such shades and halftones are breathed by the inspired "Swan Princess" Vrubel, created in 1900.

In the paintings of Vrubel it is almost impossible to see the colors of a sunny day. He loved transitional states-a sunset evening, a nascent morning. The color concentrates the artist's particular attitude, his inclination to the irrational, the passion for the mystery and the sense of anxiety that is diffused in the world. In the artist's color palette, the melting pearls of pearly tones in a lilac twilight are similar to the harmonious accords of a musical piece. Such a trembling and elusive portrayed the one whose name is the Swan Princess, Vrubel.

Description of the canvas

In the dusk slowly descending to the earth with the scarlet line of sunset, the princess swims away, she looked back to make the last significant and warning gesture to Gvidon. In her sad eyes, there was an anxiety and sorrow, while the eyes of those beautiful eyes were strangely cold and indifferent to the earthly vanity. The prince-swan of Vrubel mourns for something invisible behind the veil of the visible world. Another moment - and it will turn into a wonderful white swan. This bird in the worldview of symbolism represents the inspiration that can break through the rational world and be carried away by the dream into other spheres.

Quiet trembling comes from the picture on which precious stones gleam in an expensive kokoshnik, the eyes of a beautiful maiden burn with the same precious radiance, the scarlet rays of the setting sun fall on the sea ripples, a transparent air veil and huge white wings.

Nothing to do with the stately ruddy and cheerful beauties of the princesses, which they traditionally depict illustrators of Russian fairy tales, the Swan Princess Vrubel does not have. Her crystal image is much closer to the face of the mythical Aphrodite, or to the enchanting appearance of the demoness Lilith.

The Promise of Happiness

The angelic face of the princess resembles the face of another angel - the fallen one - from the last paintings of Vrubel. The image of the reeking Demon pursued the artist for decades, he saw in him a spirit not so much "spiteful" as "suffering and domineering". Nevertheless, the Swan Princess can not be compared to a fallen angel. It has the steadfastness, patience and power of true love, and the sorcerous charms are entirely on the side of good, for which it seems ready to sacrifice life itself. Therefore, the mysterious image and enveloped in such a gentle and majestic beauty, captivating the prince Gvidona.

A man at all times dreams of a mysterious mystery and a fairy tale with a happy ending. One of them was told by Vrubel M. in a delightful language of colors and images. Tsarevna-Lebed lives in every heart that searches for poetry and magic.