Ivan Aivazovsky Biography | Oil Painting Reproductions

The Governor of Theodosia perceived the masterful ability of youthful Ivan Aivazovsky and helped him enter secondary school in Simferopol and in 1833 St. Petersburg Academy of Art where he studied. In the fall of 1836, Ivan Aivazovsky introduced 5 marine seascape oil canvases to the Academic show. In 1837, at the age of 20, Ivan Aivazovsky got the Major Gold Medal for his oil artworks, which enabled him to go on a long trips abroad. However, the artist initially went to Crimea to perfect himself in his chosen genre by painting the ocean and perspectives of Crimean waterfront towns. During the time of 1840-1844 Aivazovsky, also traveled to Italy, Germany, France, Spain, and Holland. He worked much and had numerous shows, meeting everywhere with success. He painted a lot of marine seascapes, which turned out to be extremely popular in Italy.

Aivazovsky's Name is Bound with the Ocean.

Throughout his work, Ivan Aivazovsky developed his strategy for delineating the movement of the ocean, from memory, without preparatory sketches, constraining himself to only pencil traces. Aivazovsky's wonderful memory and sentimental creativity enabled him to do this with exceptional splendor. The advancement of this new technique mirrored the soul of the age. In 1844 the artist comes back to St. Petersburg, he was granted the title of Academician and ended up joining the Russian General Naval Headquarters. This enabled him to travel much with the Russian armada undertakings on various missions, he went to Turkey, Greece, Egypt, and America. From 1846 to 1848 he painted several oil canvases with maritime warfare as the subject and depicted skirmishes of the Russian Fleet.

Neither financial security nor life in a royal residence intrigued him. He returns to his native land, fabricated a studio/home on the seashore, and painted until the last days of his life. He participated in exhibitions throughout the world. Ivan Aivazovsky got great commissions and wound up noticeably rich. He spent much cash on philanthropy, particularly for his local town, he opened Feodosia the First School of Arts in 1865, then the Art Gallery in 1889. He was a member of the Academies of Stuttgart, Florence, Rome, and Amsterdam.

After the Russo-Persian war, at the start of the second quarter of the nineteenth century, Eastern Armenia went under Russian rule. Western Armenia was still under Turkish rule. After the slaughters of the Armenians in Turkey, numerous displaced people came to Theodosia, where Ivan Aivazovsky gave safe houses and sustenance and helped families migrate. So exasperated was he with the treatment of the Armenians in Turkey that he painted a progression of oil paintings denouncing the slaughters, which was shown in Moscow. He tossed into the ocean the award that the Sultan had given him years prior.

Ivan Aivazovsky is the fascinating wonder of nineteenth-century art. He gained international fame at the age of 25, was chosen as a member of five European Academies, and was granted the award of the French Legion of Honor. Aivazovsky's name is bound with the ocean. Maybe nobody in Europe has painted the exceptional beauty of the ocean with so much feeling and expressiveness as he has. He is genuinely one of the world's artist.

In 2012, his work View of Constantinople and the Bosphorus was sold at Sotheby's for a record $5.2 million.

Art Movement History: Romanticism.
Artists Influencing Aivazovsky: Maxim Vorobiev, Alexander Sauerweid.
He Traveled To Italy, Germany, France, Spain, Holland, Turkey, Greece, Egypt, USA.
Painters Ivan Aivazovsky Influenced: Lev Lagorio, Mikhail Latri, Aleksey Ganzen, Arkhip Kuindzhi.
Artist's Biography compiled by Albert L. Mansour at The World's Artist, with text adapted from Wikipedia.