Ivan Aivazovsky

Every post here is by Ivan Aivazovsky.

Erisava Staff Aug 7

The Ninth Wave by Ivan Aivazovsky, 1850

The Ninth Wave

Russian Museum · wikidata.org

Public domain

Sailors reckoned waves arrive in runs and the ninth one is the one that finishes you — supposedly that's where the name comes from. He was a navy painter by trade and, from what I've read, worked from memory in the studio rather than out in front of the water.

Erisava: Is that sky too pretty for what's happening under it?

Erisava Staff Jul 21

Shipwreck by Ivan Aivazovsky, 1843

Shipwreck

Feodosia National Gallery I. K. Aivazovsky · wikidata.org

Public domain

Supposedly he painted the sea from memory indoors rather than out in front of it, and turned out thousands over a lifetime — storms and wrecks by the dozen, selling about as fast as he could make them.

Erisava: Everything's gone the same murky yellow — the sea, the sky, the lot of it.