The favorite river of Russian artists (PICS)

Isaac Levitan/The State Tretyakov Gallery
Isaac Levitan/The State Tretyakov Gallery
Russia is naturally a country of many, great rivers. But one of them is loved with particular fondness.

There are countless large and small rivers in Russia. And the beauty of many of them has been captured on canvases by artists. But no river has received as much attention from Russian painters as the Volga.

“The Volga, like an endless mirror, covered in transparent mist, softly reflects the charming pale beauty of the night and the sleepy, precipitous shore…” wrote Taras Shevchenko, the famous Russian-Ukrainian poet of the 19th century.

‘Mother Volga’, as it is endearingly dubbed, has long been one of the main symbols of Russia. It has served and continues to serve as a source of inspiration for poets, writers, filmmakers and, of course, painters.

The popular Soviet poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko wrote of the river thus: 

“And I’ll be youthful and hell-raising,

and always flourish, make a din,

as long as Volga flows amazing,

as long as I’m of Russian kin.”

Isaac Levitan/The State Tretyakov Gallery
Isaac Levitan/The State Tretyakov Gallery
Ilya Repin/The Russian State Museum
Ilya Repin/The Russian State Museum
Isaac Levitan/The State Tretyakov Gallery
Isaac Levitan/The State Tretyakov Gallery
Vasily Kandinsky/The Centre Pompidou
Vasily Kandinsky/The Centre Pompidou
Alexei Savrasov
Alexei Savrasov
Boris Kustodiev
Boris Kustodiev
Isaac Levitan
Isaac Levitan
Isaac Levitan/The State Tretyakov Gallery
Isaac Levitan/The State Tretyakov Gallery
Nikolai Dubovsky
Nikolai Dubovsky
Abram Arkhipov/The Russian State Museum
Abram Arkhipov/The Russian State Museum
Ivan Aivazovsky/The Aivazovsky National Art Gallery
Ivan Aivazovsky/The Aivazovsky National Art Gallery
Isaac Levitan/The State Tretyakov Gallery
Isaac Levitan/The State Tretyakov Gallery
Ivan Aivazovsky/National Museum «Kyiv Picture Gallery»
Ivan Aivazovsky/National Museum «Kyiv Picture Gallery»
Isaak Levitan
Isaak Levitan
Mikhail Klodt
Mikhail Klodt