Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky (Иван Константинович Айвазовский) is regarded as one of the greatest marine artists of all time. He grew up around the Black Sea and spent decades studying the qualities of water under different light and weather conditions. Aivazovsky was a professor of seascape painting at the Imperial Academy of Arts in Saint Petersburg, and the official artist of the Imperial Russian Navy. His 1850 masterpiece, The Ninth Wave (Девятый вал) is probably his best known work. The title refers to the ancient nautical tradition, that the ninth wave is always the biggest — and sometimes fatal. The brilliant painting virtually illustrates Immanuel Kant’s thesis in aesthetics that the experience is determined by the observer: viewed from afar, a horrendous sea storm appears dramatic, magnificent and beautiful. Up close, (as to the shipwrecked figures in the foreground of Aivazovsky’s painting, desperately clinging on to a broken mast), the same event may appear absolutely terrifying.
• The Ninth Wave (Девятый вал), Ivan Aivazovsky (Иван Айвазовский), 1850, oil painting on canvas
• Fine Art Premium Giclée (Gouttelette) Print (100% cotton 340 gsm textured fine art paper)
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