The Russian North through the eyes of artists (PICS)

“The North is harsh and unfriendly, but I am drawn to it. I will go again to the Arctic Ocean, to great strong people,” artist Vasily Perepletchikov wrote in the early 20th century.  

The so-called Russian North starts at the coast of the Arctic Ocean and the impenetrable forests of Arkhangelsk Region and stretches almost as far as St. Petersburg. Despite its geographic location, the city is not considered to be the Russian North, probably because of its distinctly Western European flavor.  

There, in an almost desolate land, monks sought refuge from the hustle and bustle of our world. For a long time, timber, wax and furs were brought from all over the country to the northern port of Arkhangelsk for shipment to Europe. Only with the founding of St. Petersburg and the incorporation of Riga and Revel (now Tallinn) in the first half of the 18th century as a result of the Great Northern War (against Sweden), commodity flows were redirected to the Baltic.

The Wild North, 1890.

Ivan Shishkin/Kyiv National Art Gallery

In the North, 1899.

Konstantin Korovin

Lake Ladoga, 1873.

Arkhip Kuindzhi/The State Russian Museum

Northern landscape, 1872.

Leo Lagorio/The Pozhalostin Ryazan Regional and State Art Museum

Up to the North, 1896.

Isaac Levitan

North, 1879.

Arkhip Kuindzhi/The State Tretyakov Gallery

Murmansk coast, 1894.

Konstantin Korovin

On the island of Valaam, 1873.

Arkhip Kuindzhi/The State Tretyakov Gallery

Solovki, 1917.

Mikhail Nesterov

Port of Arkhangelsk on the Dvina River, 1894.

Konstantin Korovin

Interior view of the wooden church of Peter and Paul in Puchuga, 1894.

Vasily Vereshchagin/The State Russian Museum

The St. Trifon’s Creek at Pechenga, 1894.

Konstantin Korovin/The State Tretyakov Gallery

Fishing boats in Arkhangelsk, 1894.

Valentin Serov

Kirillo-Belozersky monastery, 1915.

Apollinariy Vasnetsov

Arkhangelsk, 1897.

Konstantin Korovin/The State Tretyakov Gallery

Silence, 1903.

Mikhail Nesterov/The State Tretyakov Gallery

Pine on Valaam, 1858.

Ivan Shishkin/Perm State Art Gallery

A village in northern Russia, mid-1890s.

Konstantin Korovin

Northern Dvina, 1894.

Vasily Vereshchagin

A carved column in the refectory of the Church of Saints Peter and Paul in the village of Puchuga, Vologda Province, 1894.

Vasily Vereshchagin/The State Tretyakov Gallery

The North Country, 1899.

Apollinariy Vasnetsov/The State Russian Museum

Foxy, 1914.

Mikhail Nesterov

Pomorians. Morning, 1906.

Nicholas Roerich/The State Tretyakov Gallery

Valday Monastery. 1901.

Apollinariy Vasnetsov

The Village of Porog on the Vonguda River, 1911.

Vasily Perepletchikov

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