Der Norden

Kuindzhi meant this to be the opening of a grand series on the Russian land, running from the far north down to the south, a plan he never finished. He showed The North in 1879, and the collector Pavel Tretyakov bought it together with two other canvases for a substantial sum. Kuindzhi pushes the horizon high and gives most of the picture to sky and haze, the northern distance dissolving in a pale, silvery light seen as if from a height. A dark stand of firs holds the near foreground. He was after an effect of luminosity that fascinated his contemporaries, some of whom suspected he used hidden lamps or trick varnishes to make his skies glow.