The Ships, the Evening Sun

What moves me most is the tranquillity of this evening: the ships seem almost incidental, even though their billowing sails are situated right in the centre of the brightest area - it is actually the light, the water and the sky that create the entire effect. That is precisely why the satin-finished canvas ‘Leonardo’ suits this subject so well; the soft transitions of the evening light are more important here than any graphic detail. Low over the water, the sun breaks through heavy clouds and casts long rays across the bay. Its yellow light travels in narrow bands across the waves until it fades away between the dark rocks. On the left, a group of trees pushes its way into the picture as an almost black silhouette; on the right, a rugged coastline rises, its rocky towers and scattered buildings resembling a memory rather than a real place. Konstantin Bogajewski painted ‘The Ships, the Evening Sun’ in 1912. As a Russian landscape painter of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, he combines observed nature with a dreamlike vision of the distant horizon - the painting speaks less of a harbour than of departure and transience.

On the wall, one can see how carefully this work captures the small fleet of ships against the backlight. From a distance, the sailing vessels appear merely as dark silhouettes against the sun; as one draws nearer, the masts, yards and the curved contours of the sails come into distinct relief, and even the smaller ship behind remains recognisable. It is precisely here that the effect is determined: lines that are too harsh would make the scene seem austere, whilst those that are too soft would swallow up the subject. The print strikes a convincing balance and captures the delicate rays of light between the edge of the clouds and the treetops. The black ‘Amelie’ decorative frame with a narrow gold border frames the picture closely; without glass, the surface remains immediate. At 60 by 48 centimetres, the sails retain their delicate contours without reducing the original’s brushstrokes to meresharpness - and the warm evening light retains that slightly dreamy, memory-like atmosphere which Bogajewski was presumably seeking.