February azure

February Azure (, also known as February Blue, is a landscape painting by Russian post-impressionist painter Igor Grabar, created in 1904. The painting was presented to the public at the second exhibition of the Union of Russian Artists, which opened on 31 December 1904 in Saint Petersburg and then moved to Moscow in February 1905. In 1905, February Azure was purchased from Grabar by the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow after a unanimous decision of the museum's board of directors. Grabar considered February Azure a sum of several separate, lengthy observations—in a sense, a synthesis of them—and a revolutionary work that opened up a new path Russian art had not explored until then. Studies and background At the first exhibition of the Union of Russian Artists in 1903, Grabar became acquainted with one of the participating artists, . Meshcherin invited Grabar to stay at his family estate on the bank of the Pakhra river in Moscow. Grabar, being eager to paint snow and winter, accepted the invitation—he liked winter landscapes because he regarded snow as an ideal basis to use many different lighting effects on. The Meshcherin family owned the Danilovskaya factory and were wealthy and hospitable. Grabar felt home at their place. They provided him with a sleigh with a carriage to travel around the area for his studies. During one of his usual wanderings near the estate in February 1904, he encountered "something extraordinary going on in nature. [...] a feast of azure skies, pearl birches, coral twigs, and sapphire shadows on the lilac snow", which impressed him deeply enough that he decided to embody it in a painting.