Landscape ‘Moonrise’ [1902, oil on canvas, 49 x 83 cm, signed lower left: S. Zhukovsky (written in Cyrillic in Russian), National Art Museum in Odessa, inv. no. 498-Ż, Odessa, Ukraine]
In his paintings, Žukovskij most often depicted evening or night-time landscapes – he painted nocturnes featuring nature. The artist enjoyed composing moonlit scenes because of their enigmatic and poetic nature. Furthermore, the atmospheric conditions that created an evocative mood allowed him to employ striking Impressionist lighting effects.
In 1902, Zhukovsky exhibited his painting ‘Moonrise’. He depicted an autumn night descending over a small hill. The dreamlike atmosphere captures the imagination and possesses a certain magnetic quality. The picture plane is divided into four horizontal, colour-coded zones. In the first of these, in the left-hand corner, stands a huge haystack. In the centre of the second zone, stretching from the right to the left of the hill, lies a ravine. Higher up is another hill, and the night-time outlines of the forest are visible. The final zone of the composition is the sky. The moon reigns over the night-time world, though the painter has also applied blue and navy blue paint to the sky beside it. Strips of milky night mist glide across the ground and, together with the moonlight, permeate the dark surface. The painting is complemented by a state of utter silence; the world is plunged into a magical and deep sleep. Night and moonlight unite the two fundamental planes of the painting: the sky and the earth. The softness of the nocturnal atmosphere and the mist allow the landscape to be painted without stark colour contrasts. All the tones are soft, and in places indistinct. Zhukovsky employed the ‘impasto’ technique, that is, the thick application of paint with dynamic brushstrokes. In the third and fourth sections of the composition, delicate and subtle brushstrokes are evident. The atmosphere of the landscape is intimate and mysterious. The night-time earth seems to breathe – it is the mist illuminated by the moonlight. The mist descends into the ink-black depths of the ravine. This motif, much like the pearly moonlight, evokes a vague sense of unease. The artist has masterfully captured the changing atmospheric conditions of the night, conveyed the effect of natural lighting in nocturnes, and refined his painting style – broad, full of feeling and vivid colours.