The turn of the19th - 20th centuries is called the Silver Age of Russian art. This name reflects the situation at the turn of any century: on the one hand, it implies the sense that the end of a once magnificent culture is close, while on the other hand, it means the dawn of a new era. This mood was succinctly summed up by A.N. Benois, an artist and critic, who said, "We are another sad epoch which has achieved the peak of its maturity and now spreads the slanting rays of the setting sun over aging civilizations".
The age of the nobility's assuredness is passing away the slow and regular style of 19th century life. Scientific discoveries and technological inventions have shaken stable notions. The feeling grows that the world is both fragile and complex, which is depicted in smoldering emotions and diametrically opposed ideological desires. The time's tense atmosphere amplifies mystic sentiment and promotes spiritual exploration.
The artistic situation at the turn of the century is marked by a clash between tradition and innovation, by the
emergence of various trends. New trends in Russian art can be found in the creative work of young artists, such as I.I. Levitan, V.A. Serov, M.A. Vrubel, K.A. Korovin and M.V. Nesterov. They are influenced by the major artists of the second half of the 19th century, such as I.E. Repin, V.I. Surikov, V.D. Polenov, A.K. Savrasov, but they begin to look for independent ways in art from the mid-1880s.
The social urgency of Realism that determined art in the preceding decade is replaced by increased interest in exploring the expressiveness of the aesthetic form. In painting this implies the independent value of colour, lines and composition.
The new epoch is permeated with the idea of beauty's curing force that is present in everything. Philosopher V.S. Solovyov declares that "beauty is necessary to do good in the material world, as only it lights up and tames the unkind darkness of this world". The principle of representing reality is replaced by a desire to embody a high world of images in counterpoint to everyday life. M.A. Vrubel wrote, "art should enflame, illuminate the soul with grand images awakening it from the trite details of everyday life". Artists try to unite and express the era's religious, philosophical and aesthetic questions. They peer into the secrets of human consciousness, they explore the subtlest motions of the soul and brave surges of the
spirit. The language of art becomes sophisticated. It is no longer understandable to the multitudes. The high calling of the creative individual and the tragedy of creation are depicted particularly acutely. This leaves the Silver Age as the successor to Romantic ideas. Even more than in the Romantic period, art at the turn of the century is filled with the pathos of spiritual prophecies and the desire to fulfil them.
Spatial arts experience great upheaval: architecture, sculpture, painting and graphics strive to unite their means of expression. This leads to the creation of a grand style intended to transform human environment. The work of the architects F.O. Shekhtel, A.V. Shchusev, the monumental paintings and sculptures of M.A. Vrubel are the most vivid examples of interaction between arts.
This desire to achieve harmony between painting, poetry and music was crowned with brilliant results. S.P. Diaghilev organised the Ballets Russes in Paris where performances were staged with sets by the artists of the World of Art group, such as A.N. Benois, L.S. Bakst and A.Ya. Golovin. The composers A.N. Skryabin and I.F. Stravinsky became famous all over the world. It is impossible to imagine fine art of this period without making comparisons to the poetry of A.A. Blok, Andrei Bely, V.Ya. Bryusov, K.D. Balmont, and Vyacheslav Ivanov.
The turn of the century forms a creative personality reminiscent of the Italian Renaissance masters. He is a universal artist able to embody his thoughts in different forms of art. M.A. Vrubel, K.A. Korovin, V.E. Borisov-Musatov, N.K. Roerich and A.Ya. Golovin are among the artists of this kind.
Besides the emergence of major creative personalities, this epoch also features the appearance of artistic associations, such as the World of Art group, the Union of Russian Artists, and the Blue Rose, which helped artists to introduce their own innovations.
In Russia the renewal process starts later than in Europe, but it takes hold much faster. Therefore, the stylistic situation at the turn of the century is marked by the simultaneous existence of and interaction between various trends. One could point to three main trends here: that of National Romanticism, Impressionism and Symbolism.
The National Romantic trend marked the beginning of a spiritual revival, which is unimaginable without an appeal to the sources of a nation's culture. It is formed at Abramtsevo, the estate of S.I. Mamontov, a patron the arts, in the early 1880s. Unlike the Peredvizhniki, who depicted the people as a "poor suffering stratum", the new generation sees it as "the force hiding the wealth of centuries". This trend is set apart by how it delves into the spirit of bygone times, the creative thinking of folk art, of fairy-tales, epics, while it also awakens interest in the folk works, old Russian architecture and fresco painting. This artistic direction formed the Neo-Russian style which was the forbear of Russia's Art Nouveau and determined its specific features. The movement is inextricably linked with the names of M.V. Nesterov ("Young Bartholomew's Vision", 1889-1890), N.K. Roerich, A.P. Ryabushkin, F.A. Malyavin ("The Whirlwind", 1906) and M.A. Vrubel ("The Swan Princess", 1900).
Impressionism emerged in Russia when it was already fading in France, its motherland. The first Impressionist paintings appeared in the 1880s, and by 1900s this trend is sufficiently widespread. The specific features of Russian Impressionism are determined by its profound ties with the traditions of landscape painting from the second half of the 19th century. Impressionist artists saw the world transformed by light that is constantly changing in a stream of the rainbow's hues. Attention is drawn to everything ephemeral and changeable: water, air, light, and how they interact. Therefore, the landscape becomes the favourite genre. Russian Impressionism is full of heightened lyrical intonation and the desire to convey, as subtly as possible, the soul of northern nature which offers no bright, clear colours. The winter landscape becomes particularly
popular during Impressionism period. Many Russian artists used Impressionism as the first step towards bolder aesthetic experiments. The most important representatives of this trend are V.A. Serov ("Girl with Peaches", 1887), K.A. Korovin ("Fish, Wine and Fruit", 1916), I.E. Grabar ("March Snow", 1904), K.F. Yuon, I.I. Levitan ("March", 1895) and the painters of the Union of Russian Artists.
Symbolism, which appeared in Russia in the 1890s - 1900s, was the main aesthetic trend uniting fine arts, the theatre, music, poetry and aesthetic thought in the epoch. Reflected in the internal vision of the artist, reality is transformed into a poetic metaphor or a myth. Symbolism operates with the notion of the symbol. In Russia this trend concentrates on the mysteries of the human soul, nature, the art of the past, on the search for their unity and harmony.
The Art Nouveau style is the last major style of fine art. It united architecture, sculpture, painting and applied arts. Symbolism used the ornamental decorative language of the Art Nouveau style to embody its ideas in fine art. The leading masters of the Russian symbolism-Art Nouveau were M.A. Vrubel ("Seated Demon", 1890), V.E. Borisov-Musatov ("The Emerald Necklace", 1903-1904), the artists of the World of Art and the Blue Rose groups.
The innovatory exploration of the turn of the 19th - 20th centuries prepared Russian art for radical aesthetic reforms which marked the avant-garde period of the 1910s-1920s.
