Ivan Aivazovsky
1817–1900
Ivan Aivazovsky was born into an Armenian family in Feodosia and studied at the Academy of Arts in Saint Petersburg. The sea, travel and commissions associated with the Russian navy shaped his career. Alongside battle paintings, he made coastal views and open seascapes centred on light and moving water.
The Ninth Wave combines the sea with a Romantic shipwreck narrative. In The Black Sea, tension develops with almost no human presence. Comparing them reveals the range of his solutions. Light passes through a thin wave crest, reflects from foam or disperses through clouds, changing the experience of space.
