The Hidden Collaboration Behind Russia's Famous Painting Morning in the Pine Forest
- Liz Publika
- May 30
- 2 min read
by #LizPublika
My favorite candy as a kid featured a wrapper with one of Russia’s most famous paintings called Morning in the Pine Forest (1889) widely attributed to Ivan Shishkin (1832-1898). It depicts a splendid nature scene enjoyed by a few bear cubs sometime shortly after dawn. There’s a good chance that my affection for the image had a profound impact on why I loved the candy in the first place. Years later, I finally saw the real painting at the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow, and it was even more beautiful than I had anticipated.
According to Britannica, throughout much of his practice, Shishkin’s “naturalistic depiction of every blade of grass paradoxically created a sensation of the majestic scale of the whole, as the entire painting was conceived as a quantitative apotheosis of separate details.” Towards the end of his life, however, he attempted to imbue his work with “atmosphere,” Morning in the Pine Forest being the prime example. While the nature in the painting is indeed credited to Shishkin, the cubs are the subject of a longstanding authorship dispute.
There is reason to believe that they were painted by another artist by the name of Konstantin Savitsky (1844- 1905). Much like Shiskin, with whom he was close friends, Savitsky was part of the art collective known as The Wanderers. Unlike Shishkin, Savitsky was more known for his genre art — the pictorial representation of scenes or events from everyday life, such as markets, domestic settings, interiors, parties, inn scenes, etc. According to numerous sources, including this Russian news site, Morning in the Pine Forest was the result of their creative collaboration.
The author of the article suggests that in 1889, Morning in a Pine Forest was exhibited at the Seventeenth Traveling Exhibition and bore both artists’ signatures. It also argues that it was Savitsky who removed his own signature from the painting, which has led the public to associate the work with Shishkin alone, but this is where information gets a bit murky. Other sources suggest that it was actually Pavel Tretyakov (1832-1898) who is responsible for the removal of Savitsky’s name from the work after purchasing it for his gallery in 1889.
A Turkish source states that Savitsky’s signature was removed from the canvas with a brushstroke. Yet another Russian source suggests the name was removed with turpentine at Tretyakov’s suggestion, after which Savitsky found out about it upon visiting the gallery and being surprised to see his name erased. Whatever the details of the actual case may be, multiple sources suggest that this was a collaborative process, later simplified into a single-author attribution. Most people, myself included, are only finding out about this now.
Scholarship and media interest is slowly uncovering these kinds of inaccuracies. In the meantime, simple efforts such as printing stunning images on candy wrappers for kids to enjoy is sparking a lasting interest in art. I’m sure I would have found out about the painting eventually, but that early experience paired with candy preserved it for life. And that’s kind of cool when you think about it.
Note* Image is available via Public Domain and Fair Use.