19 Facts About Isaac Levitan

Isaac Levitan taught German and French in Kowno and later worked as a translator at a railway bridge construction for a French building company.

At the beginning of 1870 the Levitan family moved to Moscow.

In September 1873, Isaac Levitan entered the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture where his older brother Avel had already studied for two years.

Isaac Levitan's teachers were the famous Alexei Savrasov, Vasily Perov and Vasily Polenov.

In 1877, Isaac Levitan's works were first publicly exhibited and earned favorable recognition from the press.

Previously, the Russian countryside had been considered too uninteresting for painting, but for Isaac Levitan landscapes became the center of his work.

Isaac Levitan showed the painting to Savrasov, who had been drinking heavily and had stopped teaching at the school; Savrasov wrote "silver medal" on the back of the canvas.

The school rejected the painting, and Isaac Levitan stopped attending classes.

Isaac Levitan often visited Chekhov and some think Isaac Levitan was in love with his sister, Maria Pavlovna Chekhova.

Isaac Levitan painted Twilight River Istra with a darker, more somber palette.

Sidieb was fond of creating pantomimes for his guests, with Isaac Levitan often ridiculed for playing the villain, the victim and the alien Jew, ostensibly all in jest.

In 1892 Isaac Levitan had a falling out with Sidieb over The Grasshopper, a story Chekhov published in the "Sever" magazine, which Isaac Levitan believed was based on his romantic relationship with Sofia Kuvshinnikova.

Isaac Levitan's work was a profound response to the lyrical charm of the Russian landscape.

Isaac Levitan painted not only the trees, but the light itself illuminating them, and this was most evident in a painting such as Moonlit Night: Main Road where two row of birches line a straight road in moonlight.

Isaac Levitan eventually contributed to exhibitions by the World of Art group, a younger generation of artists who believed beauty as the goal of art.

In September 1892 Jews were again expelled from Moscow and Isaac Levitan left the city for Boldino.

Isaac Levitan spent the last year of his life at Chekhov's home in Crimea.

Isaac Levitan and Kuvshinnikova were both offended although the central figure in the story was a young wife and Kuvshinnikova was 42.

Isaac Levitan's works appeared on the covers of Russian language textbooks and school children learned of his love for his native land.