Portrait of Nikolay Panafidin. 1891

Curator: Look at the dignity! And the hands! Here, we're looking at Isaac Levitan's 1891 oil on canvas, a portrait of Nikolay Panafidin currently hanging in the Tver Regional Art Gallery. Editor: It’s wonderfully melancholic, isn’t it? The subtle gradations of light give it this hushed, introspective air. Almost like catching a fleeting memory. Curator: Definitely. Notice how Levitan plays with light and shadow to model Panafidin's face, it creates a striking sense of depth. And his use of earthy tones—the browns, greens, and blacks—amplifies the portrait's gravity. Editor: True. Formally, I'm struck by the composition, particularly the tension between the detailed face and hands and the almost amorphous background, where color becomes just color. It's less about replication, more about representation. I'd suggest that there are multiple layers here. On the surface there’s just an old guy sitting for his portrait, right? And at a slightly deeper level is about Russian identity. The details of that dark jacket! Is that some sign of middle class status? Curator: Levitan did, after all, struggle against societal restrictions, often expressing his identity through depictions of nature. He has to leave Moscow due to an edict banning Jewish people in Russian cities, he had an operation for heart disease later, then died after. All of this seems so… so tangible in this painting. It captures a person beyond the sitter's exterior, someone world-weary. And the man’s crossed fingers: a sign of protection against malevolent spirits? Editor: Perhaps! It's precisely that ambiguity that gives the work its power. What remains fascinating here is its masterful control of shadow. It suggests there are layers we, the spectators, are prevented from seeing. Curator: I think, when facing such portraits, what we see is up to us, because the painter captured that kind of emotion, or let's say an "atmosphere," you can pour yourself in it. Thank you for taking your time, I appreciate sharing my own view on these paintings, hoping this discussion has given everyone a little glimpse on its many faces.