The painting “Pan” unanimously recognizes almost the apex of Vrubel’s entire work. Surprisingly, but wrote her artist for two or three days! They say that the impetus was the reading of the story of A. France “Holy Satyr.” And the artist first called his painting “Satyr”.
The Hellenistic goat-legged god and the Russian Leshiy joined together in one person. But most of all from Leshoy – and the landscape is Russian, and the image of Pan. Where did this image come from, where did the artist get this remarkable bald head, round, brogue, blue-eyed face, overgrown with wild curls?. It is known that no one posed for Vrubel, and whether he had eyed such an old man somewhere in the Ukrainian village, or he just imagined him on a moonlit night at the sight of an old moss-stump – it’s not known.
But at the same time he is absolutely fantastic, he is a forest undead, the personification of what he imagines and looks like a lost night. A gray stump begins to move, shaggy horns curl under the shaggy moss, a clumsy hand separates, squeezing a multi-barrel pipe, and suddenly round blue eyes open like phosphor glowworms. As if responding to the silent call of the forest master, slowly creeps out from beyond the horizon for a month, the surface of the river and a small blue flower flash with a blue glow.
Leshy – and the soul, and the body of these copses and the foothill of the plain; the curls of his wool are like the rising crescent, the bend of the hand echoes the curve of the birch, and all of it is knotty, brown, from the earth, moss, tree bark and roots. The magical emptiness of his eyes speaks of some animal or vegetable wisdom, alien to consciousness: this being is completely spontaneous, devoid of any experiences, painful thoughts…
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