Meditating on Aivazovsky's Black Sea
Year: 2025

Examining the depictions of the Black Sea by Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky means situating them in the framework of nineteenth-century Russian imperial discourse. A prominent painter from Crimea, Aivazovsky significantly shaped the perception of the Black Sea as a crucial element in Russian territorial expansion, cultural identity, and, in particular, naval supremacy. This essay explores this process through Aivazovsky’s monumental painting, Black Sea of 1881. Read through a historical context