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In the misty light of morning, a mother bear and three cubs play on a fallen pine tree in a deep Russian forest. Painted in 1889 by Ivan Shishkin with Konstantin Savitsky, Morning in a Pine Forest is so famous in Russia that it decorates the wrapper of a well-known chocolate.
In this article
The painter of the Russian forest
Ivan Shishkin, born in 1832 in Yelabuga, was the great painter of the Russian forest, famous for his precise, almost scientific views of pines, oaks and birches. He knew trees so well that his friends called him the "tsar of the forest". He painted Morning in a Pine Forest in 1889, after a journey to the island of Gorodomlya on Lake Seliger.
Two painters, one painting
Shishkin was a master of trees but less sure of animals. The bears were painted by his friend Konstantin Savitsky, a genre painter. Both signed the painting. But when the collector Pavel Tretyakov bought it, he removed Savitsky's signature with turpentine, saying that the conception and execution were entirely Shishkin's. Today the painting is officially attributed to both, though only Shishkin's signature remains.
The bears
On a fallen pine broken by a storm, a mother bear watches her three cubs play. Two cubs climb on the trunk, while the third stands on its hind legs on the right, looking towards the forest. The scene is gentle and playful, a rare moment of family life in the wild.
Detail 1
Cubs on the fallen pine
The mother bear and her cubs play on the broken trunk, painted by Konstantin Savitsky.
Detail 2The standing cub
One cub stands on its hind legs on the right, looking into the forest with curiosity.
The morning light
The light of dawn filters through the tall pines and the mist, turning the air golden and blue. Shishkin painted the morning atmosphere with great subtlety, the trees fading into the haze in the distance.
Detail 3Mist among the pines
Morning light filters through the mist between the tall pines, softening the forest into gold and blue.
The broken tree
The fallen pine, its trunk snapped and splintered, is painted with great precision. It tells of a storm that has passed through the forest, and it creates the stage on which the bears play.
Detail 4The splintered trunk
The broken pine, snapped by a storm, is painted with botanical precision, its splintered wood catching the light.
A Russian icon
The painting became one of the most reproduced images in Russia. Since the early twentieth century, a version of it has appeared on the wrapper of the "Mishka Kosolapy" (Clumsy Bear) chocolates. Many Russians know it as "Three Bears", although there are four bears in the painting.
The art of the Russian landscape
In the second half of the nineteenth century, Russian painters began to celebrate their own landscapes rather than imitating Italian or French views. Ivan Shishkin was one of the leaders of this movement and a member of the Peredvizhniki, the Wanderers, who organised travelling exhibitions to bring art to people across Russia. He studied trees, plants and forest floors with scientific precision, making countless drawings and studies from nature. Morning in a Pine Forest combines this precision with a poetic atmosphere of mist and light, and the playful bears give it a charm that made it immensely popular. It remains one of the best-loved images of the Russian forest and of Russian painting as a whole.
Seeing the painting
The painting measures about 1.4 by 2.1 metres and hangs in the State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow.
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Who painted the bears in Morning in a Pine Forest?
The bears were painted by Konstantin Savitsky; the forest is by Ivan Shishkin.
Why does only Shishkin's signature appear?
The collector Pavel Tretyakov removed Savitsky's signature, considering the painting essentially Shishkin's work.
How many bears are in the painting?
There are four bears: a mother and three cubs, though it is often called "Three Bears".
Where is Morning in a Pine Forest?
It is in the State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow.
Sources and further reading
- State Tretyakov Gallery, collection notes on Morning in a Pine Forest
- Pavel Tretyakov, correspondence on the painting's attribution
- Vitaly Manin, Ivan Shishkin (1999)
