Florence Oil

This painting is part of a triptych about the pandemic in Italy.
I was inspired to create this painting by pictures of Venice during the general isolation. I was just watching the news and I was so impressed by these images that I created a series of paintings about Italy.

I was trying to convey the feeling of a cool, fresh morning, when the sunrise barely touches the walls of the houses. These buildings were once built by the greatest creators on the planet, who have since passed away, and yet their immortal masterpieces live on.

Because of the abundant flow of tourists, it is almost impossible to experience Italy in all its glory. I tried to immerse myself in a world of architecture familiar to me from academic art history classes, as if I had been given an eternity to appreciate the grandeur of this city.
I used blue as a base color to capture the image of my fantasy because I was not there at that moment. It was a kind of mirage for me which existed only in my mind.

This painting was a finalist in the following contests: Impressionism, Modern Avant-garde. St. Petersburg in 2020, as well as Impressionism, St. Petersburg Art Week the same year. In addition, the artwork was shown in several exhibitions in Moscow before being moved to Austria to take part in the author’s project “inside and outside” in Suahtsnuk Kunsthau Graz, where it is currently on display.