The Ural Mountains in the paintings of Russian artists

Vladimir Kazantsev At the half-station. A winter morning at the Ural Railway, 1891
Vladimir Kazantsev
The Urals are known in Russia not only for their rugged beauty, but also as a historical industrial center. This peculiar combination has attracted many Russian artists.

“Sweet green mountains! When I feel sad, I start thinking about my native green mountains and it seems to me that the sky is higher and clearer there and the people are so kind and I myself am getting better. Yes, I walk in those mountains again, I ascend stony steeps, go down into deep ravines, sit near mountain springs for a long time, breathe in wonderful mountain air, filled with aroma of mountain herbs and flowers and listen to the whispers of a hundred-year-old forest to no end…” So said Russian writer Dmitry Mamin-Sibiryak about his native Ural mountains.

Ural is a “pantry” of Russia, in which there are enormous reserves of natural resources. Almost all the elements of Mendeleev’s table can be found there.

It’s no wonder that it is the Ural Mountains that have become one of the industrial centers and the most important metallurgical base of the country, where plants and factories have been mushrooming since the early 18th century. The local industry played a major part in helping Russia emerge victorious from the dozens of wars and conflicts in which it has been involved.

Apollinariy Vasnetsov/Odesa Fine Arts Museum/ Ballad. The Urals, 1897
Apollinariy Vasnetsov/Odesa Fine Arts Museum/
Apollinariy Vasnetsov/The State Russian Museum Lake in the mountainous Bashkiria. Ural. 1895
Apollinariy Vasnetsov/The State Russian Museum
Apollinariy Vasnetsov Mountain Lake. The Urals, 1892
Apollinariy Vasnetsov
Alexei Denisov-Uralsky October in the Urals, 1894.
Alexei Denisov-Uralsky
Vladimir Kazantsev At the half-station. A winter morning at the Ural Railway, 1891
Vladimir Kazantsev
Apollinariy Vasnetsov/The State Tretyakov Gallery The Taiga in the Urals. Blue Mountain, 1891
Apollinariy Vasnetsov/The State Tretyakov Gallery
Apollinariy Vasnetsov Night. The Urals
Apollinariy Vasnetsov
Apollinariy Vasnetsov/Nizhniy Tagil Museum of Fine Arts The Ural Landscape, 1930
Apollinariy Vasnetsov/Nizhniy Tagil Museum of Fine Arts
Vladimir Kazantsev/Irkutsk V.P. Sukachev Regional Museum of Fine Arts In the Urals, 1888
Vladimir Kazantsev/Irkutsk V.P. Sukachev Regional Museum of Fine Arts
Georgy Savitsky/The State Historical Museum Fetching Workers at the Urals Factory, 1820
Georgy Savitsky/The State Historical Museum
Apollinariy Vasnetsov/The State Tretyakov Gallery The Ural Landscape, 1890-1891
Apollinariy Vasnetsov/The State Tretyakov Gallery
Vasily Rayev/Kunstkamera The Ural Mining Plant, 1837
Vasily Rayev/Kunstkamera
Apollinariy Vasnetsov/The State Tretyakov Gallery The Forest on Mount Blagodat. The Middle Urals, 1890s.
Apollinariy Vasnetsov/The State Tretyakov Gallery
Boris Johansson/The State Tretyakov Gallery/Pavel Balabanov/Sputnik At the Old Ural Plant, 1937
Boris Johansson/The State Tretyakov Gallery/Pavel Balabanov/Sputnik

    <