Ivan Aivazovsky was born into the family of the Armenian merchant Aivazyan in Feodosia.
His ancestors fled to Poland during the Turkish genocide of Armenians and later moved to Crimea.
He studied in the landscape class of Maxim Vorobyov.
It was Vorobyov who instilled in Aivazovsky a love for academic painting and the Romantic direction in art. Although the artist himself considered himself an ideological follower of Karl Bryullov.
He graduated early from the Academy of Arts in Saint Petersburg.
The teachers decided they had nothing more to teach the talented marine painter. Aivazovsky graduated externally from the Academy at the age of twenty.
He traveled around Europe for four years.
The paintings created in Venice, Florence, and Naples were shown at various Italian exhibitions and brought Aivazovsky incredible success. Following that recognition came substantial fees, which enriched Aivazovsky and allowed him to continue his travels.
He was the official artist of the Russian Imperial Navy.
At the age of 27 Aivazovsky was awarded the title of academician and was commissioned to paint views of Russian ports and seaside towns on the Baltic Sea.
He never painted from life and always began his paintings with the sky.
The artist painted the sky expressively and quickly, very often in just one session. Moreover, Aivazovsky was firmly convinced that painting the sea from life was pointless, because the real element changes every second and it is practically impossible to capture it.
He was unrivaled in his depiction of water.
Aivazovsky's paintings literally exude the sea. If you look at his works for a long time, you can smell the sea breeze and taste the salt on your lips.
He was a pioneer of solo exhibitions and a very prolific artist.
During his artistic career Aivazovsky held 120 exhibitions and left a rich painted legacy—more than 6,000 works.
He built a house in the style of an Italian palazzo in Feodosia.
At the height of his fame Aivazovsky left Saint Petersburg and moved to his native Feodosia, where he built a magnificent Italian-style house on the Black Sea. Over time the artist turned it into a museum. Today the collection of the Feodosia Art Gallery named after I. K. Aivazovsky contains about 13,000 sea-themed works, including the world's largest collection of the master's works—416 pieces.
He lived a long and productive life.
The artist lived to be 82 and left behind not only a rich pictorial legacy but also four daughters, and he remained remembered by the townspeople as a generous patron. During his lifetime Aivazovsky founded an art school in Feodosia, built a building for the Feodosia Museum of Antiquities, a theater, a railway, and renovated the seaport.
