Ivan Shishkin. Pines on the Shore of a Bay. Meri-Hovi

Ivan Shishkin (1832–1898) is the best-known Russian painter of the forest, and the pine was his favourite subject. This 1889 landscape was painted at Meri-Hovi; the same name appears in other late works of his, for example "After the Storm. Meri-Hovi" of 1891.

On the right, pines with twisted trunks recede along the edge of a sandy bluff; by the nearest of them, broken branches and dry grass lie on the slope. On the left the bay opens up, and a large part of the composition is taken up by the pale blue sea.

The landscape is painted in oil on canvas mounted on cardboard.