Why is the 9th wave the biggest. A life of great names. How the Ninth Wave affects people

The picture of Ivan Aivazovsky "9 shaft" is recognized all over the world today unsurpassed masterpiece, she is one of the most famous works great Russian artist, who especially liked to write in marine theme... Born in Feodosia and most Having lived on the coast, the painter fell in love with the sea so much that he made it the main hero of his work. And, as it turned out, it was it that brought him century-old fame.

A little background: why Aivazovsky chose 9 shaft

As a man living on the coast, the artist talked too much with sailors, heard thousands fascinating stories, including legends and beliefs. According to one of them, during a storm, against the background of raging waves, there is one that stands out for its power, irresistible force and enormous size. It is interesting that the ancient Greek sailors called the third wave disastrous, the ancient Roman navigators - the tenth, but for most representatives of other states it was the ninth that caused real horror.

This old superstition inspired the artist once again to take up the brush, in 1850 Aivazovsky wrote "The 9th shaft". Surprisingly to many, the picture turned out to be too realistic, but how could a person who was not a sailor so subtly convey the depth of the plot to the viewer? After all, not in the photo did Aivazovsky see the 9th shaft? As it turned out, the artist transferred to the canvas some of what he saw and experienced himself. In 1844, he was destined to survive the strongest storm in the Bay of Biscay, after which the ship on which the painter was staying was considered sunken, and the sad news appeared in the press that a well-known young artist also died during the storm. Thanks to this episode, and not a photo, Aivazovsky creates the painting "9 shaft", which has become a world painting masterpiece.

"9 shaft" by Aivazovsky: description of the plot of the painting

What do we see when we look at the picture? Early morning, the first rays of the sun breaking through to illuminate the waters of the sea, rising almost to the sky, and the seemingly very low sky, which practically merged with the high waves. It is even scary for the imagination to imagine what unbridled elements raged at night, and what the sailors had to endure from the wrecked ship.

It is not so easy to describe Aivazovsky's "9th shaft" sea ​​elements... On foreground of this rampage, several escaped sailors trying to stay on the wreckage of the masts of the wrecked ship. They are desperate, but together they try to resist the huge, frothy wave that is about to hit them. Will it succeed? Nobody knows…

The description of Aivazovsky's painting "The 9th shaft" will not be complete, if not to say that all the drama and horror of the captured plot does not suppress the viewer's hope for salvation and life. Optimism to the picture is given by very finely selected colors: soft rays of the rising sun, making their way through the clouds and thunderstorms of raging water and inspiring faith, glowing and iridescent different colors rainbow light path, which seems to push the formidable mighty waves.

The coloring of Aivazovsky's painting "The 9th Shaft", like a joyful hymn, glorifies the courage of people, their will to salvation, faith in their own strengths and in the meaning of the struggle to the last. Never give up, and then even contrary to the ruthless laws of nature, you can survive!

Where is Aivazovsky's painting "9 shaft" today?

The picturesque masterpiece can be admired by all visitors to the State Russian Museum, where Aivazovsky's painting "9 Val" is located today.

The canvas, written according to legend, has now become legendary itself, and has visited many exhibitions held in different countries the world. Especially loved by the inhabitants of Japan, who contemplated this creation at the opening of the Tokyo Fuji Museum, now known for its own unique exposition and regularly held exhibitions of art and creativity of the peoples of other countries. When, after a while, in honor of the 30th anniversary of this museum, the administration conducted a survey of visitors about what people remembered most of all during their work - the "Ninth Wave" became the undisputed leader.

When I went to kindergarten, a mysterious picture hung on the wall in the playroom. Mysterious and scary. The yellow sun, barely peeping through the haze and water mist, was also terrible, and the green sea, boiling in waves, became scary for the little people clinging to the broken ship's mast and waving a red flag to someone. And the worst thing was cryptic name paintings "Aivazovsky-ninth-shaft"

Later, as a Chukchi from an anecdote, I learned that this is not one word, but two, and that Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky (1817 - 1900)- the great Russian marine painter, and "The Ninth Wave" - ​​his famous painting... And even later he found out that the ninth wave is the highest, and therefore the most dangerous wave for ships during a storm. And, by the way, it is more dangerous for large, long ships than for small ships. The small ship still has a chance to climb to the top of the water mountain advancing on it, and from there slide into a terrible abyss. Scary, but already safe. And here big ship can break under its own weight at this very summit, if the ship's hull rises too high out of the water. Therefore, dry cargo ships and tankers, if they are already caught by a storm in the open sea, more willingly cut through storm waves, taking on the blows of the water falling from above, but they do not climb the crest of the wave, especially the high one. However, the blow is not the same. Sometimes large ships were broken just by the force of the mass of water falling on it.

The fact that a storm is a mortal risk for a ship was understood by the ancient sailors, the Phoenicians and the Greeks. They also noticed that the incident waves periodically change their height. The second wave is higher than the first, the third is higher than the second. And then a relatively low wave again runs into the ship. Apparently, this is an empirical observation with a considerable amount of subjectivity. After the high wave, the next ones seem to be much lower. In any case, mathematical calculations do not confirm this observation, but neither do they reject it.

From this observation (or perhaps belief) arose the legend of the ninth shaft. According to this legend, the fourth wave (the first in the next "series" of three waves) is lower than the third, but higher than the first, and the seventh is lower than the sixth, but higher than the fourth. And the ninth wave rises above all. And after her - just a recession.

I repeat that math modeling this legend does not confirm. But sea waves are a very interesting, albeit complex, object for mathematicians. Already in the eighteenth century were built mathematical models emergence sea ​​waves... According to these models, sea waves are the result of the interaction of wind and currents on the border of two stormy elements, air and water. So the waves gently caressing the beach sand, say, in the Maldives - greetings from the ocean storm thundering a thousand kilometers from this paradise. So that the little people are not too forgotten and not too soft.

By the same theory, the highest waves appear where sea currents or winds collide. A fact known to sailors from their harsh experience. Near Cape Horn and near Cape Good Hope where the waters of two oceans meet, there is never a calm. Due to the huge waves raging off the southern tip of Africa, Portuguese sailors in the 15th century named this place the Cape of Storms. But the king ordered to give the cape a different name, Good Hope. They say that our goal, gold-bearing and spicy India, is already a stone's throw. Go guys!

Everyone knows another place where currents and winds collide, forming giant waves. This is the Bermuda Triangle, a vast area Atlantic Ocean between Florida, Puerto Rico and Bermuda. Huge waves arise here as a result of the interaction of the warm ocean current, the Gulf Stream and cold northern winds.

St. Petersburg.

Storm. Wave one after another. A handful of survivors from the shipwreck. The dawn that brought no relief. He only illuminated the whole horror of what was happening to people. There is little chance of salvation ...

The ninth wave is the most famous picture Aivazovsky. It was recognized as a masterpiece on the very first day of the exhibition back in 1850. People came to see her several times. Why? What's so special about this?

Let's try to figure it out. And along the way, we will see its most interesting details.

Waves

The legend of the ninth shaft was very popular in the 19th century. The sailors believed that during a storm, the ninth wave in a row was the largest and most destructive.

The heroes of the picture met with her. 6 unfortunate sailors. They cling to life on the raging sea. On a piece of the mast of a lost ship.

Aivazovsky's waves are amazing. The sun shines through them. The artist achieved this effect of transparency by multiple overlapping strokes (glaze). You rarely meet such waves from anyone.

Look at paintings by other European marine painters. And you will understand the whole genius of Aivazovsky.

Left: Claude Vernet (France). Shipwreck. 1763, St. Petersburg. Right: Richard Niebs (). Shipwreck. 19th century. National maritime museum, London

Wrong waves

Please note that the waves come from the victim side. And they are not that huge. Real waves of death reach a height of 20-30 m. On the "Ninth Shaft" they are no more than 3 m high.

Perhaps Aivazovsky spared his heroes. Showing that they can handle it. If he wrote a wave of 30 meters going straight to people, it would be pure tragedy.

He was also an optimist. And in almost every painting with shipwrecks, he softens the tragedy. Adds hope. In the form of the rising sun. Escaped people ashore. The visible ship.

Aivazovsky's paintings. Left: Shipwreck. 1864 Museum of the Catholicosate "Echmiadzin", Armenia. Right: Fleeing from a shipwreck. 1844 State Art Gallery of Armenia, Yerevan

Everyone was delighted with the realistic waves of Aivazovsky. The artist said that he tasted salt when he looked at his paintings.

The most interesting thing is that the waves on the "Ninth Shaft" are not shown correctly! Wrapping wave crests, the so-called “aprons”, are never formed in the open sea. Only at the coast, when the wave is already rolling on the beach or rocks.

This does not mean that Aivazovsky did not know this. In 1844, he himself was caught in a violent storm. Then he recalled that many passengers were very much frightened. And he, like a madman, stood on the deck. With all his eyes he looked at the raging sea. He absorbed impressions for his future paintings.

Why did he depict the waves incorrectly?

Aivazovsky was a romantic. That is, an artist who admired the elements. And he emphasized the power of nature with various effects.

Agree, the foamed, swirling wave looks more majestic. It is more understandable to an ordinary person... Than the formidable, pyramidal shaft of a real wave.

Sky

The sky in the painting "The Ninth Wave" is encouraging. Rising Sun... The clouds are dispelled. They are driven strong wind. Purple tint sky. The night is receding.

Aivazovsky was an excellent craftsman. But he was especially good at lighting effects. He did not use any special paint. However, his sun came out so bright that many believed otherwise.

Some even in all seriousness looked behind the picture. They thought there was a candle behind the canvas.

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Survivors

The people on the Ninth Shaft are carefully written despite their small size. Moreover, their postures and gestures are very expressive. They are desperate. They fight for life from last strength.

Two of them are about to slide off. One is already falling into the water. The other clings desperately to him. Perhaps we see last minutes their lives.

Another sailor stretched out his hand to the sky: "O sea, have mercy on us!" We see another sailor from the back. He brandishes a red rag. The ship is not visible. Moreover, the review is obscured by waves. What for? Apparently for good luck.

Please note that people are wearing oriental clothes... A ship from a distant land sank. The viewer does not know these people. They are not his own. These are not the merchants from the next street.

Aivazovsky adds such a distance for a reason. It removes severe anxiety. Which would interfere with enjoying the stormy sea. And the heroism of the people.

How the Ninth Wave affects people

One famous choreographer David Dawson has a story. He came to St. Petersburg to stage a ballet at the Mariinsky. In the foyer of the theater, he saw a reproduction of the "Ninth Wave". I was a little surprised. A reproduction of the same painting hung in his hotel room.

One night he woke up and looked at the painting. And he was horrified. There were no people on the canvas. As if they were washed away! He saw this as an unkind sign. A sign of the failure of his production. Well, I got such a reproduction. Not really exact copy.

In the morning I ran to the theater and calmed down. At the reproduction in the Mariinsky, people were there. So there is hope.

The ballet's premiere was successful.

Why does everyone know "The Ninth Wave"?

It's hard to imagine more popular painting than the "Ninth Wave". Yes, it is monumental. Grandiose. Works of this level are well known to art critics and art lovers. But not people who are far from art. He knows absolutely everything about the "Ninth Val". Why?

1. Aivazovsky was the first artist to organize solo exhibitions. And not only in St. Petersburg. But also in provincial cities.

2. Aivazovsky has always been for his art to go to the masses. Hence - postcards with his marinas in every shop. Reproductions are in every wine-glass.

To the question What is the "ninth wave"? given by the author Incognito mask the best answer is Why exactly the ninth wave is considered the most formidable in a storm at sea? This is just a belief: numerous observations from the shore and from the ship confirm that in the open sea, single or high ridge ridges can arise, much more than the previous ones. However, no one has yet noticed any correct periodicity in these shafts. Among the ancient Greeks, the third was considered the largest and most dangerous shaft, among the ancient Romans - the tenth shaft, among the Americans - the seventh. Observe, sitting by the raging sea: the third, and the seventh, and the ninth, and the twelfth shafts can be maximum. So the ninth wave is not necessarily the strongest and most dangerous. However, in Russian, the expression "ninth wave" has become a symbol of a formidable danger or the highest rise of something.
Mathematicians have calculated the conditions under which the infamous "ninth waves" arise - ultra-high waves that can swallow any ship. And they argue that after a set of additional data they will be able to determine the places of the most frequent occurrence of such waves.
A group of scientists from Sweden and Germany led by Padma Shukla presented the first analysis and modeling of nonlinear waves (generating the so-called "ninth waves") that occur deep under water.
The famous "ninth wave" has frightened shipbuilders for a long time. Since 1995, scientists have become reliably aware that this is not a myth. In January 1995, the first laser measurement of a giant storm wave was carried out.
Oceanographers and mathematicians said that waves with a height of 30 meters or more (in the English-language literature the term freak wave was introduced for them) should occur once every 10,000 years. However, subsequent satellite observations showed that this is far from the case.
It turned out that "rogue waves" occur much more often. In fact, observations have shown that somewhere in the world's oceans such waves arise at every moment.
Since such a wave can swallow a cruise ship or an oil platform at once (modern watercraft are designed to withstand only 15-meter waves, and giant waves can reach 60 meters in height), scientists tried to create a theory of the occurrence of such waves.
“The main reason for these waves appears to lie in a process known as nonlinear wave interactions - it is a certain mechanism of energy exchange between waves, resulting in a large increase in the amplitude of the wave, much more than would be possible through the usual linear superposition of waves”, - said the co-author of the work Matthias Markland.
Scientists have attracted a system of two nonlinearly interacting waves described by the Schrödinger equations, which have proven themselves well in quantum mechanics, to describe and analyze giant waves.
It turned out that quantum equations work well here as well.
“We presented theoretical research modulation instability of a pair of nonlinearly interacting two-dimensional waves in deep water and showed that the full dynamics of these interacting waves gives rise to limited packets of large amplitude waves, ”the scientists summarize their article.
In fact, scientists using the Schrödinger equation have studied the effect of different speeds and angles at which two waves intersect in space.
And they found that when they intersect at a relatively small angle, two waves form a new one, more than twice as high as during normal interaction, thereby generating a "ninth wave".
The theoreticians presented the results of their work in Physical Review Letters. And it is said that additional satellite and oceanographic observations and statistical calculations are now required. And then they will be able to determine the places where the most likely occurrence of "abnormal" waves.
A source:

Answer from Kavai_ElkO_X)[guru]
huge, terrible wave

Answer from Andrey[guru]
NINTH SHAFT - 1) according to an old folk belief, the most powerful and dangerous wave during a sea storm. 2) In a figurative sense - a symbol of a formidable danger or the highest ascent of something.

Answer from Matvey dmitriev[newbie]
?
Ninth wave
One of the most famous paintings by the Russian marine painter Ivan Aivazovsky is kept in the Russian Museum. The painter depicts the sea after a severe night storm and people who were shipwrecked.

NINTH SHAFT

Painting I.K. Aivazovsky... Created in 1850, located in Russian Museum... Dimensions 221 × 332 cm.

"The Ninth Wave". Artist I.K. Aivazovsky. 1850:

Russia. The Big Linguistic and Cultural Dictionary. - M .: State Institute Russian language them. A.S. Pushkin. AST-Press. T.N. Chernyavskaya, K.S. Miloslavskaya, E.G. Rostov, O.E. Frolov, V.I. Borisenko, Yu.A. Vyunov, V.P. Chudnov. 2007 .

See what "NINTH SHAFT" is in other dictionaries:

Ninth wave- The ninth wave is a symbol of irresistible force widespread in art, based on the belief that the ninth wave during a storm is the strongest and most dangerous. "The Ninth Wave" is a satirical magazine published in St. Petersburg in 1906 ... ... Wikipedia

Ninth Shaft- The Ninth Wave: The Ninth Wave is the most famous painting by Ivan Aivazovsky, the world famous Russian marine painter. The Ninth Wave is a satirical magazine published in St. Petersburg in 1906. 2 issues were published Ninth Val settlement in Nadezhdinsky ... ... Wikipedia

NINTH SHAFT- THE NINTH SHAFT, 1) according to the old popular belief, the most powerful and dangerous wave during a sea storm. 2) (in a figurative sense) a symbol of a formidable danger or the highest ascent of something ... Modern encyclopedia

NINTH SHAFT- 1) according to the old popular belief, the strongest and most dangerous wave during a sea storm. 2) In a figurative sense, a symbol of a formidable danger or the highest rise of something ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

ninth wave- noun, number of synonyms: 1 wave (35) ASIS synonym dictionary. V.N. Trishin. 2013 ... Synonym dictionary

ninth wave- The strongest and most dangerous wave that regularly occurs during a storm in the seas and oceans ... Geography Dictionary

ninth wave- historically established by sailors the idea of ​​the strongest wave at sea during a storm. Sailors consider every fourth, seventh or eleventh wave to be the largest wave. However, most often the greatest height and destructive power ... ... Marine Biographical Dictionary

Ninth wave- THE NINTH SHAFT, 1) according to the old popular belief, the most powerful and dangerous wave during a sea storm. 2) (in a figurative sense) a symbol of a formidable danger or the highest ascent of something. ... Illustrated Encyclopedic Dictionary

ninth wave- (footnote) about the fatal, threatening danger, about irresistible strength (a hint of the strength of the ninth wave) The trouble is that the ninth wave is rolling. The ninth wave finishes. Wed Deep without a bottom Death is true! As the sworn Enemy threatens, Here is the ninth Shaft running. A.I. Polezhaev. ... ... Michelson's Big Explanatory Phraseological Dictionary

Ninth wave- common in art, journalism and colloquial speech a symbol of formidable danger or the highest rise of a mighty, irresistible force. It is based on the old popular belief as if D. in. during a sea storm, the strongest and ... ... Great Soviet Encyclopedia

Books

• The Ninth Wave, Ilya Ehrenburg. Lifetime edition. Moscow, 1953. Soviet writer... Publishing binding. The preservation is good. The novel "The Ninth Wave", written by Ilya Ehrenburg in the post-war period (1951-1952), ...