The State Russian Museum Has Restored Ivan Aivazovsky Seascape Painting Ahead of Major Retrospective

The State Russian Museum in Saint Petersburg has restored Ivan Aivazovsky’s The Ninth Wave (1850) ahead of a retrospective on the Russian artist opening on October 16, according to Russian state media LenTV24.

The restoration of the painting started in June and will be exhibited in the Benois Wing of the museum. In the 120 years that the State Russian Museum has owned the painting, only minor conservation has been carried out.

“The Russian Museum has no canvases in unsatisfactory condition, but we understand that one day this painting, which is over a century and a half old … will require comprehensive scientific restoration. Especially given the high standards of conservation maintained at the Russian Museum,” said Alla Manilova, general director of the Russian Museum in a statement in June. “The Ninth Wave is the most beloved painting among our visitors, according to our attendants. We are fully aware of the immense responsibility – the public is eagerly awaiting the results.”

The Ninth Wave depicts the sea after a night storm with the sun shining through. The painting borrows its name from the old maritime belief that the ninth wave is the largest and most powerful wave in a sequence of ocean waves.

The State Russian Museum revealed that the museum’s specialists repaired areas of peeling, applying primer and paint across the entire surface of the canvas and completed the restoration with a varnish coating. The specialists also restored the painting’s linden wood frame by cutting out over 100 missing fragments from it and covering it with gold leaf. The Ninth Wave will be presented alongside over 200 works by Aivazovsky including The Creation of the World (1841) and The Flood (1864).