by 
To paint the painting “Ancient Horror”, Lev Bakst visited Greece several times. Every time he visited this country with an ancient history, he brought up for himself a new idea for his future masterpiece. Since the art of Greece has been continuously developing since time immemorial, on the canvas of Leon Bakst, regardless of the time frame, cultural monuments of ancient Aegean culture and works of art of Classical Greece peacefully coexist.
The central compositional object is the statue of the goddess Aphrodite holding a dove in her hand. A catastrophe is visible behind her, taking away a certain civilization (perhaps Atlantis?) Into oblivion.
What did the artist want to tell the world with this picture? The work was conceived during the first Russian revolution of 1905, when people, accustomed to a monotonous, measured life, encountered many new phenomena and concepts. Maybe the artist wanted to show the inevitability of the death of the old way of gaining new ideals and goals?
The fate of the painting “Ancient Horror” confirmed its masterpiece: in 1909 it was exhibited in Paris, the next it receives a gold medal at an exhibition in Brussels. And for Lev Bakst himself, it turned out to be a turning point – many times he tried to write something similar, but each time his plans were not destined to come true, now he only created the scenery for the performances. In addition, the painting “Ancient Horror” laid the foundation for a new direction in painting – neoclassicism, which was very painfully met by critics of that time.
Year of painting: 1908.
The dimensions of the painting are 250 x 270 cm.
Material: canvas.
Writing technique: oil.
Genre: landscape.
Style: modern.
Gallery: no data.
