Information about the work
Both works in the exposition, created during the Sedniv open-air sessions, are stylistically unified and function as a diptych. Their subject matter invites philosophical contemplation on the nature of existence, evoking associations with dawn and nocturnal or twilight horizons, watery depths, mist-shrouded fields, or the steppe. Sedniv. Dawn [Sedniv. Svitanok] (oil on canvas, 1988; acquired for the Sumy Regional Art Museum collection in 1988) serves as an example of painting with a distinctly meditative and atmospheric focus. Its horizontal format, characteristic of the landscape genre, divides the space into provisional horizontal zones: a faintly outlined, lighter upper section, a transitional middle layer, and a dense, dark lower mass. This structural division creates an effect of spatial depth and a distant horizon, while the absence of a sharp dividing line imparts smoothness and ambiguity to the composition.
The core of the composition rests on a gradation of blue tones—ranging from almost transparent, cool azure to a dense deep navy. This monochromatic approach heightens the emotional impact: blue becomes associated with stillness, depth, and at times anxiety or introspection. It is the hue of the sky when twilight is infused with the morning sunrise. Smooth tonal transitions produce an effect of an inner glow. Through color, the artist redirects the viewer’s gaze toward the transcendent, shifting perception from a physical phenomenon to a metaphysical one and allowing a glimpse beyond the horizon of rational thought. In the lower section, subtle dark passages and spots add materiality to the paint surface, recalling the soft silhouettes of plants or figures emerging faintly through space to evoke a sense of presence without literal definition.
Both landscapes read as an emotional, abstract panorama of nocturnal and morning terrain where tranquility meets disquiet, conveying a state of peacefulness, intense focus, and deep melancholy. The contrast between light and dark symbolizes a threshold—a transition between day and night, the conscious and the subconscious. Exhibiting traits of Abstract Expressionism, these works align with movements that prioritize mood and atmosphere over concrete objects. Restrained yet profound in meaning, the compositions are constructed on subtle color nuances and a refined sense of space. They function as a visual meditation, lifting the veil for personal impressions and an intimate emotional response. It is precisely when the planes of “sky” and “earth” converge that the artistic image begins to exist as pure association, free from rigid boundaries of perception.
