Ah, Georgia … One cannot be indifferent to this geographical region. The beauty and splendor of the mountain ranges located on its territory, simply attract the eye. However, among the natural diversity of this country, the Darial Gorge stands out, the photo of which is presented below. In this article, you can get acquainted with the description of the most picturesque sections of this valley.
A bit of history
Darial Gorge is located in the hollow of the Terek River. Rocks rise up to the channel of this reservoir, reaching a height of 1000 meters. Moreover, such a hilly picture pleases the eye for 3 km. The Darial Gorge became an important link in the Middle Ages. By the way, the Georgian Military Road passes there today. Initially, the Darial Gorge was in the possession of nomadic tribes. In view of this, before the valley bore their name - Alan Gate.
Pass "Sky Gorge"
Before the onset of the 19th century, this section of the road was an extremely unsafe and narrow "corridor", which nevertheless was used by many wanderers. But this path gained historical significance only in 1783, after the conclusion of the famous treaty - the St. George Treatise. To date, the Georgian Military Highway 207 km long has been laid from Vladikavkaz to Tbilisi. Throughout the length of this site opens an extremely picturesque picture. Passing through the Redant Valley and bending the Pasture Range, on the right you can see Fethuz, towering in all its glory, and on the left, the Limestone Mountain overgrown with beech forest.
By the way, on its slopes you can easily see the limestone quarry. Mountain ranges of the Central Caucasus are formed due to the Lateral, Wooded, Rocky and Pasture ranges. From the side, such a natural formation appears in the form of a giant staircase. These ridges are especially well exposed from North Ossetia. From the southeast direction, Table Mountain is crowned by the hollow, reaching a height of 3000 meters. For information, the top of this array has an intricate table shape.
Nature in art
The beauty that distinguishes the Darial Gorge has inspired many famous poets. Artists also could not stay away. Particular attention among existing works should be given to the canvas, which depicts the Darial Gorge, "Moonlit Night". The painting was written by an outstanding Russian painter. This painting by Arkhip Kuindzhi is part of the collection of the Tretyakov Gallery. The natural appearance in the works of the artist is completely devoid of any everyday life. On the contrary, there is something magnificent in it, somewhere even theatrical. Moreover, this manifestation is observed in classical landscapes. An example of this is canvases such as Rainbow or Lake Ladoga. What is surprising, most of the master’s works, which depicted the Darial Gorge, Kuindzhi performed from memory. But this did not prevent the painter from conveying through the canvas all the natural greatness of the hollow, as well as its expressiveness and mystery. Moreover, the paintings, as lovers of the beautiful can see, are of rare authenticity.
Darial gorge. Picture
This work is very different from all other works of the artist. In it, the master depicted the Georgian Military Road, where the harsh river Terek hurries along the bottom of the hollow. And the billowing cliffs, towering significantly above the ground, pierce the sky with their peaks. The painter managed to achieve a simply unique image of the gorge. Many viewers involuntarily experience a feeling of light sadness when looking at its landscape. But at the same time, an elusive freshness flows straight from the canvas. In addition, in this picture, due to the many highlights, the illusion of volume inherent in the master was created. And, despite the small size, the image of the landscape is not accurate. This manner of drawing is also characteristic of Kuindzhi. With its help, it conveys not only the transparency and freshness of the night air, but also the atmosphere of calm and serenity.
Technics
To show the public all the beauty of those places and create volume in the canvas, the artist includes two bright spots in his work: this is the night light and the reflection of the moon path in a calm water backwater. Such an image gives the work some serenity and allows you to balance the light contrast in the landscape. At the same time, Kuindzhi used one risky element in his work. This is an almost opaque image of clouds that are brightly illuminated by the moon below. The dubious application of such an artistic solution is that the master has moved away from realism. However, viewers can be sure that this element allowed not only to balance the picture, but to give the radiance of the night luminary even more power. It should be noted that the master captured the mountains in the foreground. As a result, he had great difficulty writing the sky. But it was extremely difficult to depict its darkness, as well as the mountain haze, but the artist managed to circumvent all the rules of painting. By simply adding more contrasting, solid spots, Kuindzhi was able to create the effect of “pushing” the sky to the public.
