To The Glory Of The Setting Sun

To The Glory of the Setting Sun (1941)

By Eugene Berman (1899-1972)

The painting that caught my attention in the Denver Art Museum was an intriguing masterpiece called "To the Glory of the Setting Sun" by the painter Eugene Berman. I say 'intriguing' because of the use of the color red in the painting and the name "To the Glory of the Setting Sun". After a little research and a little thinking, it struck me that this is a very good example of the neo-romantic art of the early 20th century.

The artist Eugene Berman was a neo-romantic painter meaning he indulged in emotions more than reality; depicted the unspoken and intuitive forms of art through his paintings. The painter was of Russian origin but was trained in Paris and was highly influenced by the imaginary world and the paintings by his contemporaries.

The Glory of the Setting Sun was a creation in 1941, a year set in an era of the World War 2, marked by extreme violence, bloodshed, and complete chaos. Quite significantly, 1941 was also the year when the Germans along with its allies, had invaded the Soviet Union in an attack called the Operation Barbarossa - one of the largest known military operation in terms of casualties. Starting with attacks on Soviet occupied lands of Poland, the Germans slowly moved to Smolensk, Kiev, and Leningrad, unleashing terror in each of these regions. The Soviets suffered defeat in all of these initial attacks. The Red Army of the Soviet Union fell short in front of the German forces.

Set in this political instability and turmoil, Eugene Berman's painting sets a haunting landscape painted in red. The color red has been beautifully used in this painting signifying the painter's land of birth, the then Soviet Union. Red also signifies power and on the other hand the color of blood is also red - intriguing indeed. The Setting Sun is perhaps depictive of the Soviet Union which was torn apart by the German forces. Special mention needs of the word 'Sun' - a massive force of energy, life, vitality and vigor - words that perhaps suited the powerful Soviet Union at that point of time. Eugene depicts a melancholic and rather apocalyptic dimension in his painting where the whole mood is set against a gloom atmosphere of the dusk - a time of the day when the men return from work (in this case soldiers and civilians with the shame and disgrace of defeat). The red sky, the setting sun and the red smoke and clouds is a representation of the same. The barren land and the dead tree trunks perhaps signify the pensive mood of the aftermath of a war - mostly described by an air of haunting silence. The naked man is a figurative representation of shame, who is trying to cover himself in a red cloth, again insinuating the significance of the Red Nation.

The picture somewhere also raises a little optimism in the viewer's mind, and hence the men standing on the banks of the river with raised hands pointing to the red sky and how befitting the use of the word 'Glory'. Perhaps the painter was a visionary in the true sense and still did not lose hope in his countrymen. His optimism becomes clear from these hints in the picture. The setting sun is just a phase in the life cycle of the humans. Though the setting sun marks the end of one day, a small phase in the process of creation and destruction, but it also sets the stage for the day ahead which will be marked by the event of the rising sun. How befitting this is, that towards the end of the 1941, the Russians rose to power again, the Red Army gathered all strength and inflicted a shocking defeat on the Germans in the Battle of Moscow, thereby failing their whole operation.

Somehow this painting fascinates me in thinking what was going on in the artist's mind when he drew this. This is perhaps a true example of neo-romanticism which is better described by haunting landscapes, figurative paintings, romantic deaths and intuitive interpretations rather than just mere external observations.

This is my personal analysis of the painting "To the Glory of the Setting Sun"