Ivan Aivazovsky is a wel-known Russian seascape artist-romanticist, the master of Russian classical landscape, who brilliantly conveyed the beauty and power of the sea on the canvass. He is also the author of battle paintings on themes from the history of the Russian navy.

Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky (Hovhannes Aivazian) was born on July, 29th, 1817 in Feodosiya, the Crimea. Aivazovsky spent his childhood in poverty because of the ruining of his father. But still, he managed to enter a grammar school in Simferopol. His love of painting brought him to the Petersburg Academy of Arts, where he studied under recognized artists. After graduation from the Academy he traveled a lot around Europe. In 1847 Ivan Ayvazovsky became a professor of the Petersburg Academy of Arts.

Most of all Aivazovsky succeeded with his seascapes. From 1844 he was even an artist of the navy headquarters. Among his famous paintings there are the canvasses The Tenth Wave and Black Sea. However, Aivazovsky painted on other themes as well. Among his other series of paintings there were the Caucasian and Ukrainian landscapes, Armenian history, and the Crimean war.

Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky opened his own art school. Besides, he always found time for socially useful activities. Thus, Ivan Konstantinovich actively helped the development of his native city – Feodosiya. He built there an antiquity museum, founded an art gallery, and promoted building of a railroad to Dzhankoy. He mostly lived and painted in Feodosiya.

Ivan Aivazovsky has created about six thousand works.