Ivan Aivazovsky painted ‘Storm at Azov Sea’ in 1886. The painting repeats the subject of the same seascape of 1886. The first variant of the painting also shows a mast stump drifting in the sea — the last remnant of a ship. Holding to it is the only surviving sailor. The author adds this detail to narrate the story.

In the second version the painter removed the human figure, therefore adding more tragedy to the subject. The author augments the tension using contrasting colors: white wave crests against the background of the dark sea, and light seagull shapes contrasted with the deep water shadow.

Ivan Aivazovsky fell in love with the sea in his childhood. The future painter grew up in the Crimea. The terrace of the house on the outskirts of Feodosia offered a panoramic view of the bay. From there Aivazovsky admired the constantly changing color of the waves and massive ships. The painter’s biographer Nikolai Barsamov wrote: “It was scary in the small town when a storm started. Children saw huge waves beating wildly against the faraway cape of St. Ilya and threw to the shore fragments of wrecked long boats. Their imagination pictured tough and unequal struggle of seamen with raging sea. Since his childhood the young painter felt for the people struggling courageously with natural calamities”. As years passed by, Aivazovsky grew more and more fond of the sea subject.