Ivan Aivazovsky
Rainbow
From $100
This painting is glowing gold, rose and sea green, and a cheap copy turns it flat and muddy. Our Aivazovsky The Ninth Wave print is made from the museum’s own photograph, unretouched, so the light stays warm.
Canvas, framed or paper
Stretched canvas. Printed on cotton canvas and stretched taut over a frame. The edges are mirror-wrapped, so the picture continues around the sides and none of it is lost to the fold.
Framed canvas. The same canvas, set in a black, white, natural wood or dark wood frame 0.83 in deep. The frame gives the work a finished edge and a little more presence on the wall.
Framed print. Printed on fine art matte paper and framed in solid pine, behind shatterproof plexiglass, in black, white, natural wood or dark wood. It arrives ready to hang. Framed sizes are measured on the outside of the frame.
Fine art print. Printed on 310gsm fine art matte paper, for framing your own way. It travels rolled and protected. From 18x24 inch.
Sizes
18x12 inch, 24x16 inch, 30x20 inch, 36x24 inch. Framed sizes are measured on the outside of the frame, so the visible painting is a little smaller.
On your wall
Its wide shape suits a living room, a study or the wall above a sofa. The golds, greens and roses look rich with cream, charcoal and walnut, and a gold or dark wood frame suits it.
About the painting
The Ninth Wave by Ivan Aivazovsky
Painted from memory
Ivan Aivazovsky, born to an Armenian family in Feodosia on the Black Sea, painted about 6,000 pictures, most of them of the sea, and painted them from memory rather than from life.
The biggest wave
Sailors had an old saying: after a run of ever larger waves comes the ninth, the biggest of all. Here it rises over a few survivors on a broken mast.
A sign of hope
The wreckage they hold forms a cross, and the warm dawn light makes the sea less cruel. It has hung in the Russian Museum since 1897.
Read the story
A night of storm is ending. The sun is coming up through a haze of gold and rose, and the sea is still enormous. On a broken mast, a handful of shipwrecked sailors hold on for their lives.
Ivan Aivazovsky painted this in 1850. It is his most famous painting, and it is huge: more than three metres wide.
The title comes from an old sailors' saying. In a storm, they believed, the waves grow bigger and bigger, until the ninth wave comes, the biggest and most dangerous of all. You can see it rising, green and glassy, about to break over the survivors.
And yet the painting does not feel hopeless. The light is warm, almost gentle. And the broken mast the sailors cling to makes the shape of a cross, which many people read as a sign of salvation.
Aivazovsky did not paint the sea from life. He painted it from memory, in his studio, and his memory was famous. He could paint a wave he had seen for a moment, without a single sketch.
The painting came to the Russian Museum in St Petersburg from the Hermitage in 1897, and it is still there today.
The Ninth Wave. Ivan Aivazovsky, 1850.
How each piece is brought to life
Faithful to the original, and made to be felt on your wall.
Graded against the original
We compare every work with the original as we grade it, keeping the artist’s colours true while bringing back their depth and glow. Every mark stays the artist’s own.
Printed for you
Printed to order on cotton canvas or fine art paper, then framed if you chose a frame, in 1 to 3 business days.
On your wall
It arrives 5 to 12 business days later, tracked and free anywhere in the US. Framed pieces come ready to hang.
Questions
Is this the original painting?
No. The original hangs in a museum. What you receive is a fine art reproduction, remastered from the original and printed for you, with every mark where the artist left it.
Will the colour look flat?
This is where most reproductions disappoint, and it is where we spend the most time. Each work is graded side by side with the original: faithful to the artist’s colours, with the depth and warmth brought back, so it moves you on the wall the way it was meant to. Canvas reads a touch softer than a backlit screen, and every screen shows colour a little differently.
Will the edges be cropped?
Each size is a standard frame size, so we fit the painting by trimming a little from its edges. We never stretch or squash it, and we check every size by eye so no face, figure or signature is cut. On canvas the edges are mirror-wrapped, which keeps the whole picture on the front.
Which size is right for my wall?
Aim for about two-thirds the width of the furniture beneath it. Over a sofa or a sideboard, one of the two largest sizes will hold the wall. The size guide lists every size in inches and centimetres, with the kind of wall each one suits.
How long does it take?
Your piece is printed in 1–3 business days, then spends 5–12 business days in transit, tracked all the way. Delivery is free anywhere in the US. We are unable to deliver to PO boxes.
What if it arrives damaged?
Send us a photograph and we will remake it and send it again. There is nothing to return.
Can I return it?
Yes, within 30 days of delivery. Our returns policy has the details.
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Printed to order
Graded against the original, then printed for you on cotton canvas or fine art paper in 1–3 business days.
The whole painting
Every mark is the artist’s own, and canvas edges are mirror-wrapped so the whole picture stays on the front.
Free US shipping
On every order, tracked, 5–12 business days in transit.
30-day returns
Returns and exchanges within 30 days of delivery.
