The State Russian Museum has completed the restoration of Aivazovsky’s painting “The Ninth Wave”

Specialists from the State Russian Museum have completed a comprehensive scientific restoration of one of Ivan Aivazovsky’s most famous paintings, “The Ninth Wave,” said the museum’s general director, Alla Manilova.

“Today is a very happy day for us at the Russian Museum, because we, well, for one century, are giving our visitors, the country, the museum fund of the Russian Federation, a restored canvas of the great Ivan Aivazovsky and a historical frame, restored to the latest standards, world standards of restoration science and art,” she told reporters.

"The Ninth Wave", created in 1850, has occupied one of the central places in the permanent exhibition of the Russian Museum for more than 120 years. The painting entered the museum's collection in 1897, along with its historical gilded frame. During all this time, the work was practically not subjected to serious restoration interventions; only local conservation and preventative work was carried out.

“The Ninth Wave” is a picture that every person in our country knows. “On the one hand, it represents academic Russian painting in all its beauty, sophistication, and power, and on the other hand, it is perceived by people as an absolutely folk work, because everyone knows it,” Manilova said.

She noted that the complex scientific restoration of the painting lasted four months. According to the museum, restorers strengthened the soil and paint layer over the entire surface, eliminated areas of delamination and worked on the varnish coating, which over time became uneven and became noticeably spotty.

At the same time as the work, experts restored its historical authentic frame. During the restoration of the frame, specialists restored more than 100 lost carving fragments ranging in size from 1 to 65 centimeters. All elements were re-carved from linden according to surviving samples, covered with traditional primer and gilded with gold leaf.