Бурный день

January 1895

Reconciliation with Chekhov at Melikhovo

Thanks to Tatiana Shchepkina-Kupernik, Levitan makes peace with Chekhov: on her way to Melikhovo she called at his Moscow studio to see the Udomlya studies and persuaded him to go with her; the friends met, embraced, and the friendship resumed.

21 June 1895

A suicide attempt

Overcome by severe melancholy, on 21 June 1895 Levitan makes an attempt on his life which, according to the doctor I. I. Troyanovsky, who found no trace of a wound, was rather a theatrical gesture — a “tragic comedy”.

after 21 June 1895

Chekhov comes to Gorka and stays five days

At Levitan's own request, and then Anna Turchaninova's, Chekhov comes to Gorka, satisfies himself that his friend's life is in no danger, stays five days and returns to Moscow shaken. After the visit he will write the story “The House with a Mezzanine” and the play “The Seagull”, which offend Levitan.

1896

Typhus again, and a heart aneurysm

After a second bout of typhus the symptoms of an aneurysm of the heart worsen; the illness becomes grave and incurable.

1896

An exhibition in Odessa with Simov and Popov

A joint exhibition of paintings and watercolours by Isaac Levitan, Viktor Simov and Alexander Popov is held in Odessa.

1898

The title of academician and teaching at his old school

He is awarded the title of academician of landscape painting and begins teaching at the very school where he studied; he dreams of creating a “House of Landscapes” — a large studio where all Russian landscape painters could work.