Ручей

mid-1880s

His heart disease sharply worsens

Levitan's material situation improves in the mid-1880s, but a hungry childhood, an unsettled life and hard work tell on his health: his heart disease sharply worsens.

spring 1885

He graduates without the title of artist

In spring 1885, at twenty-four, he graduates from the school but does not receive the title of artist: he is given a diploma as a teacher of penmanship. He has no money.

April 1885

He settles at Maximovka and meets Chekhov

In April 1885 he settles in the remote village of Maximovka near Babkino, where the Chekhovs are staying at the Kiselyov estate; his acquaintance with Anton Pavlovich Chekhov begins a friendship and rivalry that will last all his life.

1886

The Crimea and an exhibition of fifty landscapes

A trip to the Crimea in 1886 restores his strength; on his return Levitan organises an exhibition of fifty of his landscapes.

spring 1888

He discovers Plyos on the Volga

In spring 1888 he sails by steamer along the Oka to Nizhny Novgorod and on up the Volga with the artist Alexei Stepanov and Sofia Kuvshinnikova; to their own surprise they discover the small, quiet town of Plyos and decide to stay on for a while. The three summer seasons there (1888–1890) prove extremely productive: some two hundred works bring Levitan wide fame.

late 1889 – early 1890

His first trip to Western Europe

He visits France and Italy, wanting to get to know modern painting better as shown at the World Exhibition in Paris — probably above all the Barbizon school and the Impressionists. According to Nesterov, in the West he became convinced that the path he had chosen was the right one.