Серый день

summer 1894

A romance with Anna Turchaninova and the break with Kuvshinnikova

In summer 1894 Levitan and Sofia Kuvshinnikova are staying with the Ushakovs at the Ostrovno estate (he had met V. N. Ushakov a year earlier at Kurovo-Pokrovskoye); Anna Nikolaevna Turchaninova arrives at the neighbouring estate of Gorka with her two daughters, and Levitan begins an affair with her. The upset Kuvshinnikova returns to Moscow and never meets him again.

1894

Two paintings at the World Exhibition in London

He takes part in the World Exhibition in London with two works.

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.