Explore the History of this artwork.
In 1900, Vrubel approached the theme of "Demons" again. Having not yet finished the piece The Demon Flying (1900), in 1901 the painter started drawing preliminary sketches for the painting The Demon Downcast. As Vladimir von Meck recalled,near the drawing-room, there was a small room decorated with an arch. Along its entire length, from the window to the wall, a giant canvas stood. Vrubel broke it down in squares with a rope and coal. His face was excitedly cheerful. “I begin,” he said.
Vrubel suddenly sent a note to von Meck asking to send photos of the Caucasian mountains: “I won’t fall asleep until I get them!” Upon receiving photos of Elbrus and Kazbek soon afterward, that night behind the demon's back grew pearl-coloured peaks, “fanned with the eternal cold of death”.
While Vrubel was considered sane in general, people around him noted his irritability. Despite the mainly negative responses of contemporary critics, his popularity among painting lovers grew over time. In autumn of 1901, his spouse Nadezhda Zabela wrote to her sister:Recently, delegates of the Vienna Secession had lunch with us. Very nice Viennese artists, they are delighted with Misha and want to take everything to an exposition; unfortunately, his “Demon” will be too late for this exposition. He has a lot of work in general. Everyone requires his sketches and his advice, invite him to expositions, elect him a member of various societies; they only pay a little money, but his glory grows. S. I. Mamontov has left jail and also requires Misha’s sketches.
The Demon Downcast was finished in December 1901 and displayed for several days in Moscow as an unfinished painting.
Moscow Vladimir von Meck S. I. Mamontov Nadezhda Zabela The Demon Flying Vienna Secession