Johannes Saar, Estonian Art Critic: Aili Vint is fascinated by the power and elusiveness of the sea phenomenon – the Sea is a real challenge for the artist. The result is a kind of ideal of the Sea, a concentrated message in the energy of a powerful natural element..

Aili Vinti on mere fenomenis paelunud tema jõud ja haaramatus – meri on kunstnikule tõeline väljakutse. Ning tulemuseks on omamoodi mere ideaal, kontsentreeritud sõnum võimsa loodusstiihia energias.

 AILI WRESTLING THE SEA 

„You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed“, wrote A.Saint-Exupéri

Aili Vint: I enjoy painting the Quiet Sea, because painting a mirror-smooth surface is the most challenging and by far the hardest to do.– Have you tried to put the baby to bed, when he does not want to sleep? - In order to get the Sea to lie down on the canvas, you have to wrestle it for a long time. But one fine day I feel that now is the right time and then painting succeeds again with surprising ease – as if someone else was working inside me and making incredible things happen. As if the Sea itself was painting my Sea.— I am the Sea! — The Sea is painting me.

My marine paintings since 1972 —2014

SHALLOW SEA 1972 Oil on canvas,92 x 115 cm Tartu Art Museum

THE SEA 1974  Oil on canvas  115 x 144 cm, artist’s collection

THE SEA IN SPRING 1974 Oil on canvas  150 x 1170 cm, artist’s collection

REFLECTION OF CLOUDS 1986 Oil on canvas  115 X 92 cm, artist’s collection

SEA AT KÄSMU 1991 Oil on canvas, 150 x 175 cm artist’s collection

AFTER THE RAIN 1982 Oil on canvas, 100 x 115 cm private collection

By Aili Vint, from The Seabook

To me, the Stony Sea is the most important of my seascapes, because it was the source of a very poweful event. Once upon time, when I was painting stony and translucent water, I suddenly received shocking news that a young acquaintance of mine had taken her own life. While painting the picture, I remember wondering whether this profound angst I felt at the time would remain trapped in that picture.

Years later I received an answer. — A complete stranger came up to me, started scolding me for no longer painting the sea. Then she went on, searching for words: ”Your picture saved my life, you know…”She told me that she had wanted to end her life, to give herself to the sea. But a friend took her to the Kadriorg Art Museum to see one of my seascapes. The painting had mesmerized her, calling her back again and again. It offered her unaccountable consolation, until it finally calmed her down. This painting was The Stony Sea.

STONY SEA 1974 Oil on canvas, 115 x 135 cm, Kumu Art Museum

TRANSPARENT SEA II 2014 Oil on canvas, 110 x 190,5 cm, artist’s collection +

TRANSPARENT SEA I 2014, Oil on canvas, 110 x 190,5 cm, artist’s collection

WET SEA 1986 - 1995 Oil on canvas 150 x 210 cm private collection

2019 “Border Poetics. Estonian Art 1918–2018” is an exhibition of the Art Museum of Estonia and the National Tretyakov Gallery, combining Estonian art of the last hundred years from the collections of the two museums.

1. THE ARCTIC OCEAN 1981 Oil on canvas 175 x 200 cm Tretjakov Gallery, Moskow

2. XXX BALTIC REGATTA. WAITING FOR THE WIND 1979 Triptychon II, oil on cancas 120 x 153 cm Tretjakovi Galley, Moskow

3. ON THE ISLAND OF TÜTARSAAR 1986 Oil on canvas,  115 x 145 cm  Tretjakov Gallery, Moscow

LAZY SEA 1986, Oil on canvasl 100 x 115 cm private collection

STONE IN COASTAL WATER 2000 Oil on canvas 150 x 175 cm private collection

THE SEA-AFTER A STORM 1992 oil on canvas 115 x 150 cm artist’s collection

EVENING LAKE 1975 Oil on canvas 92 x 115 cm, private collec

AFTER STORM 1984 Oil on canvas 92 x 115 cm, private collectio

…  I asked forgiveness of the Sea

:I will never forget the sea the day after the sinking of the "Estonia". I was at our summer cottage, electricity was out, I did not know anything about what happened. The day after the storm, while walking on the seashore, I could not understand what had happened to the sea. It was frustrated and desperate, as if looking for something that could not be found. I had never seen such muddy  colour, with too sharply and carelessly drawn lines. Just before sunset, when an enormous dark wall of clouds came and cast a heavy shadow over the sea, like a blanket, it seemed to calm down.

I heard about the catastrophe from our neighbours only the next evening. And then I knew that the sea was desperately seeking for forgiveness for taking too many lives at once.

 A year later, riding to Pirita on the bus, I suddenly heard an old woman sigh to herself, "I hate the sea." and I felt that same pain again. I saw how she turned her back to the sea. But on this day the sea was so calm and placid. Beautiful and delicate. I got off the bus and asked forgiveness of the sea.

REFLECTION OF DARK CLOUDS 1978 Oil on canvas 92 x 115 cm Tartu Art Museum, Estonia

SEA UNDER THE DARK SKY 1975 Oil on canvas 92 x 115 cm Kumu Art Museum, Estonia

SERENE SEA 1982 Oil on canvas 120 x 150 cm Tartu Art Museum, Estonia

PALE SEA 1975 Oil on canvas 92 x 115 cm, Kumu Art Museum, Estonia

 A year later, riding to Pirita on the bus, I suddenly heard an old woman sigh to herself, "I hate the sea." and I felt that same pain again. I saw how she turned her back to the sea. But on this day the sea was so calm and placid. Beautiful and delicate. I got off the bus and asked forgiveness of the sea.

GLITTER ON COASTAL WATER I 2009 Triptychon Oil on canvas 81 x 81 cm artist’s collection

GLITTER ON COASTAL WATER II 2009 Triptychon Oil on canvas 81 x 81 cm artist’s collection

GLITTER ON COASTAL WATER III 2009 Triptychon Oil on canvas 81 x 81 cm artist’s collection

COASTAL WAVE ON THE BLACK SEA 1983 Oil on canvas 100 x 173 cm artist’s collection

BLUE-BLUE SEA 2010 Oil on canvas 92 x 115 cm artist’s collection

BLACK SEA 1975 Oil on canvas 100 x 173 cm Zimmerliy Art Museum, USA

GLIMMERING WATER 2000 Oil on canvas 92 x 115 cm, artist’s collection

SUNSET FLASH 2011 Oil on canvas 110 x 191 cm, artist’s collection

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