The Ninth Wave is
called “the most beautiful painting in Russia”.

In this seascape painting, Aivazovsky depicted a scenary of people in a ship facing and defeating the nine waves after a night storm, trying to survive from death by clinging to debris from a wrecked ship, showing their strong will and dogged perseverance to fight against storm. Aivazovsky described a group of people attempting to save their lives from the merciless storm and oceanic waves. The sun illuminating a strange, oneiric range of green and pink shades on the scene is faintly visible behind the clouds which occupy the whole sky. The roaring waves in multiple layers agitated by the wind seem to swallow this lonely struggling ship. Though Aivazovsky painted this painting light dark-hued, we can still see a few rays of golden sunbeam behind a thick layer of dark clouds, the sun is going to disperse dark clouds and stop the storm, giving people a glimpse of hope and a way out of the difficult position is suddenly visible.

In this painting, Aivazovsky reached an absolute technical perfection, his depiction of the storm, the struggling people and the roaring waves in a vivid way shows his excellent technique and superb skill for painting.