For the first time in German – the complete, uncensored letters of the Russian painter Isaak Levitan to his friend Anton Chekhov.

With a new translation of Chekhov's story "Happiness" by Brigitte van Kann.

The letters reflect a friendship that was not always cloudless. They provide insight into a free artistic existence of that time: Levitan writes about travels, plans, fees, as well as his chronic melancholy. Explicit eroticism and heartfelt insults suggest a deep familiarity.

For Levitan, the proximity to the central Russian landscape was existential. As soon as he traveled, the initial excitement was inevitably followed by homesickness. Chekhov's depictions of nature comment on the inner world of his characters – at the same time, they are a love letter to the Russian landscape, such as the steppe with its boundless expanse. Levitan to Chekhov: "You have amazed me as a landscape painter. Your landscapes are the pinnacle of perfection; for example, in the story 'Happiness,' the images of the steppe, the hills, and the sheep are astonishing." Chekhov often referred to his friend's work. He wrote many of his nature descriptions not from life but from Levitan's paintings – a compelling variant of nature writing.