"Rising above Palestine" Painting

While studying at the Russian Academy of Arts, back in the 5th year, I thought about the upcoming graduation work. The theme of the "holy city" attracted me from birth - I was born in Moscow - in the area of "New Jerusalem" - and from childhood I was surrounded by temples and saints of 4 major religions. (Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism). So at the age of 22 I made a pilgrimage expedition to Israel - Jerusalem. I was very inspired by this place, and in one week I wrote more than 50 sketches in oil paints. I went around the whole old city and its surroundings. In my sixth year, I painted a whole series of paintings on Israel. 3 of them came out. This is the first painting in the series and it's a view from the Mount of Olives of the Old City. I remember as soon as I arrived in Israel, immediately went to Jerusalem, and just dropped my luggage in the hostel, together with the sketchbook went to watch the sunrise from this mountain and at 5 a.m. I had already done the first study. Already in Moscow I made the color scheme more complicated, and wrote on a large canvas in the academy workshop for 5 months.