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At least in order to see with your own eyes the paintings “Girl with Peaches”, “Rooks Have Arrived”, “The Appearance of Christ to the People”, “Morning in a Pine Forest” and many other works of Russian fine art, familiar even to all people who are far from painting from candy wrappers and Internet memes.
website rummaged through the collections of an art museum and chose 10 paintings with an interesting history. We hope they will inspire you to visit the Tretyakov Gallery.
"The Apotheosis of War" Vasily Vereshchagin
The picture was painted in 1871 under the impression of military operations in Turkestan, which struck eyewitnesses with their cruelty. Initially, the canvas was called "The Triumph of Tamerlane", whose troops left behind such pyramids of skulls. According to history, once the women of Baghdad and Damascus turned to Tamerlane, who complained about their husbands, mired in sins and depravity. Then the cruel commander ordered each soldier from his 200,000-strong army to bring a severed head of lecherous husbands. After the order was executed, 7 pyramids of heads were laid out.
"Unequal Marriage" Vasily Pukirev
The painting depicts the wedding process in the Orthodox Church. A young dowry bride marries an old official against her will. According to one version, the painting depicts a love drama of the artist himself. The prototype in the image of the bride depicts the failed bride of Vasily Pukirev. And in the image of the best man, depicted at the edge of the picture behind the bride, with his hands folded on his chest, is the artist himself.
"Boyar Morozova" Vasily Surikov
Giant in size (304 x 586 cm), Vasily Surikov's painting depicts a scene from the history of the church schism in the 17th century. The painting is dedicated to Morozova Theodosia Prokopievna - an associate of the spiritual leader of the supporters of the old faith, Archpriest Avvakum. Around 1670, she secretly took the veil as a nun, was arrested in 1671, and in 1673 sent to the Pafnutev-Borovsky Monastery, where she was starved to death in an earthen prison.
The painting depicts an episode when the noblewoman Morozova is being transported around Moscow to the place of imprisonment. Next to Morozova is her sister Evdokia Urusova, who shared the fate of a schismatic; in the depths - a wanderer, in whose face the features of the artist are read.
"They didn't expect" Ilya Repin
The second picture, painted in 1884-1888, depicts the moment of the unexpected return home of a political exile. The boy and the woman at the piano (apparently his wife) are happy, the girl looks wary, the maid looks incredulous, in the hunched figure of the mother in the foreground one feels a deep emotional shock.
Currently, both paintings are part of the collection of the Tretyakov Gallery.
"Trinity" Andrey Rublev
The Tretyakov Gallery has the richest collection of ancient Russian art of the 11th-17th centuries, including works by Dionysius, Simon Ushakov and Andrei Rublev. In the 60th hall of the gallery hangs one of the most famous and famous icons in the world - "Trinity", painted by Andrei Rublev in the first quarter of the 15th century. Three angels gathered around the table on which the sacrificial bowl stands for a quiet, unhurried conversation.
The "Trinity" is stored in the hall of ancient Russian painting of the Tretyakov Gallery, in a special glass case, which maintains constant humidity and temperature, and which protects the icon from any external influences.
"Unknown" Ivan Kramskoy
The place of action of the picture is beyond doubt - this is Nevsky Prospekt in St. Petersburg, Anichkov Bridge. But the image of a woman is still a mystery of the artist. Neither in the letters nor in the diaries did Kramskoy leave any mention of the unknown person. Critics connected this image with Anna Karenina of Leo Tolstoy, with Nastasya Filippovna of Fyodor Dostoevsky, the names of famous ladies of the world were called. There is also a version that the painting depicts the artist's daughter, Sofia Ivanovna Kramskaya.
In Soviet times, Kramskoy's "Unknown" became almost a Russian Sistine Madonna - the ideal of unearthly beauty and spirituality. And hung in every decent Soviet house.
"Bogatyrs" Viktor Vasnetsov
Vasnetsov painted this picture for almost twenty years. On April 23, 1898, it was completed and soon bought by P. M. Tretyakov for his gallery.
In epics, Dobrynya is always young, like Alyosha, but for some reason Vasnetsov portrayed him as a mature man with a luxurious beard. Some researchers believe that Dobrynya's facial features resemble the artist himself. The prototype for Ilya Muromets was the peasant of the Vladimir province Ivan Petrov, whom Vasnetsov had previously captured in one of the studies.
By the way, Ilya Muromets is not a fairy-tale character, but a historical person. The story of his life and feats of arms are real events. Having grown old and finished his labors in protecting the homeland, he became a monk of the Kiev Caves Monastery, where he died in 1188.
"Bathing the Red Horse" Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin
The painting “Bathing the Red Horse”, which amazed contemporaries with its monumentality and fatefulness, brought world fame to the artist Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin. The red horse acts as the Destiny of Russia, which the fragile and young rider is unable to hold. According to another version, the Red Horse is Russia itself. In this case, it is impossible not to note the visionary gift of the artist, who symbolically predicted the “red” fate of Russia in the 20th century with his painting.
The horse Petrov-Vodkin wrote from a real stallion named Boy. To create the image of a teenager sitting on a horse, the artist used the features of his student, the artist Sergei Kalmykov: “For the information of future compilers of my monograph. On a red horse, our dearest Kuzma Sergeevich portrayed me. ... In the form of a languid young man on this banner, I am depicted in my own person.
"The Swan Princess" Mikhail Vrubel
The painting was painted in 1900 based on the stage image of the heroine of N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov’s opera The Tale of Tsar Saltan based on the plot of the fairy tale of the same name by A. S. Pushkin. Vrubel designed this performance, and the part of the Swan Princess was performed by the artist's wife, Nadezhda Zabela-Vrubel. “All the singers sing like birds, and Nadia - like a person!” Vrubel spoke about her.
“Whatever war anyone unleashes, in any case, it is a stupid desire to own the world and its resources” - V. Vereshchagin
From the time of Peter I to our times, a conditional list of "100 greatest Russian artists" has been formed in Russian painting. Of course, these figures are significantly underestimated, and it seems to me that the real list of great Russian artists is not so small, and certainly exceeds this magically verified hundred. But, apparently, it just so happened among real connoisseurs and pseudo-lovers of art that there must certainly be a certain list, in which some, taking into account their popularity, fall, while others remain below the line of this immensely huge “greatness” (forgive me for the tautology).
In fairness, you need to understand that almost always only the most “popular” became great. That is, not those who are content with the sighs of an enthusiastic public - “I am delighted!”, “Stupidity!”, “Charming, charming!”, And not those who are recognized on the street, and not even those who gather crowds of onlookers at the first -second-rate exhibitions, and only those artists for whose work ardent collectors are ready to tear each other apart. It is here, at this stage, that the popularity of the artist begins. Only then does the transformation of a nameless and talented artist into "great" ones take place.
Speaking of the great Russian artists, the brightest are remembered - Aivazovsky, Repin, Serov, Shishkin, Malevich, Vasnetsov, Vereshchagin and others no less influential and great ... The work of each of them is invaluable and great.
But if you measure “greatness”, breaking it down into many components, then “among the worlds, in the twinkling of the luminaries of one Star, I repeat the name ...” - Vasily Vasilyevich Vereshchagin - “the most popular person in all Russian art at one time - not only in Russia, but in all over the world, which made not only St. Petersburg and Moscow, but also Berlin, Paris, London and America to worry and get excited to the point of stupefaction ”(A. Benois)
“Vereshchagin is not just an artist, but something more,” Kramskoy wrote after the first acquaintance with his painting, and a few years later he again remarked: “Despite the interest of his art collections, the author himself is a hundred times more interesting and instructive.”
In literature, this battle-painter was Tolstoy (in "War and Peace"), and in painting - Vereshchagin. No, there were other well-known and great ones - Roubaud, Grekov, Villevalde, Karazin, but it was with the arrival of the pacifist Vasily Vereshchagin in painting that the world of war on canvases ceased to be a bright pink game, a war game in which polished-glossy soldiers frolicked to the fullest.
From the memoirs of the Russian art critic Alexander Benois:
“Before Vereshchagin, all the battle paintings that could only be seen in our palaces, at exhibitions, in essence, depicted chic parades and maneuvers, among which the field marshal and his retinue raced on a magnificent horse. Here and there in these pictures, in very moderate numbers and always in beautiful poses, were scattered pro forma a few clean dead. The very nature that surrounded these scenes was combed and smoothed in a way that in reality this could not be even on the quietest and most calm days, and at the same time, all such paintings and pictures were always executed in that sweet manner that was brought to us in times of Nicholas the First Ladurner, Sauerweid and Raffe, who lived with us for some time. All our home-grown battle-players (Timm, Kotzebue, Filippov, Gruzinsky, Villevalde, and others) successfully adopted this pink style, who wrote countless, very polished, very tasty and deadly monotonous battles.
Everyone was so accustomed to portraying the war exclusively in the form of an entertaining, smoothed and pink holiday, some kind of fun with adventures, that it never occurred to anyone that in reality it did not look like that. Tolstoy in his "Sevastopol" and in "War and Peace" destroyed these illusions, and Vereshchagin then repeated in painting what Tolstoy had done in literature.
Naturally, when, instead of the clean pictures of Villevalde, the Russian public saw the pictures of Vereshchagin, who suddenly so simply, cynically exposed the war and showed it as a dirty, disgusting, gloomy and colossal villainy, they screamed in every way and began to hate and love such a daredevil with all their might ... "
"Apotheosis of War", 1871
Vereshchagin is known to his contemporaries for The Apotheosis of War (1871). The artist's most famous masterpiece rests within the walls of the Tretyakov Gallery. There is also a note to the picture left by the artist on the frame - "Dedicated to all great conquerors, past, present and future."
The power of this painting was such that one Prussian general advised Emperor Alexander II to "order to burn all the artist's military paintings, as having the most pernicious influence." And for more than thirty years, the state museums of Russia have not acquired a single canvas of this "scandalous" artist.
The horror of war depicted in detail, symbolizing death and devastation, contrary to the wills of the master, will forever remain only a brilliant canvas of the great pacifist artist. The idea itself is transparent, but not heard. And how many wars could be prevented through art, through the canvases of only one Vereshchagin. But the mighty of this world, modern conquerors, stringing their idea of a world without war, you will not meet in the Tretyakov Gallery.
“Some spread the idea of peace with their fascinating word, others put forward various arguments in its defense - religious, political, economic, and I preach the same through colors,” said this stern, courageous and fearless man.
History of "Apotheosis"
Initially, the canvas was called "The Triumph of Tamerlane." The idea was associated with Tamerlane, whose troops left behind such pyramids of skulls, but the picture is not of a specific historical nature.
According to history, once the women of Baghdad and Damascus turned to Tamerlane, who complained about their husbands, mired in sins and depravity. Then he ordered each warrior from his 200,000-strong army to bring a severed head of lecherous husbands. After the order was executed, seven pyramids of heads were laid out.
According to another version, the painting was created by Vereshchagin under the impression of a story about how the ruler of Kashgar, Valikhantor, executed a European traveler and ordered his head to be placed on top of a pyramid made of the skulls of other executed people.
In 1867, Vereshchagin left for Turkestan, where he was an ensign under the Governor-General K.P. Kaufman. Russia then conquered these lands, and Vereshchagin had seen enough of death and corpses, which aroused compassion and philanthropy in him. Here the well-known "Turkestan Series" appeared, where the battle painter depicted not only military operations, but also the nature and scenes of life in Central Asia. And after a trip to Western China in 1869, where the troops of the Bogdykhan ruthlessly pacified the uprising of the local Dungans and Uighurs, the painting “The Apotheosis of War” appeared.
Inspired by the horror of war
The artist did not admire his paintings at all. His work is tragic because O they are told, but not by the way it is told. With a thirst for a scientist, researcher, historian, war reporter, and only then an artist, he penetrated into the very heart of military operations. He was not just an observer, but a participant in the battles, being a courageous example of what a real military reporter should be - a battle-player:
“To fulfill the goal that I set myself, namely: it is impossible to give society a picture of a real, genuine war, looking at the battle through binoculars from a beautiful distance, but you need to feel and do everything yourself, participate in attacks, assaults, victories, defeats, experience hunger, cold, sickness, wounds... One should not be afraid to sacrifice one's blood, one's meat - otherwise my pictures will be "not right".
“Mortally Wounded” 1873. On the frame are the author's texts - at the top: “Oh, they killed, brothers! ... killed ... oh my death has come! ... " Vereshchagin received his baptism of fire at the age of 25, in Samarkand.
In 1867, he gladly accepted the invitation of the Turkestan Governor-General, General K.P. Kaufman, to be an artist with him. Arriving in Samarkand after being taken by Russian troops on May 2, 1868, Vereshchagin withstood the heavy siege of this city by rebellious local residents with a handful of Russian soldiers. The outstanding role of Vereshchagin in this defense brought him the Order of St. George, 4th class (August 14, 1868), which he proudly wore, although he generally denied any awards:
“During the eight-day siege of the Samarkand citadel by the crowds of Bukharians, ensign Vereshchagin encouraged the garrison with a courageous example. When on June 3 the enemy approached the gates in great masses and, having rushed at the guns, had already managed to occupy all the huts, Ensign Vereshchagin, despite a hail of stones and murderous rifle fire, rushed with a gun in his hands and with his heroic example carried away the brave defenders of the citadel.
At the fortress wall. "Let them in." 1871, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg 
"After failure" 1868, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg The artist returned from Samarkand in a depressed mood. The chilled valor and shown heroism gave way to disappointment and emptiness. Since then, since the siege of the Samarkand citadel, ideas about life and death, about war and peace have become the all-consuming meaning of most of the artist’s works, burned through by “the deep feeling of the historian and judge of mankind.” From now on, he has something to say, if only they would hear it.
But they didn't want to hear. To see - they saw, but they did not want to hear. Despite world recognition and popularity, in Russia the artist was treated coolly, and after one of the exhibitions in St. Petersburg he was accused of anti-patriotism and sympathy for the enemy. Many pictures caused displeasure at the top. So, the President of the Academy of Arts, Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich ordered to replace defiant captions to the paintings. And Emperor Alexander II, surveying the exhibition, sadly said: “All this is true, all this was so,” but did not want to see the author. Grand Duke Alexander Alexandrovich, the future emperor-peacemaker Alexander III, expressed his opinion about the artist in this way:
“His constant tendentiousness is repugnant to national pride and one can conclude from them one thing: either Vereshchagin is a beast, or a completely crazy person.”
However, this did not prevent a month later the Imperial Academy of Arts from conferring the title of professor to Vereshchagin, which Vereshchagin refused.
Vereshchagin was not afraid of the hostility of the court. He wrote to his friend Stasov: "All this ... shows that I am on a sound, non-hypocritical road, which will be understood and appreciated in Russia."
In 1871 Vereshchagin moved to Munich. In his desire to tell the world about the real horrors of war, he met no obstacles. He is greeted with a standing ovation in Berlin, in the Crystal Palace in London, in Paris and other European cities. The exhibited canvases, emphasizing the absurdity and criminality of the war, caused a real storm of discussion, stirring up public opinion.
His popularity can be judged from the figures: his exhibition in St. Petersburg in 1880 was visited by 240 thousand people (in 40 days), in Berlin - 140 thousand people (in 65 days), in Vienna - 110 thousand (in 28 days ). Such fame is not dreamed of by many pop stars of our time.
After good luck. 1868, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg Then Vereshchagin lived in India for almost two years, also leaving for Tibet. In the spring of 1876 the artist returns to Paris.
Having learned in the spring of 1877 about the beginning of the Russo-Turkish war, he immediately went to the active army, participated in some battles.
In June of the same year, he was seriously wounded: Vereshchagin asked to be an observer on board the destroyer "Joke", which laid mines on the Danube. During the attack on the Turkish ship, they were fired upon by the Turks and a stray bullet pierced through the thigh.
“In anticipation that we are about to go to the bottom, I stood with one foot on board; I hear a strong crack under me and a blow to the thigh, but what a blow! - exactly a butt.
The wound turned out to be serious, due to improper treatment, inflammation began, the first signs of gangrene appeared. He had to undergo an operation to open the wound, after which he quickly recovered.
Night halt of the great army. 1896-1897, State Historical Museum, Moscow 
They attack by surprise. 1871, State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow The last war and the death of V. V. Vereshchagin
From 1882 to 1903 Vereshchagin travels a lot: India, Syria, Palestine, Pinega, Northern Dvina, Solovki, Crimea, Philippines, USA, Cuba, Japan, continuing to create, create, surprise.
And again humanity does not hear him. Another bloodshed is on the way. The Russo-Japanese War is the third and last in a row in his life. A fit, slender, but already gray-haired grandfather again goes to the front. The artist has only a few days to live...
V.V. Vereshchagin in Port Arthur (to the right of V.V. Vereshchagin - Commander-in-Chief A.N. Kuropatkin) The memoirs of a journalist and part-time artist Kravchenko N.I. have come down to us about the last day of Vasily Vereshchagin. :
“By Easter, I was going from Mukden to Arthur. I drove for quite a long time, something like forty hours, and when I arrived there, the train of Grand Duke Boris Vladimirovich was already there, which, when leaving, I saw back in Mukden. We were obviously overtaken at night. Vasily Vasilyevich came from Russia on this train, and lived in it when the train was in Mukden.
In Arthur they told me that "Vereshchagin has arrived." Then, they say, he often visited Admiral Makarov on the Petropavlovsk as an old good friend, as a comrade-in-arms.
The last time I saw Vasily Vasilyevich was on March 30th. Sitting in the Saratov restaurant, I had breakfast and looked through the windows at the street ...
- Gentlemen, Vereshchagin is coming! someone shouted.
And almost instantly all eyes turned to the slender, light figure of V.V., in a blue jacket pair, passing by with quick steps. His beautiful white beard shone silver under the rays of the hot sun. On his head was a sheepskin hat.
He went straight to the mailbox; one could see how he lowered a large package into it, looked into the hole, and then, with the same measured, calm step, walked back to the station.
As it turned out, it was one of the artist's letters to Emperor Nicholas II. But this became known much later. Vereshchagin, in his letters, is most afraid that the tsar would not take it into his head to "have mercy" on Japan and conclude peace with her, "without punishing her completely." To bring Japan to "humility", to wash away the "insult to the tsar" inflicted by her - this, in his opinion, is required by Russian prestige in Asia. He bombarded the king with advice on the immediate construction of cruisers, bridges, sending long-range guns to Port Arthur, sending troops to the borders of India, etc. and so on. How the tsar reacted to the military advice of his civilian correspondent is unknown: there are no marks on the surviving original letters. According to historians, these letters clearly traced not the pacifist moods of the aged patriot artist, but rather the tsar's call for rigidity and steadfastness.
Memories of Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich:
Admiral Stepan Osipovich Makarov Cloudy morning March 31st. At night, our destroyer Terrible died in an unequal struggle. This sad news was conveyed to us by the returned "Bayan", which, under heavy fire, managed to save only five from the "Terrible" team. Makarov could not come to terms with the idea that there, at the site of the death of the Terrible, there could still be a few people from the destroyer's team, helplessly struggling with death. He wanted to see for himself, hoping even with a fight, but to save his own ... and "Bayan" was ordered to go forward to indicate the place of death of the "Terrible". Our squadron began to leave the harbor, and "Petropavlovsk", to which I switched with the headquarters of Admiral Makarov from the "Diana", already about 7 o'clock. morning went to the outer raid; the rest of the battleships were somewhat delayed in the inner roadstead.
The entire headquarters of the admiral was on the bridge.
Soon "Bayan" signaled that he noticed the enemy, who, a little later, opened fire on "Bayan".
Admiral Makarov decided to move forward, and our detachment began to respond to enemy fire. As we approached, the Japanese turned and began to quickly withdraw. A little later, another enemy squadron appeared on the horizon. Seeing the significantly superior enemy forces in front of him, Admiral Makarov decided to turn back in order to be closer to the coastal batteries. We turned and walked at a big speed towards Arthur. The enemy stopped in some indecision. Being already under the protection of coastal batteries, "Petropavlovsk" slowed down, and the team was released to dine; The officers began to disperse little by little. The following remained on the bridge: Admiral Makarov, the commander of the Petropavlovsk, Captain 1st Rank Yakovlev, Rear Admiral Mollas, Lieutenant Wolf, artist Vereshchagin and myself.
I stood with Vereshchagin on the right side of the bridge. Vereshchagin made sketches from the Japanese squadron and, talking about his participation in many campaigns, said with great confidence that he was deeply convinced that where he was, nothing could happen there.
Suddenly, there was an explosion of incredible force ... The battleship shuddered, and a jet of hot, suffocating gas burned my face with terrible force. The air was filled with a heavy, acrid smell, it seemed to me - the smell of our gunpowder. Seeing that the battleship was rapidly listing to starboard, I instantly ran to the left side ... On the way, I had to jump over the corpse of Admiral Mollas, who lay with a bloody head next to the corpses of two signalmen. Jumping over the handrails, I jumped onto the forward 12″ tower. I clearly saw and realized that our cellars had exploded, that the battleship was dying ... The entire starboard side was already in breakers, the water was flooding the battleship with a huge wave with noise ... and the Petropavlovsk, moving forward, quickly plunged nose into the depths of the sea.
At first, I had a desire to jump from the tower to the deck, but, realizing that I could break my legs in this way, I quickly lowered myself on my hands, holding on to the upper edge of the tower, and threw myself into the water ... "
On that day, the cousin of Nicholas II, Prince Kirill, and about 80 other people were saved. The rest - more than 650 people are still considered missing.
The death of "Petropavlovsk" had an extremely negative impact on the combat activities of the Pacific squadron. This tragedy shocked not only Russia, but the whole world. After all, along with the death of the talented leader and organizer of the defense of Port Arthur, Vice Admiral S.O. Makarov, one of the greatest artists of the Russian Empire, who adamantly sings of life outside of war and world peace, also died.
Officers and crew of the battleship Petropavlovsk in July 1904 Facts about Vasily Vereshchagin
In America, he was offered honorary citizenship and dreamed that he would become the founder of the American school of painting.
With his first wife, Vereshchagin undertook an ascent to the Himalayas. They then climbed very high without any equipment, the escorts fell behind, and the young couple had to arrange a cold sleepover, they almost died. The British, by the way, were very frightened of this Vereshchagin journey. They believed that he, as a scout, sketches military paths. The newspapers then wrote that Vereshchagin was paving the way for Russian bayonets with a brush.
In France, Vereshchagin met the battle painter Meissonier. He talked about the work on the painting "Napoleon in 1814". The artist, in order to paint from life the war-torn road, covered a special platform with a layer of clay, drove a fake cannon on wheels along it several times, made horseshoe footprints with a horseshoe, sprinkled everything with flour and salt to create the impression of shiny snow. “And how do you solve such problems, Monsieur Vereshchagin?” - he asked. “I don’t have such problems,” Vereshchagin replied. “In Russia, in peacetime, it is enough to take any road, and it will turn out to be pitted and impassable, as after a battle.”
Before Moscow in anticipation of the deputation of the boyars. 1891-1892, State Historical Museum, Moscow In everyday life, Vereshchagin was a difficult person. Everything in the house was subject to his schedule. At 5-6 o'clock in the morning the artist was already in the studio. No one was allowed to enter there - a tray with breakfast was pushed through the ajar door. If the cymbals clinked, he immediately broke down. He had a fantastic work ethic. There was gossip that slaves were sitting in Vereshchagin's cellars and painting for him.
He was an idealist both in life and in work. He did not lie himself and criticized others for it. Vereshchagin writes about Ivanov’s painting “The Appearance of Christ to the People”: “How can one paint Palestine while sitting in Italy, without seeing this sun, this haze reflected from the earth? We all know that John the Baptist did not wash, cut his hair, did not comb his beard for 30 years. And we see a handsome man with washed curls, with aristocratic fingers ... "
For excessive realism, for the fact that Vereshchagin depicted Jesus Christ as a historical character, our Church banned a series of his gospel works from being imported into Russia. And the Archbishop of Vienna cursed the artist and forbade the inhabitants of Vienna to go to his exhibition. But that only sparked interest. When Vereshchagin showed these paintings in America, the impresario drew up the documents in such a way that the entire series became his own. In 2007, one of the paintings - "Wailing Wall" - was sold at auction for $ 3 million 624 thousand.
A document drawn up in bad faith, according to which all rights to the rarest paintings by Vereshchagin were transferred to the rogue impresario who organized his exhibition in America, has not yet been challenged by his historical homeland!
Defeated. memorial service. 1878-1879, State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow The artist Metelitsa was supposed to sail on that battleship. He is ill. And Makarov, an old friend in the cadet corps, called Vereshchagin on a campaign. The blown up ship sank to the bottom in 2 minutes.
There are no remains of the artist, there is no monument at the place of his death either. By an evil irony of fate, the graves of all Vereshchagin's relatives also disappeared under the water of the Rybinsk reservoir when the land flooding program was adopted.
Napoleon and Marshal Lauriston ("Peace at all costs!"). 1899-1900, State Historical Museum, Moscow The hero of the film "White Sun of the Desert" Pavel Vereshchagin at the end of the film leads a longboat, which explodes. However, there is no information about whether the customs officer received such a surname from the directors and screenwriters of the film on purpose, or is it just a coincidence.
For a long time, the artist hatched the idea to paint a large cycle of paintings dedicated to the Patriotic War of 1812, for which he studied archival materials and visited battlefields. “I had one goal,” he wrote, “to show in the paintings of the twelfth year the great national spirit of the Russian people, their selflessness and heroism…”. So, in memory of this event, some of the most famous paintings by Vereshchagin were born: “Napoleon and Marshal Loriston”, “Before Moscow, waiting for the deputation of the boyars”, “Napoleon I on the Borodino Heights”, etc.
Napoleon I on the Borodino Heights. 1897, State Historical Museum, Moscow The hero of Dreiser's novel "Genius", the artist Eugene, was strongly influenced by Vereshchagin. “Throughout his later life, the name of Vereshchagin continued to serve as a huge stimulus for his imagination. If it's worth being an artist, it's the only one."
V. V. Vereshchagin wrote about twenty books: “Essays on a journey to the Himalayas”, “On the Northern Dvina. On Wooden Churches”, “Dukhobors and Molokans in Transcaucasia”, “At War in Asia and Europe”, “Writer”, articles “Realism” and “On Progress in Art”.
Rich Kyrgyz hunter with a falcon. 1871, State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow Upon learning of the death of Vereshchagin, Saint-Petersburg Vedomosti was one of the first to publish a short appeal:
“The whole world shuddered at the news of the tragic death of V. Vereshchagin, and the friends of the world say with heartache: “One of the most ardent champions of the idea of peace has gone to the grave.” Makarov mourns all of Russia; Vereshchagin mourns the whole world".
One of the last works of Vereshchagin:
Portrait of a Japanese priest, 1904 “All my life I loved the sun and wanted to paint the sun. And after I had to experience the war and say my word about it, I was glad that I could again devote myself to the sun. But the fury of war haunts me again and again.
"The Apotheosis of War" is not just a picture, it is a sentence to militarists of all times and peoples. Wars are liberation, holy. But the canvas by Vasily Vasilyevich Vereshchagin denounces the wars of conquest: on the frame there is an inscription about the dedication of this work to the conquerors, both past and present and future.
History of the painting: two versions
“The Apotheosis of War” is a picture that has acquired such a powerful timeless sound that both versions, supposedly prompting the artist to create a masterpiece, seem ridiculous.
According to the first, the women of two cities - Damascus and Baghdad - complained to Tamerlane about their husbands, sinners and debauchees. And this exceptionally decency man, prone to monogamy, took the woman's nonsense deeply to his heart and destroyed 200 thousand people, from whose skulls 7 pyramids were laid. Destroyed voluptuaries brutally: the skulls are traces of bullets and saber blows. It must be assumed that the deceived wives were very pleased with what they saw and thanked Timur endlessly. Maybe the legend was a kind of PR stunt, justifying the atrocities of one of the ten most cruel conquerors in the centuries.
The second option also testifies to the cruelty of Tamerlane, who ordered the severed head of the traveler to be placed on the very top of the pyramid from the skulls of previously executed people. Obviously, both cases took place, which indicates the cruelty of both men and women, but they were private.
"Horrors of war"
The painting "The Apotheosis of War" really had the original name "Triumph of Tamerlane", but the planetary tragedy of the canvas raised him above the boundaries and time. The greatest Russian artist is not a battle-painter in the full sense of the word; He, like Goya, shows the "horrors of war" (as the series of the great Spaniard was called), tragedy, dirt and extreme cruelty. Not many geniuses manage to convey all this in one work.
And the name "Apotheosis of War" is chosen surprisingly accurately. Victorious death looks from the canvas: scorched earth, trees that will never turn green, a dead city in the distance, the disfigured remains of the inhabitants and defenders of the fortress in the foreground and its symbols and companions - a crow that still hopes to profit from something in this dead place .
canvas-revelation
The picture cannot be described in words: it is amazing. The power of its influence on normal people is so high that the Prussian general advised Alexander II to burn it so that everyone who saw the picture would not turn into pacifists. Yes, and the Russian emperor was very dissatisfied with the work, obviously, he believed that such canvases kill patriotism, the desire to fight in general, including defending the Motherland. This is the apocalyptic sound achieved in this work by V.V. Vereshchagin. "The Apotheosis of War", a painting painted in 1871, is part of the Turkestan series (1871-1874), which appeared as a result of the artist's travels in 1867-1870. V. Vereshchagin took part in hostilities and was awarded the Order of St.. George for the battle near Samarkand.
All the paintings in this series are very good ("Gate of Tamerlane", "Portrait of Bachi", "Mortally Wounded"). But, of course, the painting-revelation "The Apotheosis of War" was the central work. Vasily Vereshchagin, who had already shown the series in London (the exhibition was in the Crystal Palace), made it a condition to purchase the entire series as a whole. In 1874 P.M. Tretyakov bought it for 92,000 silver.
Assessment of contemporaries
All the best people of that time, having looked at the picture, rated it very highly. V.V. Stasov, speaking enthusiastically about the canvas, called Vereshchagin a historian and judge of mankind. Kramskoy had a high opinion of both the painting and the artist himself, who was the first to show the wrong side of the war. Some works of the series caused indignation, they were called slander (the picture "Forgotten"). Many even progressive artists, such as Perov and Repin, found the Turkestan series alien in Russian art.
However, over time, Kramskoy's opinion won out. He said that one of the best representatives of Russian realism was Vereshchagin. The Apotheosis of War, like the entire series, is one of the highest achievements of the Russian school of painting, its brilliant success. According to Kramskoy, the exhibition, in which the Turkestan series took part, brought Russia more conquests than its territorial successes.
The significance of the canvas
It should be noted that Vasily Vereshchagin did not make claims against some abstract conquerors, he reproached himself specifically for participating in hostilities. He wrote about this in a letter to Stasov. And therefore, the words that the canvases of the Turkestan series make the heart fill with pride are not surprising, because Vereshchagin is Russian. So highly appreciated Kramskoy's "Apotheosis of War".
The description can end with the fact that, according to the same Kramskoy, the artist managed to achieve a single color scheme in the picture, that the canvas measuring 127 x 197 cm is the decoration of the Vereshchagin Hall in the Tretyakov Gallery. Death and war took revenge on the accuser: the battleship, in which Vasily Vereshchagin went to the Russo-Japanese War, was blown up by a mine in 1904.
Read: 4951Not so long ago it became known that two paintings by an outstanding Russian painter - “Pearl Mosque in Agra” and “Portico of the 17th century church in Yaroslavl” were put up for auction by the London trading house Christie's. The estimated cost of the first painting reached $ 2 million, and the second - 750 thousand dollars.Thus, the director of the Nikolaev Vereshchagin Museum, in a comment noted that the paintings of the painter at high prices are sold not only there.Moreover, the museum worker told what Vereshchagin's creation he himself admires.
First of all, Roslyakov, having heard from an NL correspondent that in London Vereshchagin's paintings are sold for almost $3 million, hastened to add that his paintings are popular and highly valued not only there.
Vereshchagin's paintings are sold not only in London. For example, they were sold two years ago in New York. They were very expensive - 1.5 million. True, there was a lot of work. From the Palestinian series. And now prices are going up even more. Yes, prices for such things rise over time. And this is far from the limit, - he smiled.
In addition, the museum worker spoke about his favorite painting by Vereshchagin.
Painting by Vasily Vereshchagin "The Apotheosis of War" (1871). The original creation is kept in the State Tretyakov Gallery, in Moscow. There is an inscription on the frame: "Dedicated to all the great conquerors - past, present and future." "The Apotheosis of War" is Vereshchagin's protest against wars, violence and murder.
It's called "Apotheosis of War". These are skulls. Skulls of people killed in the war. This is the most tragic picture, but the most, in my opinion, his iconic. It does not attract me in any way, but it expresses a very deep idea: war is death. This is scary. And war brings nothing but death. He (approx. NL - Vereshchagin) was a pacifist, he was a man opposed to all wars, - Roslyakov admitted.
The director of the museum himself believes that the confrontation between Russia and Ukraine, which is now on everyone's lips, will in any case end in peace.
Here I will not guess on the coffee grounds. I think that it will not end in anything, because after all, at the last moment we must remember that we are kindred peoples. Therefore, fighting each other is, in my opinion, something close to paranoia, - he added.
Recall how the presentation of the picture was not without an emergency and blood.
The painting "The Apotheosis of War" was painted by Vasily Vereshchagin in 1871. She made a strong impression on the artist's contemporaries, but even more than a hundred years later, people stop in front of her, thinking about life and death. "The Apotheosis of War" can be called Vereshchagin's programmatic work. Currently, the work is in the State Tretyakov Gallery. And art historians continue to argue about the history of the plot, finding more and more confirmation or refutation of one or the other version.
Vasily Vasilyevich Vereshchagin is best known as a battle painter. He was born in 1842 in Cherepovets, graduated from the naval cadet corps, served briefly, then entered the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts, studied painting in Paris.
In 1867, Vereshchagin left for Turkestan, where, with the rank of ensign, he was an artist under the Governor-General K.P. Kaufman. “I went because I wanted to know what a true war is, about which I read and heard a lot…”,” the artist wrote. Here he conceived the famous "Turkestan series", in which he later depicted not the actual battle scenes, but the moments preceding the battle or following it. He also painted the nature and scenes of everyday life of the inhabitants of Central Asia. However, in the war, Vereshchagin did not just contemplate what was happening in order to capture it later on paper. Having changed a pencil for a gun, he participated in the battles, withstood the siege of Samarkand together with soldiers and officers, received the Order of St. George 4th class for military merits. But in any conditions he made sketches.
Returning from Turkestan, Vereshchagin left for Munich in 1871, where, on the basis of sketches and brought collections, he worked hard on Turkestan subjects. In its final form, the "Turkestan Series" included thirteen paintings, eighty-one studies and one hundred and thirty-three drawings. In this composition, she was shown at Vereshchagin's first solo exhibition in London in 1873, and then in 1874 in St. Petersburg and Moscow.
A number of battle paintings were combined by the artist into a series, which he called "Barbarians". The painting "The Apotheosis of War" is included in it, and it, in turn, is part of the "Turkestan Series".
Plot
The painting depicts a pyramid of human skulls against the backdrop of a ruined city and charred trees in the middle of a hot steppe. Flocks of hungry birds of prey circle over the pyramid, sit on the skulls. All the details of the canvas, including the grayish-yellow color, symbolize death and devastation, convey the feeling of a sun-dried, dead nature. The clear blue sky only emphasizes the deadness of the picture. Only crows live here - symbols of death in art.
"The Apotheosis of War" in a symbolic form tells about the horrors of war, which brings only grief, destruction, destruction. In it, the artist severely condemns all aggressive wars that bring death.
The well-known Russian art critic Vladimir Stasov wrote about the "Apotheosis of War" as follows:
“Here it’s not just the skill with which Vereshchagin painted with his brushes a dry, burned steppe and among it a pyramid of skulls, with crows fluttering around, looking for a still surviving, maybe a piece of meat. No! Here appeared in the picture something more precious and higher than the extraordinary Vereshchagin virtuality of colors: this is a deep feeling of a historian and judge of mankind ... "
Several versions of the painting
Initially, the canvas was called "The Triumph of Tamerlane." There are several versions about what inspired the artist to create this picture. According to one of them, with his work, he wanted to show the history of the wars of Tamerlane, after whose campaigns only heaps of skulls and empty cities remained.
According to another version, still associated with Tamerlane, the artist depicted a story in which the women of Baghdad and Damascus complained to the leader that their husbands were mired in debauchery and drunkenness. Tamerlane ordered each of his 200,000 warriors to bring the head of the wicked. After the order was executed, seven pyramids were laid out of the heads. This version is less plausible, as it weakly echoes both the first and second titles of the picture.
According to the third version, Vereshchagin created this painting after he heard that the ruler of Kashgar, Valikhan-Tore, executed a European traveler and ordered to put his head on top of a pyramid made of the skulls of other executed people.
It is also believed that the painting was inspired by Tamerlane's ruthless suppression of the Uighur uprising in western China. However, round traces of bullets in the skulls eloquently testify that Tamerlane has nothing to do with this picture. In addition, the illusion of the Middle Ages is dispelled by the inscription made by the artist on the frame: "Dedicated to all the great conquerors - past, present and future."
Vereshchagin's paintings were offered to be burned
The "Apotheosis of War" made a depressing impression on the high-society audience in Russia and abroad. The imperial court considered this and other battle paintings of the artist to discredit the Russian army. One general from Prussia even persuaded Alexander II to burn all Vereshchagin's paintings about the war, because they have "the most pernicious influence." Because of this work, the masters were not sold, only a private philanthropist Tretyakov bought several paintings from the Turkestan series.
Vasily Vereshchagin died not in his bed. At the beginning of the Russo-Japanese War, the artist again went to where the battles raged. In the Pacific Ocean, on the outer roadstead of Port Arthur, he died in a mine explosion on the battleship Petropavlovsk, along with Admiral Makarov.
Unfortunately, modern man is so accustomed to violence and death occurring daily around the world that massacres are now no surprise. To create the "Apotheosis of War", Vereshchagin had only a few skulls, which he depicted from various angles. However, in modern history there are already cases when in practice what is drawn by the artist is recreated. Vereshchagin did not know that in order for a pyramid of human heads to be stable, the skulls must be without a lower jaw. However, the horrifying realities of the twentieth century make us all sad "experts" in this matter.
