Victor Vasnetsov's paintings - the history of Russia and its culture

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

“There is a Russian spirit, there smells of Russia …” - these famous lines from Pushkin's “Lukomorye” can rightfully be attributed to the work of another person who glorified the fatherland all over the world - Viktor Mikhailovich Vasnetsov. He is the pride of Russian art, an architect and folklorist whose works are deeply folk, truthful and extremely talented.

From time immemorial

Almost all of Viktor Vasnetsov's paintings are turned to gray antiquity. On his canvases, the distant past of Ancient Russia comes to life. Myths and fairy tales, created by vivid folk fantasy, inspired the artist to create the beloved by us "Alenushka" and "Ivan Tsarevich", galloping through the thicket on his kind assistant - the Gray Wolf. About the heroic time of the formation of the Kyiv principality, strife and the fight against the Polovtsy, we are told by such paintings by Viktor Vasnetsov as “The Knight at the Crossroads” and “After the Battle of Prince Igor”. The history of the Russian land and its long-suffering people, so rich and generous in soul and with suchheavy share, unfolds before our eyes, as if in a kaleidoscope - you just have to move from one canvas to another. The artist in an original way combined real historical, mystical and epic motifs in his work, becoming the creator of his own genre in painting. This is evidenced by the paintings of Viktor Vasnetsov: "The Battle of Dobrynya with the Serpent", "Warriors of the Apocalypse" and many others.

Singer of life "natural"

However, the master's contribution to the development of everyday writing is no less significant. Grandeur and simplicity, lofty and mundane, solemn and everyday, everyday equally capture the artist. This is evidenced by the paintings of Viktor Vasnetsov from the "Wandering" period. A peasant girl walking along a narrow path with a yoke, a group of village children near a tree, avid gamblers who sat up until morning at preference, shopping arcades and shops on Novgorod Square, the noise and din of the crowd - everything is interesting and close to the artist, everything attracts him, in everything he sees the poetry of "real life", the existence of the people. And the viewers, who get acquainted with his works, also become dear to this element of simple and natural everyday life. Therefore, the paintings of Vasnetsov Viktor Mikhailovich are deeply folk and humane, truly Russian in spirit and essence.

Portrait painter

And what was the artist himself like? To find out, let's turn to his self-portrait. Yes, the range of the master's creativity is so wide that he created many works in this genre. From a painting by Vasnetsov Viktor Mikhailovich(“Self-Portrait”, 1873) an elderly man with amazingly wise and kind eyes is looking at us. The face is thin, even somewhat haggard and mournful, but surprisingly inspired, attentive. Thin features, a beard and long hair, and most importantly, an expression of love and understanding, compassion in the eyes bring the person in the portrait closer to Jesus Christ or Prince Myshkin from Dostoevsky's novel.

"Not of this world", standing above material temptations, the struggle for benefits and privileges, completely devoted himself to the service of art and the motherland, Vasnetsov is indeed akin to these personalities. The similarity - internal and external - is especially noticeable if we compare this author's work with another written by a different master. The portrait of Vasnetsov by N. D. Kuznetsov shows the artist in working clothes, with a palette and brushes in his hands. So - from everyday life to immortality - he stepped.

Democratic motives

Many paintings by the artist Viktor Vasnetsov raise the theme of people's grief and suffering. On the canvas “From Apartment to Apartment” we see an already middle-aged married couple, forced to move from their homes. It is worth taking a closer look at the mournful, hunched figures, and a note of deep sadness and sincere sympathy creeps into the heart. It is clear that the poor fellows, not of their own free will, are now wandering along the ice-bound embankment of St. Petersburg. Most likely, the owner expelled them for non-payment, and now, tired and frozen, defenseless in the face of the ruthless autocratic system, the husband and wife dejectedly wander alongstreet.

In their hands they hold bundles with their poor belongings. The motif of loneliness, homeless restlessness is intensified due to the fact that there is not a single person on the embankment. Only seagulls fly in the whitish sky, and a vicious dog bares its teeth at travelers. What the artist wanted to say with his work is clear without words. Democratic motifs permeate other paintings by Viktor Vasnetsov, the names of which you are already familiar with.

And Alyonushka again

It is far from always the master, having set to work, immediately brings his creation to the end. Pushkin wrote "Onegin" for many years. Tolstoy remade War and Peace four times. Painting knows similar examples. Vasnetsov gradually worked on his famous "Alenushka". At first, in 1880, he painted a forest landscape: mighty trees, an impassable thicket and a pond overgrown with reeds with dark, deep water. And a year later he completed the lyrical figure of a girl, so fragile and defenseless against the backdrop of harsh nature. The author clearly wanted the audience to empathize with the heroine of the picture. And they fell in love with Alyonushka - with all their heart and soul.