Perov's painting is a response to Time

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

Vasily Grigoryevich Perov (1833-1882) lived a short and personally difficult life.

His works of various genres characterized the artist's search, reflecting the maturity of his craft. They multifacetedly show the modern master of life. He does not close himself in his workshop, but shows people his thoughts. Perov did a lot to create a new pictorial language, a description of whose paintings will be given below. Therefore, his painting has not lost its relevance to this day. From the canvases of V. G. Perova Time speaks to us.

Wanderer, 1859

This painting by Perov was written by a student, and she was not awarded any medals. However, the choice of a topic that was not accepted at that time is indicative. This work combines the artist's characteristic interests: to a portrait and to a simple destitute person, which will later mark his entire creative path.

A young twenty-five-year-old artist introduced the viewer to an old man who had endured a lot in life, who saw more sorrows than joys. And now a very old man, without a roof over his head, walks, begging for Christ's sake. However, he is full of dignity andpeace of mind that not everyone has.

organ grinder

This painting by Perov was painted in Paris in 1863. In her we see not a lumpen, but a relatively prosperous person by Russian standards, cleanly and neatly dressed, who is forced to work on the street. He cannot find any other means of existence. However, the nature of the French people is relatively easy.

The Parisian reads a lot of newspapers, willingly argues on political topics, eats only in cafes, not at home, spends a lot of time walking along the boulevards and in theaters or just staring at the goods displayed on the streets, admiring beautiful women. So the organ grinder, who is now on a break in work, will never miss the passing monsieur or madam, whom he will surely say a flowery compliment, and, having earned money, he will go to his favorite cafe to sit with a cup of coffee and play chess. Everything is not the same as in Russia. No wonder V. Perov asked to return home, where it was clearer to him than an ordinary person lives.

"Guitarist Bobby", 1865

Perov's painting in this genre scene says a lot to a Russian person, even one hundred and fifty years after its creation. Before us is a lonely man.

He has no family. He drowns his bitter grief in a glass of wine, plucking the strings of the guitar, his only companion. The empty room is cold (the guitarist is sitting in outdoor clothes), empty (we can see only a chair and part of the table), not well maintained and not cleaned, cigarette butts are lying on the floor. Hair and beardHaven't seen the crest in a long time. But the man doesn't care. He has given up on himself for a long time and lives as it turns out. Who will help him, an elderly man, find a job and find a human image? Nobody. Nobody cares about him. Hopelessness emanates from this picture. But it's true, that's the point.

Realism

Being a pioneer in this field of painting, Perov, whose paintings are news and a discovery for Russian society, continues to develop the theme of a small, dependent person. This is evidenced by Perov's first painting, "Seeing the Dead", created after his return. On a cloudy winter day, under the clouds that have moved into the sky, a sleigh with a coffin is slowly moving. They are run by a peasant woman, on both sides of the father's coffin sit a boy and a girl. A dog is running around. All. No one else accompanies a person on his last journey. And no one needs this. Perov, whose paintings show all the homelessness and humiliation of human existence, exhibited them at exhibitions of the Association of the Wanderers, where they resonated in the souls of the audience.

Genre scenes

Everyday, light everyday scenes also interested the master. These include "Birdcatcher" (1870), "Fisherman" (1871), "Botanist" (1874), "Dovecote" (1874), "Hunters at Rest" (1871). Let us dwell on the latter, since it is simply impossible to describe all the paintings of Perov that we want.

Three hunters had a good day wandering through the fields, overgrown with bushes, in which field game and hares hide. They are rather shabbily dressed, but they have excellent guns, but thissuch a fashion for hunters. Nearby lies prey, which shows that not killing is the main thing in hunting, but excitement, tracking. The narrator enthusiastically tells about one episode to two listeners. He gesticulates, his eyes burn, his speech flows in a stream. Three lucky hunters, shown with a touch of humor, are sympathetic.

Portraits of Perov

This is an absolute achievement of the master in his work of the late period. It is impossible to list everything, but his main achievements are portraits of I. S. Turgenev, A. N. Ostrovsky, F. M. Dostoevsky, A. N. Maykova, V. I. Dahl, M. P. Pogodin, merchant I. S. Kamynin. The wife of Fyodor Mikhailovich greatly appreciated the portrait of her husband, believing that Perov caught the moment when F. M. Dostoevsky was in a creative state when he had some kind of idea.

Perov's painting "Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane"

Personal loss, loss of first wife and older children V. G. Perov endured it, splashed it directly onto the canvas. Before us is a man crushed by a tragedy that he cannot comprehend.

It can only be accepted by submitting to the higher will and not grumbling. Questions that arise during the grievous loss of loved ones and serious illnesses, and Perov at that time was already seriously and hopelessly ill, for what and why this happened, never find an answer. There is only one thing left - to endure and not complain, because only He will understand and give, if necessary, consolation. People cannot ease the pain in such tragedies; they continue to live their daily lives without delving deeply into someone else's pain. The picture is dark, but rises in the distancedawn, giving hope for change. Everything passes, this too shall pass.

Vasily Perov, whose paintings are still relevant today, was not afraid to go off the beaten path and change. His students M. V. Nesterov, A. P. Ryabushkin, A. S. Arkhipov became famous Russian artists who always remembered their teacher as a person with a big heart.