Vereshchagin's painting "The Apotheosis of War" and its sad lack of history

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

Russian artist Vasily Vereshchagin has never been in favor with the rulers. This is understandable: instead of depicting battle scenes in the palace style, where enthusiastic soldiers in brand new uniforms rush into battle, and dapper generals prune on well-fed horses, he painted suffering, devastation, wounds and death. Being a professional military man, the artist ended up in Turkestan in 1867. Imperial Russia was just seizing territories there and “pacifying” the local peoples, so Vereshchagin had seen enough of the corpses. His response to the armed conflict as such was the canvas "The Apotheosis of War".

It is believed that the picture was inspired by the ruthless suppression of the Uighur uprising in western China. According to another version, it was inspired by stories about how the ruler of Kashgar executed thousands of people and put their skulls in pyramids. Among them wasEuropean traveler, whose head crowned the top of this terrible mound. At first, the painting "The Apotheosis of War" was called "The Triumph of Tamerlane", but the round traces of bullets in the skulls inevitably sent the observant viewer to later times. In addition, the illusion of the Middle Ages was dispelled by the inscription made by the artist on the frame: "Dedicated to all the great conquerors - past, present and future."

"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 be discrediting the Russian army, and 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.

The painting "The Apotheosis of War" depicts a mound of human skulls against the backdrop of a scorched steppe. The ruins of the city in the background and the skeletons of burnt trees complete the view of destruction, desolation, death. The cloudless, sparkling blue sky only exacerbates the oppressive impression of the canvas. The yellow coloring in which the work is made, and the black crow circling over a pile of skulls, seem to make us feel the cadaverous smell emanating under the scorching sun. Therefore, the picture is perceived as an allegory of war, any war, out of time and space.

This is not the only painting aboutthe horrors of wartime, which was written by Vereshchagin. “The Apotheosis of War” can also be called his second painting, which appeared a little later, when the artist made a trip to India. At that time, the British colonialists brutally suppressed the uprising of the sepoys. To mock Hindu beliefs about scattering ashes over the sacred river Ganges, they tied several rebels to cannons and shot them with gunpowder. The painting "English Execution in India" was sold in New York to a private individual at auction and has since disappeared.

Unfortunately, modern man is so accustomed to the violence and death occurring daily around the world that massacres now do not surprise anyone. To create the "Apotheosis of War", Vereshchagin had only a few skulls, which he depicted from various angles. However, in Cambodia, the Khmer Rouge in practice recreated the artist's drawings. 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 horrific realities of the 20th century make us all sad "experts" in this matter.