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Ancient Roman tragedy that became the triumph of Karl Bryullov

Karl Bryullov was born on December 23, 1799. The son of a French sculptor Paul Brullot, Karl was one of seven children in the family. His brothers Pavel, Ivan and Fyodor also became painters, and his brother Alexander became an architect. However, the most famous was Karl, who wrote in 1833 the painting "The Last Day of Pompeii" - the main work of his life. Kultura.RF remembered how this canvas was created.

Karl Bryullov. Self-portrait. 1836

History of creation

The painting was painted in Italy, where in 1822 the artist went on a pensioner trip from the Imperial Academy of Arts for four years. But he lived there for 13 years.

The plot tells about the ancient Roman tragedy - the death of the ancient city of Pompeii, located at the foot of Vesuvius: August 24, 79 AD. NS. the volcanic eruption claimed the lives of two thousand inhabitants.

In 1748, the military engineer Rocque de Alcubierre began archaeological excavations at the site of the tragedy. The discovery of Pompeii became a sensation and was reflected in the work of various people. So, in 1825, the opera by Giovanni Pacini appeared, and in 1834 - the historical novel by the Englishman Edward Bulwer-Lytton, dedicated to the death of Pompeii.

Bryullov first visited the excavation site in 1827. Going to the ruins, the 28-year-old artist did not even suspect that this trip would be fateful for him: "You cannot go through these ruins without feeling in yourself some completely new feeling that makes you forget everything, except for the terrible incident with this city.", - wrote the artist.

The feelings that Karl Bryullov experienced during the excavation did not leave him. This is how the idea of ​​a canvas on a historical theme was born. Working on the plot, the painter studied archaeological and literary sources. "I took this scenery from nature, not retreating in the least and not adding, standing with my back to the city gates in order to see part of Vesuvius as the main reason."... Italians, the descendants of the ancient inhabitants of Pompeii, became the models for the characters.

At the junction of classicism and romanticism

In this work, Bryullov is not a traditional classicist, but an artist of the romantic direction. So, its historical plot is dedicated not to one hero, but to the tragedy of an entire people. And as a plot, he chose not an idealized image or idea, but a real historical fact.

True, the composition of the picture Bryullov builds in the traditions of classicism - as a cycle of separate episodes, enclosed in a triangle.

On the left side of the painting, in the background, several people are depicted on the steps of the large building of the tomb of Scavra. A woman looks directly at the viewer, in whose eyes horror is read. And behind her is an artist with a box of paints on his head: this is a self-portrait of Bryullov, who is experiencing a tragedy along with his characters.

Closer to the viewer - a married couple with children trying to escape from the lava, and in the foreground a woman hugs her daughters ... Next to her is a Christian priest who has already entrusted his fate to God and is therefore calm. In the depths of the picture, we see a pagan Roman priest who is trying to escape by taking away ritual values. Here Bryullov hints at the fall of the ancient pagan world of the Romans and the onset of the Christian era.

On the right side of the picture, in the background, there is a rider on a horse, who reared up. And closer to the viewer - the groom, seized by horror, who is trying to hold in his arms his bride (she is wearing a wreath of roses), who has lost consciousness. Foreground: two sons carrying their old father in their arms. And next to them is a young man begging his mother to get up and run further from this all-consuming element. By the way, this young man is none other than Pliny the Younger, who really escaped and left his memories of the tragedy. Here is an excerpt from his letter to Tacitus: “I am looking back. A thick black fog spreading over the ground in a stream overtook us. Night fell around, unlike a moonless or cloudy one: it is so dark only in a locked room with extinguished lights. Women were heard screaming, children's squeak and the cry of men, some called out to their parents, other children or wives and tried to recognize them by their voices. Some mourned their death, others the death of loved ones, some in fear of death prayed for death; many raised their hands to the gods; the majority explained that nowhere and there are no gods and for the world this is the last eternal night ".

There is no main character in the picture, but there are central ones: a golden-haired child near the prostrate body of his deceased mother in a yellow tunic is a symbol of the fall of the old world and the birth of a new one, this is the opposition of life and death - in the best traditions of romanticism.

In this picture, Bryullov also showed himself as an innovator, using two light sources - hot red light in the background, conveying the feeling of impending lava, and cold greenish-blue in the foreground, adding additional drama to the plot.

The bright and rich color of this picture also violates classical traditions and allows us to speak of the artist as a romantic.

Triumphal procession of the painting

Karl Bryullov worked on the canvas for six years - from 1827 to 1833.

The painting was first presented to the public in 1833 at an exhibition in Milan - and immediately made a splash. The artist was honored as a Roman triumphant, the painting received laudatory reviews in the press. Bryullov was greeted on the street with applause, and during his travels at the borders of the Italian principalities they did not require a passport: it was believed that every Italian already knew him by sight.

In 1834, "The Last Day of Pompeii" was presented at the Paris Salon. The French criticism turned out to be more restrained than the Italian one. But the professionals appreciated the work at its true worth, presenting Bryullov with the gold medal of the French Academy of Arts.

The canvas made a sensation in Europe and was eagerly awaited in Russia. In the same year, it was sent to St. Petersburg. Seeing the painting, Nicholas I expressed a desire to personally meet the author, but the artist set off with Count Vladimir Davydov on a trip to Greece, and returned to his homeland only in December 1835.

On June 11, 1836 in the Round Hall of the Russian Academy of Arts, where the painting "The Last Day of Pompeii" was exhibited, guests of honor, members of the Academy, artists and simply lovers of painting gathered. The author of the canvas, "the great Karl", was carried into the hall in his arms to the enthusiastic shouts of the guests. “Crowds of visitors, one might say, burst into the halls of the Academy to look at“ Pompeia ”- writes a contemporary and witness of that success, equal to which no Russian artist knew.

The customer and owner of the painting, Anatoly Demidov, presented it to the emperor, and Nicholas I placed it in the Hermitage, where it was kept for 60 years. And in 1897 she was transferred to the Russian Museum.

The picture literally excited the entire Russian society and the best minds of that time.

Arts peace trophies
You brought it into the fatherly shade.
And there was "The Last Day of Pompeii"
For the Russian brush, the first day! -

Poet Yevgeny Boratynsky wrote about the painting.

Alexander Pushkin also dedicated poems to her:

Vesuvius opened its mouth - the smoke poured in a club, the flame
It has developed widely as a battle banner.
The earth is agitated - from the reeling pillars
Idols are falling! A people driven by fear
Under the stone rain, under the inflamed ashes
In droves, old and young, running out of the city.

Mention "The Last Day of Pompeii" and Mikhail Lermontov in the novel "Princess Ligovskaya": “If you love art, then I can say very good news: Bryullov's painting“ The Last Day of Pompeii ”is going to St. Petersburg. All Italy knew about her, the French destroyed her ", - Lermontov clearly knew about the responses of the Parisian press.

Russian historian and traveler Alexander Turgenev said that this picture was the glory of Russia and Italy.

And Nikolai Gogol devoted a long article to the painting, writing: “His brush contains the poetry that you only feel and can always recognize: our feelings always know and see even distinctive signs, but their words will never tell. Its color is so bright, which it almost never was before, its colors burn and rush into the eyes. They would be intolerable if they appeared to the artist by a degree lower than Bryullov, but they are clothed in that harmony and breathe that inner music with which living objects of nature are performed ”.

On December 3, 1961, a significant event took place at the New York Museum of Modern Art - Matisse's painting "The Boat", which hung upside down for 46 days, was properly weighed. It is worth saying that this is not an isolated amusing incident associated with the paintings of great artists.

Pablo Picasso painted one of his famous portraits in less than 5 minutes

Once, one of Pablo Picasso's acquaintances, looking at his new works, sincerely said to the artist: “Sorry, but I can't understand this. Such things simply do not exist. " To which Picasso retorted: “You don't understand Chinese either. But he still exists. " However, many did not understand Picasso. Once he invited the Russian writer Ehrenburg, his good friend, to paint his portrait. He happily agreed, but did not have time to sit in a chair to pose, as the artist said that everything was ready.

Ehrenburg expressed surprise at the speed of execution of the work, after all, not even 5 minutes had passed, to which Picasso replied: “I have known you for 40 years. And all these 40 years I learned to paint portraits in 5 minutes. "

Ilya Repin helped sell a painting that he did not paint

One lady bought a completely mediocre painting on the market for only 10 rubles, on which the signature “I. Repin” was proudly adorned. When a connoisseur of painting showed this work to Ilya Efimovich, he laughed and finished writing "This is not Repin" and signed his autograph. After a while, an enterprising lady sold a painting by an unknown artist signed by the great master for 100 rubles.

The bears in the famous painting by Shishkin were painted by another artist

There is an unspoken law among artists - professional mutual assistance. After all, each of them has not only favorite plots and strengths, but also weaknesses, so why not help each other. So, it is known for certain that for the painting "Pushkin on the Seashore" by Aivazovsky, the figure of the great poet was painted by Repin, and for the painting by Levitan "Autumn Day. Sokolniki "the lady in black was painted by Nikolai Chekhov. The landscape painter Shishkin, who could draw every blade of grass and needles in his paintings, did not get bears when creating the painting "Morning in a Pine Forest". Therefore, the bears for the famous Shishkin painting were painted by Savitsky.

A piece of fiberboard, over which paint was simply poured, became one of the most expensive paintings

The most expensive painting in the world in 2006 was Jackson Polock's "Number 5, 1948". At one of the auctions, the painting went for $ 140 million. It may seem funny, but the artist did not particularly "bother" over the creation of this picture: he simply poured paint over a piece of fiberboard spread out on the floor.

Rubens encrypted the date of creation of his painting by the stars

For a long time, art critics and scientists could not establish the date of creation of one of the most famous paintings by Rubens - the painting "Feast of the Gods on Olympus". The mystery was solved only after astronomers took a closer look at the picture. It turned out that the characters in the picture were arranged in exactly the same order as the planets were located in the sky in 1602.

The Chupa-Chups logo was painted by the world famous surrealist

In 1961, Enrique Bernata, the owner of the Chupa-Chups company, asked the artist Salvador Dali to design an image for a candy wrapper. Dali fulfilled the request. Today this image, albeit in a slightly modified form, is recognizable on the candies of this company.

It is worth noting that in 1967 in Italy, with the blessing of the Pope, a unique version of the Bible with illustrations by Salvador Dali was released.

The most expensive painting Torment brings misfortune

Munch's painting "The Scream" was sold at auction for $ 120 million and is today the most expensive painting by this artist. They say that Munch, whose life path is a series of tragedies, put so much grief into her that the picture absorbed negative energy and takes revenge on the offenders.

One of the employees of the Munch Museum somehow accidentally dropped the painting, after which he began to suffer from terrible headaches, which led this man to commit suicide. Another museum employee, who could not hold the painting, just a few years later got into a terrible car accident. And a visitor to the museum, who allowed himself to touch the picture, after some time was burnt alive in the fire. However, it is possible that these are just coincidences.

Malevich's "Black Square" has an "older brother"

The Black Square, which is perhaps the most famous painting by Kazimir Malevich, is a 79.5 * 79.5 centimeters canvas with a black square depicted on a white background. Malevich painted his painting in 1915. And back in 1893, 20 years before Malevich, Alphonse Allay, a French humorist writer, painted his "black square". True, Alla's painting was called "The Battle of Negroes in a Deep Cave on a Dark Night".

The Last Supper. Leonardo da Vinci.

Once on the street, the artist saw a drunkard, who unsuccessfully tried to get out of the cesspool. Da Vinci took him to one of the drinking establishments, sat him down and began to paint. What a surprise the artist was when, having opened up, the drunkard admitted that several years ago he had already posed for him. It turned out that this is the same chorister.

Canvas, oil. 144 by 162 cm

For the first time I saw a picture ... More precisely, it is necessary to say, of course, like this: I learned about the existence of this picture from the film "Mr. Bean" with the participation of Rowan Atkinson. We are talking specifically about a feature-length film produced in 1997, and not about the eponymous television series of 14 episodes (from 1990 to 1995). So, according to the plot of the film, James Whistler's painting was bought from the French Museum of France by a rich man and donated to the Los Angeles Art Gallery. The curator of the Royal British Gallery, Mr. Bean, inadvertently but desperately ruined the head of the artist's mother. Hundreds of millions of people all over the world have laughed at the circumstances of this horror until now and still laugh. And in general I was as worried as the most unfortunate Mr. Bean.

Rene Magritte "Castle in the Pyrenees"

The painting is not called Castle in the Air! And why should it be called that, because castles in the air are something ephemeral, impossible to realize, from the realm of an unrealizable dream and vain hopes. And before us is the embodiment of enormous gravity, massiveness, a stone asteroid castle. To hang it over the sea and remove, therefore, all the massiveness could only be a surrealist. After all, surrealism, it is above, below, above, on the side ... anywhere, but not reality itself! Well, even if Magritte himself said that surrealism is a reality freed from banal meaning. I can play with words and I can say a lot of things ... but I just can't draw. And Rene Magritte in 1959 decided to hang the land on nothing and painted his Le Château des Pyrénées - Castle in the Pyrenees. It is very possible that another artist, James Cameron, but in 50 years, will give back meaning to the existence of weightless stone dwellings.

Vasily Ivanovich Surikov "Boyarynya Morozova". Canvas, oil. 304 to 587.5 (1887)

"Boyarynya Morozova" - one of the famous historical paintings by Surikov. In many respects, it reminds me of the painting "", written 6 years before "Boyarynya Morozova", although the idea to draw a boyarynya came to Surikov precisely in 1881, the year of writing "The Morning of the Strelets' Execution". I will not talk about the technique of performance, I will talk about the plot. And here and there the judgment seat of worldviews is depicted. In 1881, Surikov describes the destruction of the streltsy estate, and in 1887 - the massacre of the Old Believers. And here and there are witnesses of the court - people, city, buildings. In the Morning of the Streltsy Execution, the Cathedral of St. Basil the Blessed hangs over the archers, in the Boyaryna Morozova, the Miracle Monastery receives a two-fingered sign from the schismatic. Both here and there are two truths: the truth of the Streltsy and the reformist truth of Peter I; the truth of Patriarch Nikon, the church reformer and the truth of schismatics. They, these different Russian truths, clashed with each other then for life and death. They clashed then so that today we know only one truth - Peter I was a great Russian tsar, a reformer-emperor, and the Old Believers, of whom there are only about one million today, are nothing more than the exoticism of Orthodoxy.

Canvas, oil. 199.5 by 254 cm

Another name for the painting is “ Ivan the Terrible kills his son". If you look at the painting by Ilya Repin with the “naked” eye, you can see a great tragedy. In his father's arms, his beloved son dies from a mortal wound. The king's eyes are full of grief and despair, fear and pain for a loved one. The father seemed to grab, as if he grabbed the head of the prince from under the blows, he is trying to save his son from an unknown evil that encroached on his life. What does murder have to do with it? What does the title of the painting "Ivan the Terrible Killing His Son" mean? Is that how they kill ?! Did the king really hit his son in anger, so much so that he died on the spot?

Oil on canvas, 1533, 207 by 209 cm

Once again I am convinced that the artist's time, people, those around him, political and religious movements in society - all this directly affects his work, is reflected in his works. The idea seems obvious, but many artists assert, they say, they do not care about the external, the main thing for them is to create. more details have been written about this, and the topic has caused considerable discussion.

So, Hans Holbein the Younger(1497 - 1543), German artist and his painting "Ambassadors".

In 1529, King Henry VIII of England asked the Pope to dissolve his marriage so that he could marry another, Anne Boleyn. The pope refused, then the king broke off relations with the Vatican, and in 1534 he himself became the head of the English Church. This is how the Church schism began in England, or otherwise - the Reformation.

Oil, tempera, pastel, cardboard, 91 x 73.5 cm

Painting "Scream" the most famous painting by a Norwegian artist Edvard Munch(1863 - 1944), one of the most expressive canvases of Expressionism. Such a picture modern publishers of mass literature could confidently place in a selection with a title like "The Ten Most Terrifying Pictures in History."

The work is executed by the artist in at least five versions (two versions - oil painting, two versions - pastel, one version - lithography) and is a textbook example of the comprehensibility of painting to a wide range of viewers. Painting a complex emotional tangle, painting not of external forms and colors, but an internal splash, conveyed by a brush and paints, is clearly and unequivocally felt by people. What did you want to say Edvard Munch? In my opinion, that's exactly what he wanted, he said! And everyone heard: a lot of references in popular culture, excitement among collectors, appeals to the "Scream" of other artists, a lot of interpretations by art historians, psychiatrists, sociologists, just a lot of money at auctions, and, as it is rightly noted, money is paid not so much for the name of the painter. how much for the work itself. And all this is one side of the matter ...

Chisel engraving on copper, 23.9 x 18.8 cm

The image is enlarged

“Stay awake, otherwise you will fall into laziness and oblivion ... Remember that you must fulfill the mission that Providence has assigned you. When the time comes, it will open your eyes and guide you along the right path. Be always ready for this ... Listen carefully, and you will hear when the call will sound! .. "

Ancient astrologers about Saturn

A winged woman sits in thought, she is surrounded by objects: measuring, carpentry tools. Nearby lies a ball (perhaps it is made of wood, recently planed). The abundance of detail does not detract from the winged figure. It stands out in the general plan, as if it is outside (or above?) Of the surrounding world. Events, life pass without her participation. The hourglass on the wall enhances this feeling. And all this is called melancholy, which is clear from the inscription carried by the bat (as art critics call it, although I do not recognize a bat in this tailed creature).

How many symbols, allegories, what a composition thought out to the smallest detail! For people living in those days (1514), such allegories were more or less understandable. What is this engraving for us? If you do not go into interpretation, having before your eyes only an image and a name?

Oil on tinted paper, 1510 28 × 22.5 cm

The image is enlarged

Many hundreds of generations of people have lived in an era about which we have the most vague ideas. Who knows how the life of a city dweller at the beginning of the XIV differs from his stay at the end of that century? Moreover, it is difficult for us to distinguish between the way of life and customs of the beginning and end of a thousand-year-long segment! Whole centuries are blurred for us at one time, dark and wild. Middle Ages.

This name was given to the historical period by the thinkers of the Renaissance, marking the period from the fall of ancient Rome to their time, which they naturally called the New. Just as naturally, the entire culture of the early Renaissance melted in itself the life and heritage of the immediate past.

Oil on canvas, 1825-1827 76 by 68 cm

The picture is enlarged.

In the second half of the 19th century, a new trend was born - impressionism... The main thing was in it: the transfer of momentary feelings, the moment, without delving into philosophy and reasoning. Impressionist paintings are usually cheerful (or pleasantly nostalgically sad). They are lightweight and natural.

In 1808, Napoleon entered Spain, and long bloody battles began in the cities. The Spanish people fiercely resisted the invader. "Mistake number one - a trip to Spain" - this is how Napoleon wrote on the island of St. Helena (what will be the second mistake, I think, is clear). The consequences of the war later, after the expulsion of the French wars, will describe Francisco Goya

The picture is enlarged. It can be seen that the image is cracked and warped; initially it is a canvas of uniform black color.

View the picture Kazimir Malevich "Black Suprematist Square" is possible only within the framework of the direction in painting created by Malevich called suprematism... The only way. Otherwise, the conversation about this work will not go beyond the banal "the king is naked" or "a child from a kindergarten can draw no worse." I am also not going to discuss the monetary value of the painting, coupled with the world conspiracy of art experts (naturally, Western) against the sanity of the working population of the planet.

In almost every significant work of art, there is a mystery, a "double bottom" or a secret story that you want to reveal.

Music on the buttocks

Hieronymus Bosch, The Garden of Earthly Delights, 1500-1510.

Fragment of a part of a triptych

The debate about the meanings and hidden meanings of the Dutch artist's most famous work has not subsided since its inception. On the right wing of the triptych entitled "Musical Hell", sinners are depicted who are tortured in the underworld with the help of musical instruments. One of them has notes imprinted on the buttocks. Oklahoma Christian University student Amelia Hamrick, who studied painting, put 16th century notation into a modern twist and recorded "a 500-year-old song from hell out of hell."

Mona Lisa nude

The famous "La Gioconda" exists in two versions: the nude version is called "Monna Vanna", it was painted by the little-known artist Salai, who was a student and model of the great Leonardo da Vinci. Many art critics are sure that he was the model for Leonardo's paintings "John the Baptist" and "Bacchus". There are also versions that dressed in a woman's dress, Salai served as the image of Mona Lisa herself.

Old Fisherman

In 1902, the Hungarian artist Tivadar Kostka Chontvari painted the painting "The Old Fisherman". It would seem that there is nothing unusual in the picture, but Tivadar laid in it a subtext that was never revealed during the artist's life.

Few people have the idea to put a mirror to the middle of the picture. Each person can have both God (duplicated the right shoulder of the Old Man) and the Devil (duplicated the left shoulder of the old man).

Was there a whale?

Hendrik van Antonissen "Scene on the Shore".

It would seem like an ordinary landscape. Boats, people on the shore and the deserted sea. And only an X-ray study showed that people gathered on the shore for a reason - in the original they examined the carcass of a whale washed ashore.

However, the artist decided that no one would want to look at the dead whale and rewrote the picture.

Two "Breakfasts on the Grass"

Edouard Manet, Breakfast on the Grass, 1863.

Claude Monet, Breakfast on the Grass, 1865.

The artists Edouard Manet and Claude Monet are sometimes confused - after all, they were both French, lived at the same time and worked in the style of impressionism. Even the name of one of the most famous paintings by Manet "Breakfast on the Grass" Monet borrowed and wrote his "Breakfast on the Grass".

Doubles on "The Last Supper"

Leonardo da Vinci, The Last Supper, 1495-1498.

When Leonardo da Vinci wrote The Last Supper, he emphasized two figures: Christ and Judas. He was looking for models for them for a very long time. Finally, he managed to find a model for the image of Christ among young singers. It was not possible to find a model for Judas Leonardo for three years. But one day he came across a drunkard on the street who was lying in a gutter. It was a young man who had grown old by unrestrained drunkenness. Leonardo invited him to a tavern, where he immediately began to write Judas from him. When the drunkard regained consciousness, he told the artist that he had already posed for him once. It was several years ago, when he sang in the church choir, Leonardo wrote Christ from him.

"Night Watch" or "Day Watch"?

Rembrandt, The Night Watch, 1642.

One of the most famous paintings by Rembrandt "Performance of the rifle company of Captain Frans Banning Kok and Lieutenant Willem van Ruutenbürg" hung in different rooms for about two hundred years and was discovered by art critics only in the 19th century. Since the figures seemed to appear against a dark background, it was called "Night Watch", and under this name it entered the treasury of world art.

And only during the restoration, carried out in 1947, it was discovered that in the hall the painting had managed to become covered with a layer of soot, which distorted its color. After clearing out the original painting, it was finally revealed that the scene presented by Rembrandt actually takes place during the day. The position of the shadow from Captain Kok's left hand indicates that the action lasts no more than 14 hours.

Inverted boat

Henri Matisse, The Boat, 1937.

The New York Museum of Modern Art in 1961 exhibited a painting by Henri Matisse "The Boat". Only after 47 days did someone notice that the painting was hanging upside down. The canvas depicts 10 purple lines and two blue sails on a white background. The artist painted two sails for a reason, the second sail is a reflection of the first on the surface of the water.
In order not to be mistaken in how the picture should hang, you need to pay attention to the details. The larger sail should be at the top of the painting, and the peak of the painting should be towards the top right corner.

Deception in self-portrait

Vincent van Gogh, Self-Portrait with a Pipe, 1889.

There are legends that van Gogh allegedly cut off his own ear. Now the most reliable version is that van Gogh's ear was damaged in a small scuffle with the participation of another artist - Paul Gauguin.

The self-portrait is interesting in that it reflects reality in a distorted form: the artist is depicted with a bandaged right ear, because he used a mirror during his work. In fact, the left ear was affected.

Stranger bears

Ivan Shishkin, "Morning in the Pine Forest", 1889.

The famous painting belongs not only to Shishkin's brush. Many artists, who were friends with each other, often resorted to the "help of a friend", and Ivan Ivanovich, who painted landscapes all his life, feared that touching bears would not turn out the way he needed. Therefore, Shishkin turned to the familiar animal painter Konstantin Savitsky.

Savitsky painted some of the best bears in the history of Russian painting, and Tretyakov ordered to wash his name off the canvas, since everything in the picture "from concept to execution, everything speaks about the manner of painting, about the creative method peculiar to Shishkin."

The innocent story of "Gothic"

Grant Wood, American Gothic, 1930.

Grant Wood's work is considered one of the strangest and most depressing in the history of American painting. The painting with the gloomy father and daughter is replete with details that indicate the severity, puritanism and retrogradeness of the people depicted.
In fact, the artist did not intend to depict any horrors: during a trip to Iowa, he noticed a small house in the Gothic style and decided to depict those people who, in his opinion, would ideally fit as inhabitants. Grant's sister and his dentist are immortalized in the form of characters that the people of Iowa took offense at.

Revenge of Salvador Dali

The painting "Figure at the Window" was painted in 1925, when Dali was 21 years old. Then Gala had not yet entered the artist's life, and his sister Ana Maria was his muse. The relationship between brother and sister soured when he wrote on one of the paintings "sometimes I spit on a portrait of my own mother, and it gives me pleasure." Ana Maria could not forgive such shocking.

In her 1949 book, Salvador Dali through the Eyes of a Sister, she writes about her brother without any praise. The book infuriated El Salvador. For another ten years after that, he angrily remembered her at every opportunity. And so, in 1954, the painting "A young virgin, indulging in the sin of Sodom with the help of the horns of her own chastity" appears. The woman's pose, her curls, the landscape outside the window and the color scheme of the picture clearly echo the "Figure at the Window". There is a version that Dali took revenge on his sister for her book in this way.

Two-faced Danae

Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn, Danae, 1636-1647.

Many secrets of one of the most famous paintings by Rembrandt were revealed only in the 60s of the twentieth century, when the canvas was illuminated with X-rays. For example, the shooting showed that in the early version the face of the princess, who had a love affair with Zeus, looked like the face of Saskia, the wife of the painter, who died in 1642. In the final version of the picture, it began to resemble the face of Gertier Dierks, Rembrandt's mistress, with whom the artist lived after the death of his wife.

Van Gogh's yellow bedroom

Vincent Van Gogh, The Bedroom at Arles, 1888 - 1889.

In May 1888, Van Gogh acquired a small workshop in Arles, in the south of France, where he fled from Parisian artists and critics who did not understand him. In one of the four rooms, Vincent is setting up a bedroom. In October, everything is ready, and he decides to paint "Van Gogh's Bedroom in Arles". For the artist, the color and coziness of the room were very important: everything should have suggested the idea of ​​rest. At the same time, the picture is sustained in alarming yellow tones.

Researchers of Van Gogh's work explain this by the fact that the artist took foxglove, a remedy for epilepsy, which causes serious changes in the patient's perception of color: the entire surrounding reality is painted in green-yellow tones.

Toothless perfection

Leonardo da Vinci, Portrait of Madame Lisa del Giocondo, 1503-1519.

The generally accepted opinion is that Mona Lisa is perfection and her smile is beautiful in its mystery. However, the American art critic (and part-time dentist) Joseph Borkowski believes that, judging by the expression on her face, the heroine has lost a lot of teeth. Examining enlarged photographs of the masterpiece, Borkowski also found scars around her mouth. “She smiles so much precisely because of what happened to her,” the expert said. "Her expression is typical of people who have lost their front teeth."

Major on face control

Pavel Fedotov, The Major's Matchmaking, 1848.

The audience, who first saw the painting "The Major's Matchmaking", laughed heartily: the artist Fedotov filled it with ironic details, understandable to the audience of that time. For example, the major is clearly not familiar with the rules of noble etiquette: he appeared without the required bouquets for the bride and her mother. And her merchant parents discharged the bride herself into an evening ball gown, although it was day outside (all the lamps in the room were extinguished). The girl clearly tried on a low-cut dress for the first time, she is embarrassed and tries to escape to her room.

Why is Freedom naked

Ferdinand Victor Eugene Delacroix, Liberty on the Barricades, 1830.

According to art critic Etienne Julie, Delacroix painted the face of a woman from the famous Parisian revolutionary - washerwoman Anna-Charlotte, who came to the barricades after the death of her brother at the hands of royal soldiers and killed nine guardsmen. The artist depicted her with bare breasts. According to his plan, this is a symbol of fearlessness and selflessness, as well as the triumph of democracy: a naked chest shows that Freedom, like a commoner, does not wear a corset.

Non-square square

Kazimir Malevich, "Black Suprematist Square", 1915.

In fact, the "Black Square" is not at all black and not at all square: none of the sides of the quadrangle is parallel to any of its other sides, and not one of the sides of the square frame that frames the painting. And the dark color is the result of mixing different colors, among which there was no black. It is believed that this was not the author's negligence, but a principled position, the desire to create a dynamic, mobile form.

Specialists of the Tretyakov Gallery discovered the author's inscription on the famous painting by Malevich. The inscription reads: "Battle of the Negroes in the Dark Cave." This phrase refers to the title of the playful picture of the French journalist, writer and artist Alphonse Allais "Battle of the Negroes in a Dark Cave in the Deep of Night", which was a completely black rectangle.

Melodrama of the Austrian Mona Lisa

Gustav Klimt, "Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer", 1907.

One of Klimt's most significant paintings depicts the wife of the Austrian sugar magnate Ferdinad Bloch-Bauer. All Vienna discussed the tumultuous romance between Adele and the famous artist. The wounded husband wanted to take revenge on his lovers, but chose a very unusual way: he decided to order Klimt a portrait of Adele and force him to make hundreds of sketches until the artist starts to turn away from her.

Bloch-Bauer wanted the work to last several years, and the model could see how Klimt's feelings fade away. He made a generous offer to the artist, which he could not refuse, and everything turned out according to the scenario of a deceived husband: the work was completed in 4 years, the lovers have long cooled to each other. Adele Bloch-Bauer never found out that her husband was aware of her relationship with Klimt.

The painting that brought Gauguin back to life

Paul Gauguin, Where We Come From? Who Are We? Where Are We Going ?, 1897-1898.

The most famous painting by Gauguin has one peculiarity: it is "read" not from left to right, but from right to left, like Kabbalistic texts in which the artist was interested. It is in this order that the allegory of a person's spiritual and physical life unfolds: from the birth of the soul (a sleeping child in the lower right corner) to the inevitability of the hour of death (a bird with a lizard in its claws in the lower left corner).

The painting was painted by Gauguin in Tahiti, where the artist fled civilization several times. But this time life on the island did not work out: total poverty led him to depression. Having finished the canvas, which was to become his spiritual testament, Gauguin took a box of arsenic and went to the mountains to die. However, he miscalculated the dose and the suicide failed. The next morning, rocking, he wandered to his hut and fell asleep, and when he woke up, he felt a forgotten thirst for life. And in 1898 his affairs went uphill, and a brighter period began in his work.

112 proverbs in one picture

Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Dutch Proverbs, 1559

Pieter Bruegel Sr. depicted a land inhabited by literal images of Dutch proverbs of those days. There are approximately 112 recognizable idioms in the painting. Some of them are used to this day, such as: "swim against the current", "bang your head against the wall", "armed to the teeth" and "a big fish eats a small one."

Other proverbs reflect human stupidity.

Subjectivity of art

Paul Gauguin, Breton Village in the Snow, 1894

Gauguin's painting "Breton Village in the Snow" was sold after the death of the author for only seven francs and, moreover, under the name "Niagara Falls". The person conducting the auction accidentally hung the painting upside down, seeing a waterfall in it.

Hidden picture

Pablo Picasso, The Blue Room, 1901

In 2008, infrared light showed another image hidden under the Blue Room - a portrait of a man dressed in a suit with a bow tie and resting his head on his arm. “As soon as Picasso had a new idea, he took up a brush and embodied it. But he didn’t have the opportunity to buy a new canvas every time his muse visited him, ”art critic Patricia Favero explains the possible reason for this.

Inaccessible Moroccans

Zinaida Serebryakova, "Naked", 1928

Once Zinaida Serebryakova received a tempting offer - to go on a creative journey to depict the nude figures of oriental maidens. But it turned out that it was simply impossible to find models in those places. Zinaida's translator came to the rescue - he brought his sisters and bride to her. No one before and after that managed to capture the closed oriental women naked.

Spontaneous insight

Valentin Serov, "Portrait of Nicholas II in a Jacket", 1900

For a long time Serov could not paint a portrait of the tsar. When the artist gave up completely, he apologized to Nikolai. Nikolai got a little upset, sat down at the table, stretching out his arms in front of him ... And then the artist dawned - here he is an image! A simple military man in an officer's jacket with clear and sad eyes. This portrait is considered the finest depiction of the last emperor.

Deuce again

© Fedor Reshetnikov

The famous painting "Deuce Again" is just the second part of the artistic trilogy.

The first part is “Arrived for Vacation”. A clearly wealthy family, winter holidays, a joyful excellent student.

The second part is "Deuce again". A poor family from a working-class suburbs, the height of the school year, a dejected, stunned, again grabbed a deuce. In the upper left corner you can see the picture “Arrived for Vacation”.

The third part is "Re-examination". A country house, summer, everyone is walking, one malicious ignoramus, who has failed the annual exam, is forced to sit within four walls and cram. In the upper left corner you can see the painting "Deuce again".

How masterpieces are born

Joseph Turner, Rain, Steam and Speed, 1844

In 1842 Mrs. Simon was traveling by train in England. Suddenly a heavy downpour began. The elderly gentleman sitting opposite her got up, opened the window, stuck his head out and stared like that for ten minutes. Unable to contain her curiosity, the woman also opened the window and began to look ahead. A year later, she discovered the painting "Rain, Steam and Speed" at an exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts and was able to recognize in it the same episode on the train.

Anatomy lesson from Michelangelo

Michelangelo, The Creation of Adam, 1511

A couple of American neuroanatomy experts believe Michelangelo actually left some anatomical illustrations in one of his most famous works. They believe that there is a huge brain on the right side of the picture. Surprisingly, even complex components such as the cerebellum, optic nerves and pituitary gland can be found. And the eye-catching green ribbon perfectly matches the location of the vertebral artery.

The Last Supper by Van Gogh

Vincent Van Gogh, Cafe Terrace at Night, 1888

Researcher Jared Baxter believes that the dedication to Leonardo da Vinci's "The Last Supper" is encrypted on Van Gogh's painting Terrace Café at Night. In the center of the picture is a waiter with long hair and a white tunic that resembles the clothes of Christ, and around him there are exactly 12 visitors to the cafe. Baxter also draws attention to the cross located right behind the back of the waiter in white.

Dali's image of memory

Salvador Dali, The Persistence of Memory, 1931

It is no secret that the thoughts that visited Dali during the creation of his masterpieces were always in the form of very realistic images, which the artist then transferred to the canvas. So, according to the author himself, the painting "The Persistence of Memory" was painted as a result of associations that arose at the sight of processed cheese.

What Munch Screams About

Edvard Munch, The Scream, 1893.

Munch talked about his idea of ​​one of the most mysterious paintings in world painting: "I was walking along the path with two friends - the sun was setting - suddenly the sky turned blood-red, I paused, feeling exhausted, and leaned on the fence - I looked at blood and flames over the bluish-black fjord and the city - my friends went further, and I stood trembling with excitement, feeling an endless cry piercing nature. " But what kind of sunset could scare the artist so?

There is a version that the idea of ​​"Scream" was born in Munch in 1883, when several powerful eruptions of the Krakatoa volcano took place - so powerful that they changed the temperature of the Earth's atmosphere by one degree. An abundant amount of dust and ash spread across the globe, even reaching Norway. For several evenings in a row, the sunsets looked as if the apocalypse was about to come - one of them became a source of inspiration for the artist.

Writer among the people

Alexander Ivanov, "The Appearance of Christ to the People", 1837-1857.

Dozens of sitters posed for Alexander Ivanov for his main picture. One of them is known no less than the artist himself. In the background, among the travelers and Roman horsemen, who have not yet heard the sermon of John the Baptist, you can see a character in a korchin tunic. Ivanov wrote it from Nikolai Gogol. The writer closely communicated with the artist in Italy, in particular on religious issues, and gave him advice in the process of painting. Gogol believed that Ivanov "has long since died for the whole world, except for his work."

Michelangelo's gout

Raphael Santi, School of Athens, 1511.

Creating the famous fresco "The School of Athens", Raphael immortalized his friends and acquaintances in the images of ancient Greek philosophers. One of them was Michelangelo Buonarotti "in the role of" Heraclitus. For several centuries, the fresco kept the secrets of Michelangelo's personal life, and modern researchers have suggested that the artist's strangely angular knee indicates the presence of joint disease.

This is likely given the lifestyle and working conditions of Renaissance artists and Michelangelo's chronic workaholism.

Arnolfini's mirror

Jan van Eyck, "Portrait of the Arnolfini Couple", 1434

In the mirror behind the Arnolfini couple, you can see the reflection of two more people in the room. Most likely, these are witnesses present at the conclusion of the contract. One of them is van Eyck, as evidenced by the Latin inscription, placed, contrary to tradition, above the mirror in the center of the composition: "Jan van Eyck was here." This is how contracts were usually sealed.

How lack turned into talent

Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn, Self-portrait at the age of 63, 1669.

Researcher Margaret Livingston studied all of Rembrandt's self-portraits and found that the artist suffered from squint: in the images his eyes look in different directions, which is not observed in the portraits of other people by the master. The disease led to the fact that the artist was better able to perceive reality in two dimensions than people with normal vision. This phenomenon is called "stereo blindness" - the inability to see the world in 3D. But since the painter has to work with a two-dimensional image, this very shortcoming of Rembrandt could be one of the explanations for his phenomenal talent.

Sinless Venus

Sandro Botticelli, The Birth of Venus, 1482-1486.

Before the appearance of "The Birth of Venus", the image of a naked female body in painting symbolized only the idea of ​​original sin. Sandro Botticelli was the first European painter to find nothing sinful in him. Moreover, art critics are sure that the pagan goddess of love symbolizes a Christian image on the fresco: her appearance is an allegory of the rebirth of a soul that has undergone the rite of baptism.

Lute player or lute player?

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, The Lute Player, 1596.

For a long time, the painting was exhibited in the Hermitage under the title "The Lute Player". Only at the beginning of the twentieth century, art critics agreed that the canvas still depicts a young man (probably, his familiar artist Mario Minniti posed for Caravaggio): on the notes in front of the musician, you can see the recording of the bass part of madrigal Jacob Arcadelt "You know that I love you" ... A woman could hardly make such a choice - it's just hard for her throat. In addition, the lute, like the violin at the very edge of the picture, was considered a male instrument in the era of Caravaggio.

Today in every museum you can listen to wonderful guides who will tell you in detail about the collection and about the artists represented in it. At the same time, many parents know that it is difficult for most children to spend even an hour in the museum, and stories about the history of painting tire them rather quickly. To prevent children from getting bored in the museum, we offer a "cheat sheet" for parents - ten amusing stories about paintings from the Tretyakov Gallery, which will be of interest to both children and adults.

1. Ivan Kramskoy. "Mermaids", 1871

Ivan Kramskoy is primarily known as the author of the painting "Unknown" (she is often mistakenly called "The Stranger"), as well as a number of beautiful portraits: Leo Tolstoy, Ivan Shishkin, Dmitry Mendeleev. But it is better for children to begin their acquaintance with his work with the magical picture "Mermaids", with which the following story is connected.
In August 1871, the artist Ivan Kramskoy was visiting the country estate of his friend, art lover and famous philanthropist Pavel Stroganov. Walking in the evenings, he admired the moon and admired its magical light. During these walks, the artist decided to paint a night landscape and try to convey all the charm, all the magic of a moonlit night, "catch the moon" - in his own words.
Kramskoy began work on the painting. A river bank appeared on a moonlit night, a hillock and a house on it, surrounded by poplars. The landscape was beautiful, but something was missing - magic was not born on canvas. The artist was helped by Nikolai Gogol's book "Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka", or rather a story called "May Night, or the Drowned Woman" - fabulous and a little eerie. And now mermaid girls appeared in the picture, illuminated by the moonlight.
The artist worked so carefully on the picture that he began to dream about it and he constantly wanted to finish something in it. A year after the founder of the Tretyakov Gallery, Pavel Tretyakov, bought it, Kramskoy once again wanted to change something in it and made minor edits right in the exhibition hall.
Kramskoy's canvas became the first "fairy-tale" painting in the history of Russian painting.

2. Vasily Vereshchagin. "Apotheosis of War", 1871


It so happened that people have always fought. From time immemorial, brave leaders and powerful rulers equipped their armies and sent them to war. Of course, they wanted distant descendants to know about their military exploits, so poets composed poems and songs, and artists created beautiful paintings and sculptures. In these pictures, the war usually resembled a holiday - bright colors, fearless warriors going into battle ...
The artist Vasily Vereshchagin knew about the war firsthand - he took part in battles more than once - and wrote many paintings in which he depicted what he saw with his own eyes: not only brave soldiers and their commanders, but also blood, pain and suffering.
Once he thought about how to show all the horrors of war in one picture, how to make the audience understand that war is always grief and death, how to let others look at its disgusting details? He realized that it was not enough to paint a picture with a battlefield dotted with dead soldiers - such canvases had existed before. Vereshchagin came up with a symbol of war, an image, only by looking at which, everyone can imagine how terrible any war is. He painted a scorched desert, in the middle of which a pyramid of human skulls rises. Around - only dry, lifeless trees, and only crows flock to their feast. In the distance, a dilapidated city can be seen, and the viewer can easily guess that there is no more life there either.

3. Alexey Savrasov. The Rooks Have Arrived, 1871


Everyone knows the painting "The Rooks Have Arrived" since childhood, and surely everyone wrote school essays on it. And today teachers will definitely tell children about Savrasov's lyrical landscapes and about the fact that already in the very title of this picture one can hear the joyful foreshadowing of the morning of the year and everything in it is filled with a deep meaning close to the heart. Meanwhile, few people know that the famous "Rooks ...", as well as all the other works of Savrasov, might not have existed at all.
Alexey Savrasov was the son of a small Moscow haberdasher. The boy's desire to paint did not cause delight in his parent, but nevertheless, Kondrat Savrasov let his son go to the Moscow School of Painting and Sculpture. Both teachers and classmates recognized the talent of the young artist and predicted a great future for him. But it so happened that, not having studied for even a year, Alexey, apparently due to his mother's illness, was forced to stop studying. His teacher Karl Rabus turned for help to the Chief of Police of Moscow, Major General Ivan Luzhin, who helped the talented young man to get an art education.
If Luzhin had not taken part in the fate of the young artist, one of the most famous paintings in the history of Russian painting would never have been born.

4. Vasily Polenov. "Moscow courtyard", 1878


Sometimes, in order to paint a beautiful picture, the artist travels a lot, searches for the most beautiful views for a long time and meticulously, in the end, finds the coveted place and comes there over and over again with a sketchbook. And it also happens that in order to create a wonderful work, he just needs to go to his own window, look at a completely ordinary Moscow courtyard - and a miracle happens, an amazing landscape appears, filled with light and air.
Such a miracle happened to the artist Vasily Polenov, who looked out of the window of his apartment in the early summer of 1878 and quickly wrote what he saw. Clouds glide easily across the sky, the sun rises higher and higher, warming the earth with its warmth, lighting the domes of churches with shine, shortening the thick shadows ... It would seem - an uncomplicated picture, which the artist himself did not take seriously at first: he wrote and almost forgot about it. But then he was invited to take part in the exhibition. He did not have anything significant, and Polenov decided to exhibit "Moscow Courtyard".
Oddly enough, it was this "insignificant picture" that brought fame and glory to Vasily Polenov - both the audience and critics loved it: it has both warmth and bright colors, and its characters can be viewed endlessly, inventing a story about each of them.

5. Ivan Shishkin. "Morning in a pine forest", 1889

"Morning in a Pine Forest" by Ivan Shishkin is probably the most famous painting from the collection of the Tretyakov Gallery. In our country, everyone knows her, thanks to reproductions in school textbooks, or maybe thanks to the "Bear-footed" chocolate sweets.
But not everyone knows that Shishkin himself painted only the morning forest in a foggy haze, and has nothing to do with bears. This picture is the fruit of the joint work of Shishkin and his friend, artist Konstantin Savitsky.
Ivan Shishkin was an unsurpassed master of depicting all sorts of botanical subtleties - critic Alexander Benois pretty much scolded him for his addiction to photographic accuracy, called his paintings lifeless and cold. But the artist was not on friendly terms with zoology. They say that this is why Shishkin turned to Savitsky with a request to help him with the bears. Savitsky did not refuse his friend, but did not take his work seriously - and did not sign.
Later, Pavel Tretyakov bought this canvas from Shishkin, and the artist suggested that Savitsky leave a signature on the picture - after all, they worked on it together. Savitsky did so, but Tretyakov did not like it. Stating that he bought the painting from Shishkin, and did not want to know anything about Savitsky, he demanded a solvent and removed the “extra” signature with his own hands. And so it happened that today in the Tretyakov Gallery only one artist is credited.

6. Viktor Vasnetsov. "Heroes", 1898


The most "fabulous" artist in the history of Russian painting is considered Viktor Vasnetsov - it is his brush that belongs to such famous works as "Alyonushka", "The Knight at the Crossroads", "Heroic Skok" and many others. But his most famous painting is "Heroes", which depicts the main characters of Russian epics.
The artist himself described the picture as follows: "Heroes Dobrynya, Ilya and Alyosha Popovich on a heroic trip - they notice in the field, is there a gateway, where do they offend someone?"
In the middle, on a black horse, Ilya Muromets, looks into the distance from under his palm, in one hand the hero has a spear, in the other a damask club. On the left, on a white horse, Dobrynya Nikitich pulls out a sword from its scabbard. On the right, Alyosha Popovich is riding a red horse, holding a bow and arrows. A curious story is connected with the heroes of this picture - more precisely, with their prototypes.
Viktor Vasnetsov thought for a long time what Ilya Muromets should look like, and for a long time could not find the "right" face - bold, honest, expressing both strength and kindness. But one day, quite by accident, he met the peasant Ivan Petrov, who had come to Moscow to work. The artist was amazed - on a Moscow street he saw the real Ilya Muromets. The peasant agreed to pose for Vasnetsov and ... remained for centuries.
In the epics, Dobrynya Nikitich is quite young, but for some reason Vasnetsov's painting depicts a middle-aged man. Why did the artist decide to do so freely with folk tales? The answer is simple: in the image of Dobrynya Vasnetsov portrayed himself, it is enough to compare the picture with the artist's portraits and photographs.

7. Valentin Serov. “Girl with peaches. Portrait of V. S. Mamontova ", 1887

"Girl with Peaches" is one of the most famous portraits in the history of Russian painting, painted by the artist Valentin Serov.
The girl in the portrait is Vera, daughter of the patron Savva Mamontov, in whose house the artist often visited. It is interesting that the peaches on the table were not brought from warm regions, but grew not far from Moscow, right in the Abramtsevo estate, which was quite an unusual thing in the 19th century. Mamontov worked as a gardener-magician - in his skillful hands, fruit trees bloomed even in February, and the harvest was harvested at the beginning of summer.
Thanks to Serov's portrait, Vera Mamontova went down in history, but the artist himself remembered what labor it took him to persuade him to pose for a 12-year-old girl who was distinguished by an unusually restless character. Serov worked on the painting for almost a month, and every day Vera sat quietly in the dining room for several hours.
The works were not in vain: when the artist presented the portrait at the exhibition, the public liked the picture very much. And today, more than a hundred years later, "Girl with Peaches" delights visitors to the Tretyakov Gallery.

8. Ilya Repin. "Ivan the Terrible and his son Ivan on November 16, 1581", 1883-1885


Looking at this or that picture, you often wonder what was the source of inspiration for the artist, what prompted him to write just such a work? In the case of the painting by Ilya Repin "Ivan the Terrible and his son Ivan on November 16, 1581" it is not at all easy to guess the true reasons.
The painting depicts a legendary episode from the life of Ivan the Terrible, when, in a fit of anger, he struck a fatal blow to his son, Tsarevich Ivan. However, many historians believe that in fact there was no murder and the prince died of an illness, and not at all from the hand of his father. It would seem that what can make an artist turn to such a historical episode?
As the artist himself recalled, the idea to paint the painting "Ivan the Terrible and his son Ivan" came to him after ... a concert at which he heard the music of the composer Rimsky-Korsakov. It was a symphonic suite "Antar". The sounds of music took possession of the artist, and he wanted to embody in painting the mood that he had created under the influence of this work.
But not only music has become a source of inspiration. While traveling in Europe in 1883, Repin attended a bullfight. The sight of this bloody spectacle impressed the artist, who wrote that, “having contracted… this bloody, upon his arrival home, he immediately took up the bloody scene“ Ivan the Terrible with his son ”. And the picture of blood was a great success. "

9. Mikhail Vrubel. The Seated Demon, 1890


How sometimes the name of the picture means a lot. What does the viewer see at the first glance at Mikhail Vrubel's canvas "The Seated Demon"? A muscular young man sits on a rock and looks with sadness at the sunset. But as soon as we say the word "demon", the image of a magical unkind creature immediately arises. Meanwhile, the demon of Mikhail Vrubel is not an evil spirit at all. The artist himself has said more than once that a demon is a spirit "not so much evil as suffering and sorrowful, but for all that, a domineering spirit ... majestic."
This painting is interesting for its pictorial technique. The artist applies paint to the canvas not with his usual brush, but with a thin steel plate - a palette knife. This technique allows you to combine the techniques of a painter and a sculptor, literally "sculpt" a picture with the help of paints. This is how a "mosaic" effect is achieved - the impression is created that the sky, rocks, and the hero's body itself are not painted with paint, but are laid out of carefully polished, perhaps even precious stones.

10. Alexander Ivanov. "The Appearance of Christ to the People (The Appearance of the Messiah)", 1837-1857


Alexander Ivanov's painting "The Appearance of Christ to the People" is a unique event in the history of Russian painting. It is not easy to talk about it with children, especially 6-7-year-olds, but they must see this monumental canvas, on which the artist has been working for more than 20 years and which has become the work of his whole life.
The plot of the picture is based on the third chapter of the Gospel of Matthew: John the Baptist, baptizing the Jewish people on the banks of the Jordan in the name of the expected Savior, suddenly sees Him walking in whose name he baptizes people. Children will learn about the compositional features of the picture, about its symbols and the artistic language later. During the first acquaintance, it is worth talking about how one painting became the work of the artist's entire life.
After completing his studies at the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts, Alexander Ivanov was sent "for an internship" to Italy. "The Appearance of Christ to the People" was to become an accountable work. But the artist takes his work very seriously: he carefully studies the Holy Scriptures, history, for months he is in search of the desired landscape, an endless amount of time is looking for an image for each hero of the picture. The money that was allocated to him for work is running out, Ivanov leads a miserable existence. Painstaking work on the picture led to the fact that the artist spoiled his eyesight and had to undergo treatment for a long time.
When Ivanov completed his work, the Italian public enthusiastically accepted the picture, this was one of the first cases of European recognition of a Russian artist. In Russia, however, she was not immediately appreciated - only after the artist's death real fame came to him.
Working on the painting, Ivanov created over 600 sketches. In the room where it is exhibited, you can see some of them. It is interesting to use these examples to trace how the artist worked on the composition, landscape, on the images of the heroes of the picture.

Selection of records