Vasily Vereshchagin during the end of the Marine cadet corps

In 1860, the best graduate of the Naval Corps, who was predicted brilliant career, submitted his resignation. Against the wishes of the parents and public opinion Seventeen-year-old Vasily Vereshchagin preferred the hard work of a painter to the prestigious naval service. But after parting with the army, he remained faithful to the military theme in his work.

Taj Mahal Mausoleum in Agra

Vasily Vasilyevich Vereshchagin devoted his entire life to depicting war. He was the first of the battle painters to see in it not heroic action, not the triumph of commanders, but blood, grief and the greatest tragedy. With all his work, Vereshchagin convinced that in war “for every hour of glory there are thirty, forty, and, perhaps, much more hours of suffering and torment of all kinds.”

Horseman in Jaipur.1880

The master’s paintings made viewers cry and be horrified, cursing the bloody massacres and their initiators. Each of his exhibitions was an event. IN late XIX century he became the most famous Russian painter in Europe and America.

Kyrgyz tents on the Chu River. 1869-1870

Rich Kyrgyz hunter with a falcon. 1871

The inside of a rich Kyrgyz yurt. 1869-1870

Kalmyk chapel.1870

Mausoleum of the Taj Mahal.1870

Parsi priest (fire worshiper). Bombay. 1870

Buddhist temple in Darjeeling. Sikkim. 1874

Camel in the courtyard of the caravanserai.1870

Hemis Monastery in Ladakh.1875

Three main deities in a Buddhist temple.1875

Two Jews.1884

Mausoleum of Shah-i-Zinda in Samarkand.1870

Holy family.1884

In the Alatau mountains.1870

Pearl Mosque in Agra

Baniya (merchant). Bombay. 1870

Rajnagar. Marble embankment decorated with bas-reliefs on a lake in Udaipur.1874

Evening on the lake. One of the pavilions on the Marble Embankment in Rajnagar (Principality of Udaipur). 1874

Tamerlane Gate.1871

Kalmyk Lama.1870

Old Delhi.1875

Cart in Delhi.1875

Mughal throne room in Delhi.1875

Bazaar

Arab on a camel.1870

Dervishes in festive clothes.1870

Quarrel on the way to the market. 1873

His success was not accidental. Vereshchagin received a good art education: attended classes at the Drawing School of the Society for the Encouragement of Artists, studied for three years at the Academy of Arts, honed his skills in Paris at the Studio of Fine Arts of J. Jerome.

In India. Snow of the Himalayas

From Paris the artist twice in 1863-1865. traveled to the Caucasus. The result of his trips was a series of Caucasian drawings, which he exhibited at the Academy of Arts in 1867.

Bukhara soldier.1873

Glacier on the road from Kashmir to Ladakh. Sketch.1875

Since 1867, the artist has been traveling around Central Asia. He is attracted to monuments ancient culture, customs and morals of indigenous peoples, their unique way of life. With the outbreak of the war against the Bukhara emir, Vereshchagin was with the Russian army, participating as an artist in the Central Asian campaign.

The main street in Samarkand from the heights of the citadel in the early morning. 1869-1870

He strives to capture on paper all the features of this difficult and unusual war for the Russian army. But the situation develops in such a way that he also has to take up arms.

Lama of the so-called “Red Sect” in full robes.1875

Promoted to ensign, Vereshchagin distinguished himself in many battles; for his heroism he was awarded the Order of St. George, 4th degree - the most honorable military award. By the way, he is the only famous Russian artist awarded this order.

Mausoleum Gur-Emir. Samarkand

Migration of the Kyrgyz. 1870

Politicians in an opium shop. Tashkent. 1870

Opium eaters.1867

At the door of the mosque.1873

Himalayan pony.1875

At the end of hostilities, Vereshchagin, overwhelmed with impressions, left for Munich and for three years painted a series of paintings called “Turkestan”. The paintings shown at the exhibition shocked the audience and brought the artist wide fame. On the canvases “The Mortally Wounded”, “Attacked by Surprise”, “The Forgotten Soldier”, “The Winners”, ordinary people saw the war without embellishment for the first time.

Shir-Dor Madrasah on Registan Square in Samarkand.1870

Doors of Timur (Tamerlane) 1872

Sale of a slave child. 1872

A special, indelible impression was made on everyone by the painting “The Apotheosis of War,” which completed the series. In the foreground, against the backdrop of a desert landscape with ruined houses and burnt trees, is a pyramid of human skulls and a flock of crows.

Afghan.1868

The artist based the plot on historical fact- he left such terrible signs on his way cruel conqueror Tamerlane. The Turkestan series of paintings was acquired by P.M. Tretyakov for his gallery, which was evidence of the artist’s undoubted success and recognition.

View of the Moscow Kremlin from the Big Stone Bridge

Vereshchagin's skill began to be called striking. For many, the master’s work was like a challenge, like an attack on their right to sacrifice other people’s lives without hesitation. Field Marshal Moltke banned German military personnel from visiting his exhibitions, and Cardinal Ganglbauer held a religious procession in Vienna to “purify” those who had seen the “blasphemous” paintings.

Lower Bazaar in Nizhny Novgorod. Kremlin. Church of John the Baptist.

In Russia, the attitude towards Vereshchagin’s paintings was also not unambiguous. The common people and progressive intelligentsia received them with delight. “When you look at this colossus, everything around you seems so small, insignificant,” Repin said about Vereshchagin. The ruling elite received the artist’s works with hostility. Alexander II called him a “nihilist,” and persecution began in the “right-wing” press. Driven to a nervous breakdown, the artist destroyed three canvases: “They Entered”, “Surrounded - Pursued”, “Forgotten Soldier”. And only the decisive intervention of Peredvizhniki artists and prominent art figures could support the master.

Two fakirs.1876

Carriage of rich people to Delhi

Fakirs.1876

Defiantly refusing the title of professor offered by the Academy of Arts, Vereshchagin left for India and Tibet in 1874. The result of this trip was the large “Indian Series of Paintings”.

Buddhist Lama.1875

During his life, the artist created several more large painting series. But two are of greatest interest - Balkan and dedicated Patriotic War 1812.

Barskoon Passage

In the Alatau mountains

Horseman warrior in Jaipur.1881

The artist wants to see everything with his own eyes, to feel what inhuman suffering the soldiers go through to achieve victory. During the Russian-Turkish war, he crossed the Danube with troops, went out with sailors to blow up a Turkish monitor, in the detachment of General Skobelev made a winter crossing through the Balkans, froze in the icy trenches on Shipka, and participated in the assault on Plevna.

Cape near Sevastopol.1897

Italian village on the seashore.

Trinity Day. Kolomenskoye village.

The result of what he experienced and saw was a series of 25 paintings and 50 sketches, into which the artist put a part own life, pain of the soul. “I take what I write too close to my heart,” he admitted, “I literally cry out the grief of every wounded and killed person.”

Church of the 17th century in Yaroslavl

Icon of St. Nicholas from the upper reaches of the Pinega River. 1894

Interior view of the Church of St. John the Evangelist on Ishna near Rostov-Yaroslavsky.1888

Napoleon I in Russia.In the Assumption Cathedral.1890

For a long time, the artist harbored the idea of ​​painting a large series of paintings dedicated to the Patriotic War of 1812, for which he studied archival materials and visited battle sites. “I had one goal,” he wrote, “to show in the paintings of the twelfth year the great national spirit of the Russian people, their dedication and heroism...”

After the thunderstorm

For many of us, it was with Vereshchagin’s paintings and Lermontov’s poem “Borodino” that the knowledge of this tragic and great event in the life of Russia began.

Street in Rostov

The picture from this series “The End of the Battle of Borodino” is often published in articles devoted to the War of 1812 without thinking that it depicts jubilant French cuirassiers on a Russian position littered with corpses.

On the high road. Retreat, flight.1890

The artist travels a lot throughout his life. In 1884, he visited Syria and Palestine and painted a number of paintings based on subjects from the New Testament. In 1890 he made trips to the north of Russia, the Caucasus and Crimea. He visits America twice, where his exhibitions are successfully held. In 1901-1902 makes a long sea voyage, visits the Philippine Islands and Cuba, and in 1903 - Japan.

Shinto temple in Nikko.1904

Japanese.1903

All his life, Vereshchagin believed that a battle painter does not have the right “to write about war, looking at the battle from a beautiful distance, and that you need to feel and do everything yourself, participate in attacks, assaults, victories, defeats, experience hunger, cold, illness, wounds and not be afraid to sacrifice your blood.”

Brahmin temple in Adelnur.1876

In the Alatau mountains.

And even in death he shared the fate of his heroes. Vasily Vasilyevich died on March 31, 1904 near Port Arthur in the explosion of the battleship Petropavlovsk, which encountered a Japanese mine.

Celebrating.1872

Presenting the trophy.1872

Caravan of yaks loaded with salt

Turkmen.1868

Attacking by surprise.1871

At the fortress wall. Let them come in.1871

Parliamentarians - Surrender! - Get the hell out!

After failure.1868

Looking out.1873

Two hawks. Bashi-bazouki.1878

After luck.1868

Let me come.1895

Shoot.1890

Height Shipka

Road of prisoners of war. 1879

Snow trenches (Russian positions at Shipka Pass) 1881

Skobelev near Shipka

Before the attack. Near Plevna.1881

Mortally wounded.1873

Napoleon on the Borodino Heights.1897

Memorial service

The Forgotten Soldier.1880

Ogre.1880

In conquered Moscow.1898

The apotheosis of war. Dedicated to all great conquerors, past, present and future.

Mortally wounded 1873

On June 2, 1868, the twenty-five thousandth army of Baba Bey and the fifteen thousandth detachment of the Kyrgyz, led by Adil-Dakhti, besieged the Russian garrison of Samarkand. This garrison, including the sick and wounded, consisted of 658 people, including ensign Vereshchagin. The forces were unequal, and the Russian soldiers immediately retreated to the citadel located on the western wall of the city.

There were enough supplies of water and food in the citadel, and there was no need to fear for its walls, but the two wooden gates leading into it had to be defended day and night, until on June 8, K. Kaufman’s troops arrived to help the small garrison. It is to the events related to the defense of Samarkand that we owe the appearance of the painting “Fatally Wounded”. The artist himself later recalled how, during one of the battles outside the gates of the citadel, a soldier, overtaken by an enemy bullet, “let go of the gun, grabbed his chest and ran around the site, shouting: “Oh, brothers, they killed, oh, they killed! my death has come..."

The poor man no longer heard anything, he described another circle, staggered, fell backward, died, and his cartridges went into my supply.” The artist reproduced these dying phrases of the soldier on a homemade picture frame.

Yellow battlement against the backdrop of the dusty blue Central Asian sky is the only “architectural reality” indicating the location of the action.

Soldier he pressed his hands to his chest in an unconscious attempt to stop the blood gushing from the mortal wound.

Simple, “Central Russian,” the soldier’s face was so tanned under the scorching sun that, perhaps, if he had returned alive and unharmed to his native village, he himself would have been mistaken for an infidel bashi-bazouk.

Many of those “brothers” to whom the soldier’s dying cry is addressed have already died in an unequal battle with the enemy.

Taj Mahal Mausoleum in Agra 1874-1876

38.7x54 cm

State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow

At the corners of the mausoleum The inconsolable Shah Jahan ordered his wife to build four minarets. The construction of the mausoleum took almost twenty years, and twenty thousand workers were employed in it.

Height the central dome of the mausoleum (there are five domes in total) is seventy-four meters. Its walls are lined with polished white marble, inlaid with gems.

Mausoleum stands on the banks of the Jamna River, the longest and deepest tributary of the Ganges. The Jumna originates in the Central Himalayas.

Taj Mahal Surrounded high walls(the shortest wall faces the river from which Vereshchagin wrote the mausoleum). Behind them there is a beautiful regular garden,
“cut” in two by a narrow mirror pool.

In the spring of 1874, Vereshchagin exhibited his Turkestan works in St. Petersburg. This exhibition made a great impression on St. Petersburg residents, but official circles reacted negatively to it, accusing the artist of “anti-patriotic sentiments.” Vereshchagin’s hopes that the government would buy the Turkestan series were crumbling. In a depressed mood, he left St. Petersburg even before the closing of his exhibition and left on a long trip to India.

Here he spent almost two years, traveling around many parts of the country and even visiting Tibet. Among the many Indian works by Vereshchagin, the “Taj Mahal Mausoleum in Agra” stands out, where the artist continues the tradition of “veduta” (documentary-accurate architectural landscape). This magnificent Mughal-era monument was built by Shah Jahan as a tomb for his beloved wife in the mid-17th century. Subsequently, Shah Jahan himself was killed here.

Defeated. Memorial service 1878-1879

179.7x300.4 cm

State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow

Standing nearby with the priest, the sexton gives his last farewell to the dead soldiers. An entire regiment of rangers died in this battle. The painting paired with the “Requiem Service” is called “The Winners” - it depicts the Turks, dressed in the uniforms of Russian soldiers right on the battlefield.

Regimental chaplain serves a memorial service. His black mourning robe immediately attracts the viewer's attention, since it is the darkest spot in the entire picture.

Low sky thickened in the distance with rain clouds. But here and there, pale rays of the sun break through the gap between the leaden clouds.

P. M. Tretyakov said after visiting an exhibition where Balkan paintings were presented: “Vereshchagin is a brilliant piece of work, but also a brilliant person who survived the horror of human carnage.”

The Balkan War, which had the goal of liberating the “Slavic brothers” from the Turkish yoke, found a lively response in Vereshchagin’s heart. His position (he was in the corps of adjutants to the commander-in-chief of the Danube Army) allowed him to move freely with the troops.

He took part in several battles and witnessed decisive battles. In one of the battles he almost lost his life, in another one of his brothers was wounded. Another brother of Vereshchagin, his beloved younger brother Sergei, died in this war. They searched for his body for a long time after the battle. The artist walked between the corpses, looked into the faces of the killed soldiers, afraid to recognize his little Seryozha in one of them...

It was probably during these searches that the idea for “Requiem Service”, one of the most famous paintings of the Balkan series, was born. Like the Turkestan paintings, they were warmly received by the public and warily by official circles. Moreover, this was the reception not only in St. Petersburg, but also in Europe and the USA.

In 1882, Vereshchagin wrote to his wife from America: “In response to my offer to take children to an exhibition at a cheap price, I received an answer that my paintings could turn young people away from war, and this, according to these gentlemen, is undesirable.”

Before the attack. Near Plevna 1881

179x401 cm

State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow

Vereshchagin was often asked why he, constantly participating in hostilities, risked his life and his remarkable talent. The artist invariably responded to these complaints: “To fulfill the goal that I set myself, namely: to give society pictures of a real, genuine war, you cannot look 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, illness, wounds... We must not be afraid to sacrifice our blood, our meat, otherwise my paintings will be “wrong.”

But Vereshchagin did not count on the “truthfulness” of his paintings alone. Passionately wanting to “impress” the public with the horrors of war, to refute the very “idea of ​​war” in people’s hearts, he looked for new “exhibition solutions” capable of producing the maximum emotional effect.

Thus, the Balkan series, which includes the work “Before the Attack. Near Plevna,” was exhibited in rooms without daylight, under bright electric lighting. Pictures hung on black walls. V.P.

Apotheosis of War 1871

State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow

As soon as it appeared at the exhibition, “The Apotheosis of War” became known throughout Russia. They talked about him everywhere - in high society salons and high offices, in university auditoriums and liberal living rooms. But the intonations with which the painting was discussed were very different. The author’s “epigraph” to the picture was too provocative: “To all great conquerors, past, present and future.”

Such a message left no opportunity to explain “The Apotheosis of War” in a historical vein and therefore made the picture provocative, which government circles did not fail to be indignant at and everyone else admired. Critic V. Stasov wrote about “Apotheosis”: “The point here is not only the skill with which Vereshchagin painted with his brushes the dry, burnt steppe and in the middle of it a pyramid of skulls, with crows fluttering around, looking for a piece of meat that still survived, perhaps. No! Here something more precious and higher appeared in the picture than the extraordinary Vereshchagin virtuality of colors: this is the deep feeling of a historian and judge of humanity...”

The outstanding Russian artist Vasily Vereshchagin was born on October 26, 1842. His paintings are stunning in their realism; the creator is called one of the best in the field of battle scenes. But his personality is no less striking than his paintings. A man of amazing depth knew how to realize himself in different areas life, to always prove oneself a brave and worthy citizen. He managed to do much more than any other artist of that time. An active public figure and writer, researcher and historian - all these are rightfully the titles of Vasily Vasilyevich.

He was born into the family of a landowner and at the age of 9 he entered the cadet corps, after which he entered the service. But very soon Vereshchagin resigned and entered the Academy of Arts, he studied painting with the best masters, and then even went to practice in Paris, where he studied with Jerome himself. He was especially successful in paintings painted from life. He spent quite a long time in the Caucasus, where he managed to bring this skill to perfection. The beauty of nature, incredibly textured faces - Vasily Vershchagin carefully examined all this and transferred it to canvas.
Vereshchagin is one of the few Russian artists who held exhibitions in London, worked in Munich and traveled around India. Perhaps no one could afford this at that time. He led a very busy life, constantly traveling and looking for new subjects in everything. After a trip to India, he traveled through Palestine and Syria, fascinated by biblical stories. We propose to remember the most famous paintings painter.

The apotheosis of war. Dedicated to all great conquerors, past, present and future.- the most powerful painting by Vereshchagin, who is often called the “artist of the truth of war.” Nothing passes without a trace, and ordinary soldiers pay for the selfishness and greed of those in power. Skulls and crows - nothing else.

Taj Mahal Mausoleum near Agra, 1874 - the painting was painted during a trip to Turkmenistan. Its peculiarity is the image of an energetically strong place. The Taj Mahal rises above the desert beauty of the city, reflected in the water, its peaks calling for admiration.


Attack by surprise- war is always merciless and there are no winners in it, and there are always only losers - simple people. Soldiers attack unarmed and almost helpless soldiers by surprise. The battle painter Vereshchagin once again showed his talent in depicting non-standard and “ugly” scenes of military operations.

In conquered Moscow (“Arsonists” or “Execution in the Kremlin”)— the picture was painted in 1897-1898. Vasily Vasilyevich was born much later than the famous war of 1812, but he studied it quite carefully. All military actions and the victory of one side or another have a cause and effect. Vereshchagin, of course, managed to portray the French soldiers as historians and contemporaries of those events saw them.

Mullah Rahim and Mullah Kerim quarrel on the way to the bazaar- in 1873 the artist painted a canvas that is somewhat different from all his previous works. HE knew how not only to study history and paint landscapes and battle scenes. In his work, a special place should be given to everyday themes. Although infrequent, the rather subtly and ironically noticed moments of ordinary life make one admire the artist’s talent.

Japanese— while traveling around the East, in 1903 Vereshchagin painted a series of paintings about Japan. Extraordinary stories, graphics and clearly defined silhouettes oriental beauties and architecture make these works some of the most striking in his career.

Black Sea. Cape Fiolent near Sevastopol— the landscape painted from life amazes with its realism. Black Sea, rocky terrain and incredible nature. There is nothing superfluous or contrived here, just a magnificent view in its pristine beauty.

Barge hauler with a hat in his hand. 1866 - social themes took their place in the artist’s work. He often wondered about wealth and poverty, about class inequality. And he painted pictures that made us think about the fate of the lower strata. Barge haulers, beggars in Samarkand, the sale of a child slave - nothing escaped the artist’s attentive gaze. Everything in the barge hauler’s posture and clothing speaks of his difficult lot and the impossibility of changing anything. Hopelessness in every gesture.
Laura Fame

During his lifetime, Vereshchagin became known as an artist of battle scenes. However, his “unpatriotic” works, as they were called, showed viewers not the triumph of victories, but the underside of battles - with dead, wounded, and exhausted soldiers. The artist not only went on military campaigns, but also traveled around the world, bringing sketches for future paintings - expressive, colorful and detailed. Collector Pavel Tretyakov bought Vereshchagin's works in whole series, along with carved frames created by the artist according to the artist's sketches.

“I recognize travel as a great school”: Vereshchagin’s first trips

Ivan Kramskoy. Portrait of Vasily Vereshchagin (fragment). 1883. State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow

Vasily Vereshchagin was born into the family of a wealthy landowner. At the age of 9, his parents assigned him to the naval cadet corps. “The corps could not stand, - the artist recalled, - He only tolerated companionship as a necessary evil, but never truly loved it. Temper, spirit, etc. are still disgusting, as indiscriminate, harsh, false”.

Even during his studies, his ability to paint manifested itself - he attended a drawing school and met artists. After graduating from the cadet corps, Vereshchagin did not go to naval service. In 1860, against the wishes of his parents, he entered the Academy of Arts. At the same time I tried myself in literary creativity: offered his “Tale of an Old Hunter” to the St. Petersburg newspaper “Golos”. After the editorial review: “Excuse me, this is such disgusting...”- Vereshchagin left writing for a while.

Vereshchagin made his first big trip in 1863 - to the Caucasus. Here he stayed in the city of Shushi in Nagorno-Karabakh, observed the life of local peoples, studied their rituals and traditions, and wrote sketches.

I traveled a lot, I realized early that railways and steamships were created for that reason, to be used... I recognize travel as a great school - I have seen and heard a lot and have a lot to say. He spoke, drew and wrote with the sincere intention of telling others what he himself had learned.

Vasily Vereshchagin

In 1864, Vereshchagin went to Paris and studied and worked for a year with Jean Leon Gerome, an authoritative academic painter. Then I went to the Caucasus again. Vereshchagin returned to the Academy in the spring of 1866 and officially completed his studies.

Paintings of the Turkestan series

Vasily Vereshchagin. Rich Kyrgyz hunter with a falcon (fragment). 1871. State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow

Vasily Vereshchagin. They are looking out (fragment). 1873. State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow

Vasily Vereshchagin. Doors of Tamerlane (fragment). 1872. State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow

In 1867, Vereshchagin entered the service of the Turkestan Governor-General Konstantin von Kaufman as a full-time artist. The painter arrived in Samarkand in May 1868. Soon the fortress with Russian troops was under siege: they rebelled local residents. Vereshchagin took part in the battle with the Bukharans and even received the Order of St. George, 4th class - for courage.

The artist presented paintings and graphics brought from Turkestan in 1869 in the capital. Most of the works were done in a sketch manner. Thanks to Vereshchagin’s paintings, visitors saw Central Asia unknown to them: a slave market, poor opium eaters and women covered from head to toe in robes.

After the exhibition, Vereshchagin again went to Turkestan. This time his path ran through Siberia, the Kyrgyz lands and Western China. In Kyrgyzstan, the artist visited his friend Baytik Kanaev, whom he met back in St. Petersburg at one of the official receptions. The artist painted some of the paintings in his rich yurt: he depicted its interior, accurately conveyed the weaving of the vault, and the complex curls on the carpets. Vereshchagin created portraits of ordinary residents and depicted scenes from their lives. He collected many local ornaments and sketched patterns that decorated the weapons of local warriors. In search of colorful landscapes, he went to the mountains near Issyk-Kul, in the Boom Gorge and on the passes of the Alatau mountain range. In his works, the artist used thin strokes and bright, rich shades that better conveyed the heat of Asian landscapes.

In Western China at that time, the emperor's troops pacified the uprisings of the Dungans and Uyghurs. Almost all the cities in this region were burned. According to one version, it was after visiting the Dungan lands that Vereshchagin decided to paint the painting “The Apotheosis of War” with a pyramid of skulls and crows flying above it.

In 1871 Vasily Vereshchagin moved to Munich. Here he met Elizabeth Fisher-Reid, who became his wife. In the studio of his friend Theodor Gorscheld, the artist painted his oriental paintings- “The Rich Kyrgyz Hunter with a Falcon”, “The Doors of Tamerlane”, a series of battle scenes “Barbarians” and other works. In total, the Turkestan series included 13 paintings, 81 sketches and 133 drawings. In 1873, Vereshchagin exhibited the entire cycle at the Crystal Palace in London.

The artist wanted to bring the entire series to Russia, so he warned English collectors that the paintings were not for sale. In the catalog for the exhibition, he included an explanation for each painting, and wrote an essay “A Trip to Central Asia” about his trip to Turkestan, about Asian culture and traditions. It was published by the French magazine Le Tour du Monde, work later appeared in the English press.

First personal exhibition

Vasily Vereshchagin. Apotheosis of war (fragment). 1871. State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow

First large-scale exhibition Vereshchagin was held in St. Petersburg in 1874. Then there was no end to those wishing to see the paintings - the halls of the Ministry of Internal Affairs could barely accommodate all the visitors. The entire circulation of the exhibition catalogs - 30 thousand copies - was sold out.

But the highest government officials did not approve of Vereshchagin’s works: shortly before the exhibition, the emperor signed a decree on general conscription, and the artist was expected to produce triumphal paintings with victorious attacks, portraits of military leaders with orders. And Vereshchagin portrayed reverse side battle scenes: inhuman labor, tired, wounded, dead people. The artist was accused of anti-patriotism and sympathy for the enemy.

In my observations of life during my various wanderings around the world, I was especially struck by the fact that even in our time people kill each other everywhere under all kinds of pretexts and in all kinds of ways. Killing in droves is still called war, but killing individuals is called death penalty. Everywhere the same worship of brute force and the same inconsistency... and this is done even in Christian countries in the name of one whose teaching was based on peace and love.

Vasily Vereshchagin

Many fellow artists reproached Vereshchagin for his style: he generously used bright colors, and this was atypical for academic painting those years. However, Ivan Kramskoy called the series a success of the Russian school, and Pavel Tretyakov purchased the entire Turkestan series for a lot of money - 97,000 rubles.

Vereshchagin ordered special frames for the paintings: massive, richly decorated. They became part of the work and emphasized the mood of each painting. Vereshchagin initially planned to apply Arabic script to the frames of the Turkestan series, but did not know Arabic. He prepared sketches with a pattern that echoed the oriental patterns on the doors of mosques and palaces. Baguettes were made of wood and coated with glossy or matte gold. Sometimes the frames were so voluminous that the area exceeded the canvas itself.

The artist wrote an inscription on some baguettes. For example, the painting “Apotheosis of War” was accompanied by the phrase: “Dedicated to all great conquerors: past, present and future”. The painting “They attack by surprise” corresponded to a quote from Nestor’s chronicle: “Let us lie down with our bones, we will not disgrace the Russian land, the dead have no shame.”.

The artist also demanded that canvases be transported in these same frames during exhibitions. The weight of valuable cargo increased, transportation costs increased significantly, Tretyakov hired entire railway platforms.

Vasily Vereshchagin. Mausoleum of the Taj Mahal near Agra (fragment). 1874. State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow

Vasily Vereshchagin. Northern India. Glacier on the road from Kashmir to Ladakh (fragment). 1877. State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow

Vasily Vereshchagin. Three main deities in the Buddhist monastery of Chingacheling in Sikkim (fragment). 1875. State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow

Without waiting for the exhibition to close, Vereshchagin and his wife went to India. The couple visited Bombay and Jaipur, Delhi and Agra, the regions of Ladakh and Kashmir, and traveled for three months in the Eastern Himalayas and Sikkim. The journey was not easy: they were attacked by wild animals, had to ford icy rivers and wait out snow storms. The artist suffered from malaria, and Elizabeth Fisher-Reed lost her eyesight during high-altitude treks. Nevertheless, they continued to work. Vereshchagin painted Buddhist temples and ancient mosques, stone tombs and rock monasteries. In addition to them, the paintings of the Indian series included scenes of religious ceremonies, portraits of fakirs, Buddhist monks and followers ancient religion- Zoroastrianism. Fisher-Reed kept a travel diary, and later published a collection, “Essays on a Journey to the Himalayas by Mr. and Mrs. Vereshchagin.”

In India, the artist learned that the Imperial Academy of Arts had awarded him the title of professor. Vereshchagin did not accept the award: “...considering all ranks and differences in art to be undoubtedly harmful, I completely refuse this title”.

In 1876, Vasily Vereshchagin returned to Paris, but a few months later he set off on a new trip to the Balkans. The Indian series was released only four years later - at an exhibition in St. Petersburg. The artist presented 139 paintings and sketches, 75 of which were bought by Tretyakov. There was no entrance fee to the exhibition, and over 40 days the exhibition was visited by about 200 thousand people. According to the memoirs of contemporaries, in exhibition halls people even tried to get in through the windows. Critics called Vereshchagin one of the best Orientalist artists.

Balkan campaign and new battle paintings

The news of the war with the Turks found Vereshchagin in Maisons-Laffite, a suburb of Paris, where his workshop was located. He left work on Indian canvases and voluntarily went to the Balkans - as part of an active unit of the Russian army.

It is impossible to give society a picture of a real, genuine war by looking at the battle through binoculars from a beautiful distance, but you need to feel and do everything yourself - to participate in attacks, assaults, victories, defeats, to experience hunger, cold, illness, wounds... you need not I’m afraid to sacrifice my blood... otherwise my paintings will be “wrong.”

Vasily Vereshchagin

In June 1877, Vereshchagin was seriously wounded. The destroyer Shutka, on which the artist was, attacked a Turkish ship. An enemy bullet pierced the side and damaged Vereshchagin's hip. The artist was sent to Bucharest, where he spent three months. But when the wound healed, he returned to duty. They wanted to give Vereshchagin a golden award weapon for his courage, but he refused.

At this time, Russian troops were preparing an assault on Plevna, a city in northern Bulgaria. They planned to take Plevna on August 30, on the name day of Emperor Alexander II. However, the assault turned into a major defeat. Vereshchagin depicted a battlefield with hundreds of dead on a canvas with the provocative title “The Tsar’s Name Days.”

Another work of the painter, the triptych “Everything is Calm on Shipka,” turned out to be no less poignant. The artist borrowed the name from the reports of the Russian infantry general Fyodor Radetsky. He commanded the troops who, exhausted and in thin overcoats, were freezing at the Shipka Pass in the Balkans. The hero of the triptych is a sentry who dies from the cold at his post. In the first picture he stands knee-deep in the snow, in the second he is almost chest-deep and bent over from the wind, and in the third - in his place there is a snowdrift from which the corner of his overcoat and a bayonet peek out.

In December 1879, an exhibition of Vereshchagin's Balkan works was held in Paris. There were no ceremonial triumphal scenes on the canvases. In a dispute with Pavel Tretyakov, who adhered to traditional patriotic views on battle painting, the artist said: “...you and I differ a little in our assessment of my works and a lot in their direction. As an artist, there is a war before me, and I fight it as hard as I have; Whether my blows are strong or effective is another question, a question of my talent, but I strike with a swing and without mercy. Obviously, you are not so interested in world idea war, how much of it is specific". Vereshchagin wanted the series to remain undivided, but the collector acquired only part of the paintings. And after the exhibition, Vereshchagin painted three more paintings - “Turkish Hospital in Plevna”, “After the Attack. Dressing station near Plevna" and "Before the attack."

Trip to Palestine and the Gospel cycle

Vasily Vereshchagin. Solomon's Wall (fragment). 1883. Private collection

Vasily Vereshchagin. Holy Family (fragment). 1884. Private collection

Vasily Vereshchagin. In Jerusalem. Royal Tombs(fragment). 1884. State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg

In 1882, Vasily Vereshchagin wrote a critic to Vladimir Stasov: “I won’t paint any more battle paintings - that’s it! I take what I write too much to heart; I cry (literally) for the grief of every wounded and killed.”.

Soon he and his wife left for the Middle East - traveling through Palestine and Syria.

Here he painted canvases on biblical subjects. Based on Palestinian sketches in Maisons-Laffite, the artist created the paintings “Solomon’s Wall”, “In Jerusalem. Royal Tombs", "Holy Family" and others. The heroes of his gospel paintings live ordinary life- eat, wash things, make utensils. In Europe, Catholic priests demanded the destruction of paintings in which the Holy Family was depicted inappropriately. church canons, and Vereshchagin did not bring them to Russia at all, not wanting an even more severe reaction. In 1885, a European exhibition opened. One of the visitors doused the canvases with sulfuric acid - ruined several frames, and one a small picture destroyed completely. Several were also injured major works, but Vereshchagin soon restored them. The artist took most of the Palestinian cycle to the USA and, after several exhibitions, sold it at auction. Vasily Vereshchagin. Napoleon. Bad news from France (fragment). 1887-1895. State historical Museum, Moscow

A few years later, Vereshchagin began to paint paintings dedicated to the Patriotic War of 1812. In total, he created 20 canvases - scenes of battles, landscapes of battle sites.

In 1893, Vereshchagin went on a trip again, this time around the cities of Russia. He visited Rostov the Great, Kostroma, Yaroslavl, cities of the Russian North. Here Vereshchagin painted the interiors of village huts and the decoration of churches. The artist captured the smallest architectural details - carvings on wooden columns and iconostases. The series of paintings also included portraits of “unremarkable” ordinary people, and the artist published their life stories in the collection “Illustrated autobiographies of several unremarkable Russian people.”

Vasily Vereshchagin. Temple in Nikko (fragment). 1897. State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg

Vereshchagin’s travels did not end in Russia. In 1901, he traveled to the Philippines, where he created the Hospital Series, featuring scenes from a local hospital. Then the artist visited Cuba twice, then America, and even painted a portrait of its president.

In 1903, Vereshchagin arrived in Japan. He spent four months in Tokyo, Nikko and Kyoto. From the trip, the artist brought back several picturesque sketches in a new manner for himself, close to impressionism - “Japanese Woman”, “Boat Ride”, “Temple in Nikko” and others. Vereshchagin framed all of his works in designer frames trimmed with Japanese brocade.

The next year the artist again went to Far East to sail to Japan. “I still haven’t left, but tomorrow I’m leaving finally, and with a bad feeling, - the artist wrote to his wife, - because I am going to a country that is very hostile to us... Judging by the newspapers, in Japan there are frequent meetings of enemies of Russia who demand war with us, considering the present moment to open hostilities as the most convenient...<...>They have everything ready for war, while we have nothing ready, everything must be brought from St. Petersburg ... "

The war has begun. Vasily Vereshchagin was in action this time too. On March 31, the battleship Petropavlovsk, on which the artist was, was blown up off the coast of Port Arthur. Vereshchagin died.

Vasily Vasilyevich Vereshchagin stands out among Russian artists of the second half of the 19th century for his unusual fate and activities. You look at his paintings, and it seems as if you have been on an exciting journey and learned a lot of new and interesting things. This happened before at Vereshchagin’s exhibitions, at which the artist showed not only paintings brought from trips to foreign countries and unfamiliar regions of Russia, but also the richest collections of clothing, weapons, household items and folk art. A visitor to his exhibitions seemed to find himself in a hitherto unknown Turkestan. The floors are covered with Turkestan carpets, household items are placed along the walls, weapons are on the walls, and the paintings and sketches depict the nature of the country, its people, architecture, scenes of everyday life, which reveal customs and morals, the historical past and present of this region.

V.V. Vereshchagin was born and spent his childhood in small town Cherepovets. His father predicted a naval career for his son and sent him to study at the St. Petersburg Naval Corps. But young Vereshchagin naval science attracted little attention. After graduating from the naval corps, he retired, irrevocably breaking with naval service. All yours free time Vereshchagin gave to art. He first entered the drawing school of the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, and then, in 1860, the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts, where he studied for several years. However, he did not graduate from the Academy. Imitative academic art was not to his liking. Vereshchagin completed his art education in Paris. However, he wanted something new, unusual, and at the first opportunity he went on a trip to the Caucasus, where he began to paint “in freedom.”

Subsequently, throughout his life, Vereshchagin followed the rule - not to sit still, but to constantly get acquainted with life in different parts of the world, look for new topics and new images. He visited India, traveled to America, Cuba, the Philippines and Japan.

A huge supply of life impressions served as the basis for Vereshchagin’s multifaceted and comprehensive creativity. He painted portraits, landscapes, still lifes, and most importantly, he became a brilliant master battle painting. In this genre of painting, Vereshchagin made a genuine revolution. The battle paintings created before him were commissioned to decorate rich living rooms and were spectacular battles that glorified the commanders and proclaimed the war as a heroic epic.

Vereshchagin was the first among battle painters to show that war is, first of all, terrible injuries, cold, hunger, cruel despair and death. The artist showed in his works the ruthless essence of war, which he himself witnessed. He had no equal in Russian art for the power of depicting the terrible truth of war and the passion with which he debunked it.

Vereshchagin made battle painting not only realistic, but also completely new in content. He showed the main heroes of the war not the commanders and generals, but ordinary soldiers, their life, and often depicted not the battle itself, but before or after the battle.

Having spent his entire life traveling, standing for 12-14 hours at an easel, Vereshchagin died with a brush in his hand, making sketches from life at the site of hostilities. As soon as it broke out in 1904 Russo-Japanese War, a sixty-two-year-old artist headed to the Far East. Here he wrote on the battleship Petropavlovsk, which was blown up by a Japanese mine. Thus, at work, the life of a wonderful artist ended.

A colorful and romantic scene of everyday life that Vereshchagin observed in Turkestan, along with others showing the poverty and lack of rights of the poor.

The majestic historical past could not help but interest Vereshchagin.

Of great interest are the uniforms of Indian warriors and the luxurious carpet cape on a horse.

In Vereshchagin's paintings, the great past of India came to life: ancient temples, luxurious palaces, majestic tombs.

Fascinated by the beautiful Taj Mahal mausoleum, built by the Great Mogul Shah Jehan on the grave of his beloved wife, Vereshchagin creates a surprisingly colorful canvas. The magically beautiful structure harmonizes in the picture with the equally beautiful southern nature. “There is nothing in Europe that can surpass the Taj, a place that breathes solemn calm,” wrote Vereshchagin, full of admiration.

The scene preceding the assault is full of languid anticipation and tense alertness. A large detachment of Russian soldiers froze at the massive battlemented fortress wall. The first ranks crouched against the hole in the wall, holding their guns ready, expecting an attack. The officer, quietly moving towards the gap, makes a hand sign to remain silent. The soldiers are silent, the drum is silent, the light trees with bird's nests are motionless. Silence reigns in the fortress, but the silence is deceptive, tense, ready to break out into battle every minute. The tension is felt in the dark wall, in the brightly lit group of soldiers, in their motionless poses, in their eyes looking into the face of death. All the simplicity of the Russian man and the greatness of his soul, not ostentatious, but true courage, were revealed to Vereshchagin precisely at such a moment of mortal danger, languid inaction, tense anticipation. This true modest heroism and steadfastness of the Russian soldier constitute the main content of the picture. It’s not how people fight, but how they behave in war, how they express themselves in severe trials, what sides of their soul are revealed.

This is a terrible image of death, sounding a stern condemnation of war and a stern warning.

The painting, depicting a pile of human skulls in the scorched desert, is based on a real historical fact. “Timur or Tamerlane, who flooded all of Asia and part of Europe with blood and is now considered a great saint among all Central Asian Mohammedans, built similar monuments of his greatness everywhere.”

Horror is evoked by the fantastic pyramid of skulls bleached by the sun and winds. This is all that remains of the people who once lived here and were defeated and destroyed by the war. All that was left of the city that spread out here were ruins, withered away from the heat without care. human hand trees. There, where life had once flourished, a dead desert arose. Only the black crow, the gloomy guest of death, circles above the skulls, looking for food. Empty and dead where the war took place. And the terrible pyramid of skulls - with black gaps of dead eye sockets, with a terrible grin of mouths - under a serene peaceful sky acts as a terrible symbol of war, bringing death, desolation, death.

Created during the bloody Franco-Prussian War, this historical picture became in tune with the moods of her turbulent times. She reminded people of the innumerable disasters that war brings with it. Vereshchagin wrote an inscription for the title of the painting: “Dedicated to all great conquerors, past, present and future.”

The film is based on a scene Vereshchagin saw during the war. The courtyard of the Samarkand fortress is depicted. In the sultry haze one can see the figures of soldiers with rifles pointed at the wall. Life goes on as usual, and none of those who guard the citadel knows whether a stray enemy bullet will hit him or miss him. But then death unexpectedly overtook the soldier. Just a minute ago, just like his comrades, he stood with a rifle at the ready, but now, convulsively clutching his side, in a fit of fear and despair, he began to run. His uncertain run, the sharp angular silhouette of his figure, the tilt of his falling body, and the small dark shadow at his feet convincingly show that he is condemned to death. More will pass a minute later, and he will collapse to the ground next to other lifeless bodies.

And again in the citadel everything will go as before, again the besieged in the fortress will stand guard, and who knows, maybe again a well-aimed enemy bullet will unexpectedly kill one of them. Bitter reflection on the meaninglessness of these victims and their inevitability permeates the picture.

Capture. The enslavement and robbery of India aroused a feeling of deep indignation in the artist, which forced him to paint this picture.

Before us is an ominous picture of an execution - being shot from a cannon. Sun-scorched earth, cloudless sky. In the foreground is a tall, white-bearded old man tied to a weapon. His head is thrown back, his dead lips are half-open, his weakening legs are giving way. Mental suffering and horror weakened him. For this old man, as for all others standing in the same rank with him, the fear is not physical death, but the outrage of the human body, which will be torn apart by a cannon shell. This is a picture of the brutal truth, this is a harsh indictment of the criminal colonial regime.

With the beginning Russian-Turkish war Vereshchagin goes to the battlefield. He took part in all the decisive battles, was at the famous assault on Plevna, made a winter crossing through the Balkans, and took part in the battle of Sheinovo, which decided the outcome of the war.

Many thousands of lives were lost royal officers in this war. A continuous forest of crosses stretched across the fields of lost battles. The assault on Plevna, which was not prepared by the command and was carried out only in honor of the Tsar’s birthday, was a monumental failure. This assault was worth countless human deaths, committed in front of the king, who calmly watched all this from the so-called “snack” mountain, where at that time he was feasting with his retinue. “I can’t express the severity of the impression,” Vereshchagin wrote, “these are continuous masses of crosses... Piles of grenade fragments and soldiers’ bones, forgotten during burial, are lying everywhere. Only on one mountain there are no human bones or pieces of cast iron, but there are still there are corks and fragments of champagne bottles lying around..."