Self-portrait

Perov Vasily Grigorievich - one of the best Russian painters of modern times, was born in Tobolsk on December 23, 1833. He graduated from the course at the Arzamas district school, was sent to the art school of A.V. Stupin in Arzamas. While in it, in addition to copying the originals, he began to try his hand at composition and painting from nature for the first time.

In 1853 he entered the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, where he was mentored by M. Scotti, A. Mokritsky and S. Zaryanka. In 1856, for a sketch of a boy's head presented at the Imperial Academy of Arts, he received a small silver medal. This award was followed by others awarded to him by the academy: in 1858 - a large silver medal for the painting "The arrival of the police officer for the investigation", in 1860 - a small gold medal for the paintings "Scene on the grave" and "The son of a sexton, promoted to the first rank" , in 1861 - a big gold medal for "Sermon in the Village". The aforementioned four works by Perov and written by him shortly afterwards "Sermon in the Village" (located with K. Soldatenkov in Moscow), "Scene on the Grave" (in the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow) and "Tea Party in Mytintsy" (ibid.), Being exhibited in Moscow and St. Petersburg, made a huge impression on the public and showed the artist as a witty satirist genre painter, the direct heir of P. Fedotov, no less endowed with subtle observation, deeply delving into Russian life, able to especially vividly expose its dark sides, but incomparably more skillful in drawing and technique than the author of The Major's Matchmaking.

Arrival of the Stanovoy for the investigation

Grave scene

Sermon in the village

Tea drinking in Mytishchi

Having received, along with a large gold medal, the right to travel to foreign lands at public expense, Perov went there in 1862, visited the main art centers in Germany and spent about one and a half years in Paris. Here he made sketches from life and painted several paintings depicting local types and scenes of street life ("The Seller of Figurines", "Savoyard", "Organ Grinder", "Beggars on the Boulevard", "Musicians and Onlookers", "Rag Pickers", etc. ), but he soon became convinced that the reproduction of unfamiliar, foreign mores was not given to him as successfully as the depiction of his native, Russian life, and returned to Russia before the end of his retirement period.

Savoyard

Parisian rag-pickers

Settling again in Moscow, Perov began to work in the same direction that he spoke at the beginning of his artistic career, and in the period from 1865 to 1871 created a number of works that put him not only at the head of all hitherto former Russian genre painters, but also between first-class painters of this kind in Europe. During this period, such incomparable paintings as "Another at the Fountain", "Monastic Meal", "Seeing the Dead" (located at K. Soldatenkov's), "Troika" (in the Tretyakov Gallery), "Clean Monday" came out from under his brush. (ibid.), "The arrival of the governess at the merchant's house" (ibid.), "The drawing teacher" (at the heir of D. Botkin), "Scene by the railway" (in the Tretyakov gallery), "The last tavern at the outpost" (ibid. ), "Birds" (ibid.), "Fisherman" (ibid.), "Hunters at rest" (ibid.) And some others. The fourth and sixth of these paintings were delivered to the artist, in 1866, with an academic degree; for "Birdman", in 1870, he received the title of professor. However, alongside such wonderful works, sometimes Perov's paintings are strangely conceived and unsuccessfully executed, for example "The Mother of God with Christ by the Sea of ​​Life" and "Unloading Lime on the Dnieper". In addition, he is addicted to portrait painting, for success in which, although he had the necessary observation and the ability to grasp human characters, he did not have a completely life palette, and which, in any case, did not constitute his main vocation.

Among the portraits he painted, many are remarkable in terms of sculpting, expressiveness, the transfer of individual features in the depicted faces, but only a few are distinguished by their freshness and natural color. The best among them are the portraits of A.A. Borisovsky, V.V. Bessonova, A.F. Pisemsky, A.G. and N.G. Rubinsteinov, M.P. Pogodin, F.M. Dostoevsky and the merchant Kamynin. Having received a professor's place in the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture in 1871 and joining the association of traveling art exhibitions at about the same time, in the first years that followed, Perov continued to paint portraits and genre paintings in the same genre, which must be recognized as generally inferior his prior work; the further, the more and more he was carried away by the more lofty, in his opinion, tasks - he tried to be a painter of religious and allegorical subjects ("Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane", "Descent from the Cross", "Crucifixion", "Spring" and others) and, finally, he became addicted to themes from Russian history ("Lament of Yaroslavna", "First Russian Christians", "Volga Predators", "Pugachevites", "Nikita Pustosvyat").

Portrait of the writer Vladimir Ivanovich Dahl

Crying Yaroslavna

In these last works, Perov still shines through his talent, but not as brightly as in the past; one cannot but recognize some of their merits, but in general they are too sophisticated in composition, melodramatic and testify that more intelligence was involved in their creation than the artistic feeling of their author. Towards the end of his life, Perov embarked on literature and published in the newspaper "Pchela" for 1875 and in N. Aleksandrov's "Art Journal" for 1881-1882. several, not devoid of amusement, stories from the life of artists and their own memories. He died of consumption in the village. Kuzminki, near Moscow, May 29, 1882. - Wed D. Rovinsky and N. Sobko "Vasily Grigorievich Perov, his life and works" (St. Petersburg, 1892). A. S-c.

Soon after the birth of Vasily, his father was dismissed from the service, so the boy had to move a lot from city to city.In 1842 he fell ill with smallpox, as a result of which he was left with poor eyesight.

From 1843 to 1846 he studied at the district school in the city of Arzamas. In 1846, he began to attend the Arzamas art school, but could not finish. In 1852 he entered the Moscow School of Painting.

In 1862, Vasily married Helen Shains. Immediately after the wedding, they left for Europe and settled in Paris for several years.

In 1869 he founded the Moscow group of the Itinerants, for a long time was a member of the board. In 1872, Perov married a second time - to Elizaveta Druganova.

The most important paintings: "Hunters at a Halt", "Seeing Off the Dead", "The Last Tavern at the Outpost", "Troika", "Birds", "Rural Procession at Easter", "Arrival of the Stanovoy", "Tea Party in Mytishchi", " Dumbfounded ”,“ Fisherman ”,“ Drowned Woman ”,“ Sleeping Children ”.

He died on May 29, 1882 from consumption. The artist was buried in the Danilov Monastery, but later the remains were transferred to the Donskoy Monastery in Moscow.

Among the largest Russian realist artists the second half of the 19th century, enjoying great popular popularity, the name flaunts Vasily Grigorievich Perov, who devoted his art to depicting the life of ordinary Russian people and who acted in his works as an exposer of the autocratic-serf system.

V.G. Perov: a short biography

V.G. Perov was born on December 23 (style) 1833 in the city of Tobolsk in the family of the prosecutor G.K. ...

Perov's childhood and youth were in need. Since Perov was the illegitimate son of Kridener, he was given the name of his godfather - Vasilyev, and later the deacon, who taught the boy the initial reading and writing, gave him the nickname Perov for his calligraphic abilities, which became the official surname of the artist.

Seeing the artistic abilities of their son, the parents, after graduating from the Arzamas district school, sent the boy to an art school. In 1853, Perov entered the Moscow School of Painting and Sculpture, where such famous artists as Pryanishnikov and Shishkin studied at that time, who became Perov's friends.

Perov died in 1882 at the age of 48. A serious illness (tuberculosis) brought him prematurely to the grave.

Years of the artist's life: December 21, 1833 (January 2, 1834) - May 29 (June 10) 1882 (age 48)

Famous paintings by Vasily Perov

Being a man with a big heart Perov with love he created touching images of children from the people. Known for his painting "Sleeping children"(1870), depicting two peasant children sleeping after exhausting work. They lie in a barn on the floor covered with mat. A ray of sun shining through a small window illuminates the faces of the children, and you can see: their sleep is so deep and so heavy, joyless like the village life itself of that time.

Especially popular painting "Three" (1866) V. G. Perov, telling about the hopeless life of the children sent to the city to study the craft ... Cold, cloudy winter day. Strong wind blows. On a bumpy road covered with snow, three teenagers are carrying an icy barrel of water. Their faces are pale, haggard. The slender, extremely stressful children’s figures are dressed in rags. Unbearable physical labor, poverty, hunger and cold - that was the lot of childhood and adolescence of a huge number of children of working people.

V.G. Perov created a series of portraits of leading figures of Russian culture - writers, poets, artists, distinguished by the subtle psychological expressiveness of images. In this series we meet and self-portrait most Perova... The clever, penetrating eyes of a person who has seen and experienced a lot in life, a person of strong will and a critical mindset look at us.

The outstanding artist-democrat V.G. Perov loved his people, he gave them his great talent.

The great Russian painter bore a different name all his life

Every time you find yourself in the Tretyakov Gallery and stand in front of a canvas familiar from childhood, you get the feeling that at that very moment the world-famous masterpiece belongs exclusively to you. Nothing prevents you from hovering in front of him, examining every stroke and every stroke.

Vasily Perov's canvases are one of those you don't want to leave. "Troika", "Fisherman", "Hunters at Rest" ... - a picture in your primer and a classic that people have been admiring for many years.

December 21 marks the 185th anniversary of the artist's birth. We have selected five of his most recognizable works - each with its own story.

1. The most touching

• Oil on canvas, 51.5 x 65.8 cm

A picture that you can't look at without tears. Its second name is “Apprentices-artisans are carrying water”. In the center, Perov depicted the wanderer's nine-year-old son, "Aunt Marya." For a long time her mother did not agree that the "master" wrote it to Vasya, fearing that after that he would wither away. And how I felt the trouble. Four years later, the boy was burned to death by smallpox. Marya, having met the artist, asked permission to look at the canvas with Vassenka - he brought her to the Tretyakov Gallery. “Approaching the picture, she stopped, looked at it and, clasping her hands, somehow unnaturally cried out:“ You are my father! You are my dear, here is your knocked out tooth! " - and with these words, like the grass cut by a wave of the mower fell to the floor, ”the painter recalled. He left the murdered grief mother alone, and she prayed for an hour, kneeling in front of the image of her son.

2. The worst

Click on the photo to enlarge

• Oil on canvas, 68x106 cm
• State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow

A lifeless body caught from the waters of the Neva is an illustration for a criminal chronicle. A visit to the morgue, where he found the corpse of a young girl, helped the artist achieve complete reliability. The dead woman lay on the plank floor, under which there was ice so that the bodies would not decompose longer. Perov's escort unceremoniously pulled the sheets off the dead, saying: “Evo! How many beauties we have! Choose, your honor, which is more suitable for you. " The artist chose. The escort, carrying the corpse on his shoulder like a sack of oats, went from the glacier to the master's room. There he threw the load on the floor at full swing. And the artist, peering into the sharpened features, was stunned: that was the prostitute Fanny he knew - he painted the Mother of God from her. Why a prostitute? Yes, there was no other model. Brothels supplied girls for posing, because "decent" young ladies had to be persuaded to undress for a pittance. Perov recalled how, in the midst of the work, Fanny accidentally found out who the artist wanted to portray her. And when she found out, she was ashamed. Somehow pulling on her stockings, she ran away from the workshop in tears, considering herself unworthy of such an incarnation.

In reality, Fanny did not drown herself, but died of smallpox. By that time she had even got married - she had a cheap wedding ring on her hand. But judging by the picture, one gets the full impression that it was precisely the "reduced social responsibility" that brought the unfortunate girl to suicide.

3. Most underrated

Click on the photo to enlarge

• Oil on canvas 44 x 53.3 cm
• State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg

The painting was often criticized for its dry color. Art critic Alexey Fedorov-Davydov, Head of the Department of New Russian Art at the Tretyakov Gallery, noted: "One of the most acute in terms of subject matter, impressive paintings by V. Perov, this last one, is unpleasant in a pictorial sense ... The tones of this picture hurt the eyes unpleasantly." And Vasily Grigorievich's colleague in the shop, artist Ivan Kramskoy, and decided that the picture was too crowded. “The governess herself is charming, there is some embarrassment in her, some haste and something that immediately makes the viewer understand the personality and even the moment, the owner is also not bad, although not new: Ostrovsky taken. The rest of the faces are superfluous and only spoil the matter, ”he wrote.

It is interesting that, making fun of the customs of the Moscow merchants, Perov closely communicated with Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov- the main patron of the Association of Traveling Art Exhibitions, who also came from a merchant family.

4. The most scandalous

Click on the photo to enlarge

• Blank, oil, 71.5 x 89 cm
• State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow

For this creation, the artist was almost sent to Solovki - so bitingly the priests and their flock have never been portrayed. A drunken procession with icons and banners does not see where it is wandering. Peasants with half-closed eyes, a drunken priest who crushed an Easter egg with his foot. The sexton rushing to save the symbol of Easter. Nearby is a woman with an icon whose face has been lost. There is also a beggar carrying the icon upside down. The hostess of the house splashes water from a jug onto a peasant lying under the porch, who, apparently, doesn't care anymore.

The painter captured the moment of "glorification" during Holy Week. Priests, who did not receive payment for their service, went around the peasant households, where they performed church chants and prayers, for which they received a simple offering. The poor people had a hard time with food - more often they offered the priest a drink. After such "donations" the priests could hardly stand on their feet.

The painting presented at the exhibition of the Society for the Encouragement of Artists in St. Petersburg was removed as "spiritless", it was forbidden to reproduce it in print, and Pavel Tretyakov, who bought the canvas, was advised not to show it to visitors.

5. The most unreliable

Click on the photo to enlarge

• Canvas, oil. 119 x 183
• State Tretyakov Gallery

The artist wrote the characters who were carried away by hunting bikes from his acquaintances. The narrator is a physician Dmitry Kuvshinnikov served as a prototype for Dr. Dymov in "Jumping" Chekhov. Kuvshinnikov's wife Sofya Petrovna was the owner of the literary and art salon, which Perov visited, Levitan, Repin, Chekhov and other artists and writers. At some point, a romance broke out between Sofya Petrovna and Isaac Levitan, who was ten years younger than her. The couple retired to sketches. And Chekhov got it for this, whose jumper turned out to be very similar to Sophochka. Levitan challenged the writer to a duel, but luckily her friends managed to upset her.

In the image of an ironically grinning hunter, Perov portrayed a doctor and an amateur artist Vasily Bessonov. A young hunter, carried away by the stories of his older comrades, is a 26-year-old Nikolay Nagornov - future member of the Moscow City Council. Connoisseurs of hunting, paying tribute to Perov's knowledge in this field - he collaborated in the magazine "Hunting and Nature", found inaccuracies in the image. The carcass of a European hare, for example, is strangely intact - according to the rules of hunting with dogs, a killed animal had to be poked between the shoulder blades with a knife, its front legs were cut off and inserted into the saddle. It is not clear how the heroes managed to solve the forest bird and the hare - the inhabitant of the fields at once. The horn in the picture looks accidental - it was used for hunting dogs to collect hounds in a flock, but there is no flock of hounds. And a gun thrown to the ground - and not at any gate. An experienced hunter will never put his muzzle on the ground, so as not to clog the barrel bore.

Drank to hell at 13

The "speaking" surname of the future artist appeared by chance. Actually he Vasiliev, but this is not by birth - the illegitimate son of the provincial prosecutor, baron George (Grigory) Karlovich Kridener recorded on the sexton who baptized him. Mother, Akulina Ivanovna, got along with Kridener, burying her first husband. For some time, Vasily's parents lived unmarried, and although they later sealed the union in the church, their son did not get either a surname or a noble title.

And he would have been Vasya Vasiliev, if not for the ability to draw. The father sent his son to a private school in Arzamas - he wrote out letters with a pen so skillfully that he earned the corresponding nickname, which eventually became a surname. Once, together with fellow students, 13-year-old Vasily was invited to the name day of one of the young ladies. They broke away so that the young man was brought home by a driver in a completely drunk state. Perov was miraculously not expelled, and mother, Akulina Ivanovna, took the offspring under special control.

Not much is known about the artist's personal life. In 1862, he married the niece of a professor at the Leningrad Conservatory Petra Ryazanov to Elena Sheins. But just five years later, the spouse, and after her, two older children died. Only the youngest son, Vladimir, survived - he also became an artist. Five years after the death of his first wife, the painter married again. There were no children in the marriage, but they appeared on his canvases - and it was clear that the author loves and regrets his heroes with all his heart.

Touches for his portrait

• December 21, 1833 (January 3, 1834) Was born in Tobolsk.
• 1842-1846 biennium He lived with his parents on the Sablukovo estate in the Nizhny Novgorod province of the Arzamas district. I was painting on my own.
• 1846-1849 Studied at the Arzamas school of painting Alexandra Stupina.
• 1852 He moved with his mother to Moscow.
• 1853-1862 Studied at the Moscow School of Painting and Sculpture.
• 1861 Received a large gold medal from the Academy of Arts for the painting "Sermon in the Village" with the provision of content for improvement abroad.
• 1863-1864 He stuffed his hand in Berlin, Dresden, then in Paris.
• 1864 In August he received permission to return to Russia early. In the fall, having visited Italy, I came to Moscow.
• 1866 For the pictures "Troika" and "Guitarist-boby" he received the title of academician.
• 1867 Participated in the World Exhibition in Paris, where the paintings "The First Rank" ("The Son of a Sexton, Promoted to Collegiate Registrars"), "Dilettante", "Guitarist-Bob", "Seeing the Dead", "Troika", "Drowned Woman" were presented.
• 1870 He became one of the founding members of the Association of Traveling Art Exhibitions, was elected a member of the Board of the Association and the cashier of the Moscow branch. Received the title of professor for the paintings "Birds" and "Wanderer".
• 1871 He taught at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture.
• 1872 Married to Elizaveta Egorovna Druganova. Painted a portrait Dostoevsky.
• 1873 At the World Exhibition in Vienna he presented the paintings "Hunters at Rest" and "Fisherman".
• 1874 Started working on a painting about the uprising Pugacheva.
• 1878 Withdrew from the Association of Traveling Art Exhibitions. Took part in the World Exhibition in Paris ("Portrait of Dostoevsky", "Birds", "Wanderer").
• 1881 He worked on the painting "Nikita Pustosvyat".
• May 29 (June 10) 1882 Died of typhus and pneumonia in Kuzminki. Buried in the Danilov Monastery in Moscow.

The greatest artist familiar from childhood - Vasily Grigorievich Perov (by birth Baron Kridener) - one of the founders of the genre painting.

As a teacher, V.G. Perov left the best memories of himself in all his students. His views, which he pursued in his teaching activities, are clearly expressed in one place in his story "Our Teachers", where, by the way, he says: "To be completely an artist, you need to be a creator; to be a creator, you need to study life, you need to educate your mind and heart, educate not by studying state models, but by vigilant observation and exercise in reproducing types and their inherent inclinations ... With this study, you need to adjust the sensitivity to perceive impressions so that not a single object rushes past you without being reflected in you, as in a clean, correct mirror ... An artist must be a poet, a dreamer, and most importantly - a vigilant worker ... Whoever wants to be an artist must become a complete fanatic, living and feeding on art and art alone. "

Self-portrait, 1851

Vasily Grigorievich Perov (surname given at birth - Vasiliev; December 21, 1833, Tobolsk - May 29, 1882, Kuzminki village, now within the city of Moscow) - Russian painter, one of the founding members of the Association of Traveling Art Exhibitions.

V.G. Perov was the recognized leader of the Moscow school of painting, which in the 60s of the 19th century was the avant-garde of Russian realistic art. In the circles of the intelligentsia, he was even called "the Pope of Moscow", thereby emphasizing that just as the Pope dictates laws from the Vatican to the entire Catholic world, Perov from Moscow dictated laws to the entire Russian artistic world.

Vasily Grigorievich Perov was the illegitimate son of Baron Georgy Karlovich Kridener. Despite the fact that soon after the birth of the boy, his parents got married, Vasily had no rights to his father's surname and title. For a long time, official documents indicated the surname "Vasiliev", given by the name of the godfather. The surname "Perov" arose as a nickname given to the boy by his literacy teacher, a supernumerary clerk, who marked his student with this nickname for his diligence and skillful use of a pen for writing.

Crying Yaroslavna

V.G. Perov graduated from the course at the Arzamas district school, was sent to the art school of A.V. Stupin (also in Arzamas). In 1853 he entered the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, where he studied under M. I. Scotti, A. N. Mokritsky and S. K. Zaryanko. In 1856 he received a small silver medal for a sketch of a boy's head presented to the Imperial Academy of Arts.
Subsequently, the Academy awarded him other awards:

a large silver medal for the painting "The arrival of the police officer" (1858),

small gold medal for the painting "Scene on the grave"

and "The son of a sexton, promoted to the first rank" (1860),

a large gold medal for the painting "Sermon in the Village" (1861).

Having received, along with a large gold medal, the right to travel abroad at public expense, Perov went to Europe in 1862, visiting a number of cities in Germany, as well as Paris. This period includes paintings depicting European scenes of street life ("The Seller of Figurines", "Savoyard", "Organ-grinder", "Beggars on the Boulevard", "Musicians and Onlookers", "Rag-Pickers").

Feast in the vicinity of Paris (Montmartre), 1863-1864

Orphans in the cemetery, 1864

Organ grinder in Paris 1864

Parisian rag-pickers

Songwriter Seller

Returning ahead of schedule to Moscow, Perov from 1865 to 1871 created the paintings "The next at the pool", "Monastic meal", "Seeing off the deceased", "Troika", "Clean Monday", "The arrival of the governess in the merchant house", "Drawing teacher "," Scene by the Railway "," The Last Tavern at the Outpost "," Birds "," Fisherman "," Hunters at Rest ".

One Incorrigible, 1873

To the pawnshop, 1867

In 1878 he painted the painting "Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane", in 1880 "The First Christians in Kiev." In 1866 he received an academician degree, and in 1871 he became a professor at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. Around the same time, it adjoins the Association of Traveling Art Exhibitions.

Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane, 1878

The first Christians in Kiev, 1880

V.G. Perov is also known as an outstanding master of portrait.

Self-portrait 1870

Portrait of A.I. Credener, the artist's mother, 1876

Portrait of Elizaveta Yegorovna Perova, the artist's wife 1868

Portrait of Elena Perova, ne Scheins, the artist's first wife

Portrait of N.G. Kridener, the artist's brother

The artist died of consumption in a small hospital near Moscow on the territory of the Kuzminki estate (now it is the territory of Moscow). He was buried at the monastery cemetery in the Danilov Monastery. His ashes were reburied at the monastery cemetery in the Donskoy monastery. The exact date of the reburial has not been established. On the new grave of the artist, there is a tombstone by the sculptor Alexei Evgenievich Yeletsky.

"The path of glory and sorrow of Vasily Perov" (VIDEO)

Portrait of the composer Anton Rubinstein, 1870

Vasily Grigorievich Perov - Portrait of F.M. Dostoevsky

Portrait of Vladimir Ivanovich Dahl 1872

Portrait of I.S. Turgenev 1872

Portrait of the playwright A.N. Ostrovsky

Portrait of Avdotya Kuznetsov, 1870

Portrait of the poet Apollo Maikov, 1872

"Nikita Pustosvyat" Dispute about faith 1881

Religious procession in the village, 1861

The Wanderer 1870

Janitor Lending an Apartment to a Lady 1878

Pugachev's trial 1875

Tea drinking in Mytishchi, near Moscow, 1862

Wanderer in the field 1879

Dilettante 1862

Botanist, 1874

The arrival of the schoolgirl to her blind father. 1870

Dovecote

Wanderer's welcome

Postage stamps of the USSR, 1956

Postage stamps of Russia, 2009

175th anniversary of the birth of the Russian artist Vasily Perov (1834-1882)