One has only to look at the pictures created by Viktor Mikhailovich Vasnetsov, as soon as you feel the enormous power of the unique gift of the one who painted these fabulous paintings. Description of Vasnetsovās painting āCarpet-Planeā will help to understand how amazing this artist was, who created more than one fabulous work.
Children's years and youth of the artist
Viktor Vasnetsov was born on May 15, 1848. From 1858 he studied at a theological school, and then continued his studies at the seminary. While studying there, Victor often took drawing lessons from Chernyshov. With pleasure I made sketches from nature, painted from plaster sculptures, helped Mikhail Andriolli in painting the cathedral. So passed the childhood and youth of the one who painted the picture "Carpet-plane".
In 1867, Victor, not meeting the expectations of his father, who wanted his son to become a priest, left the seminary. He did not even graduate. Vasnetsov decides to enter the Academy of Art. Studying here continued until 1876.
Of course, the description of Vasnetsovās painting āCarpet-Aircraftā is, first of all, a story about the talent that this remarkable artist possessed. But did he immediately become famous? Unfortunately not. Viktor Mikhailovich earned his living in private lessons, collaborated with magazines and made illustrations in various publications.
The work of Viktor Mikhailovich or main events
In 1876 Vasnetsov was married to Alexandra Ryazantseva. Then he goes to the capital of France, but after a few years he returns to Russia. And before starting the description of Vasnetsovās painting āCarpet-Planeā, it is worth noting that this artist contributed a lot of his wonderful works to the treasury of Russian art.
To his thirty years, Viktor Mikhailovich was a determined artist and quite famous. His genre paintings dedicated to the life of the urban lower classes were noticed and recognized by a wide circle of fans. Moreover, some of them were acquired by Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov, a very serious connoisseur of art. But something languished the artist. The soul wanted something else.
Three canvases ordered by Savva Ivanovich
It was 1878. Savva Mamontov, who was a major industrialist in those days, was completing the Donetsk Railway. She was supposed to connect the Donetsk coal region with industrial centers. Savva Ivanovich knew his friends, artists well, and was aware of Viktor Mikhailovich's interest in Russian antiquity. Therefore, he ordered Viktor Vasnetsov for the main office of the Donetsk Railway several works.
One of them - the painting "Carpet-plane" - was supposed to represent a symbol of victory over space. The work turned out great. As if Viktor Mikhailovich himself picked up a firebird and stepped on a miracle carpet. He broke away from the earth, from the habitual images of her life and began to see clearly what was impossible to feel there below. A fairy-tale world where heroes fight monsters, where a frog can turn into a beautiful princess, where people and animals speak the same language.
A new genre of painting - fabulous
The description of the painting "Carpet-Aircraft" is a vivid example of how the artist, as if not wanting this, created a new genre of painting - a fairy tale picture. And now he knew that he would write. The Mamontovs started a home fairy tale "The Snow Maiden", and Victor Mikhailovich was to write the scenery.
Wide brush, large scale, generalization. Everything that the theater requires of the artist was that clue, which turned out to be extremely important to him. And the fairy-tale theme itself, and, of course, the remarks of Ostrovsky, a brilliant writer. Decades will pass, "Snow Maiden" will be put many times. The scenery will be written by such masters as Korovin and Golovin. But Vasnetsovās will remain unsurpassed.
The tale remained with Vasnetsov until the last days
"The Knight at the Crossroads" - this canvas Vasnetsov can be considered a self-portrait. At that time, he seemed to be really at the crossroads of his creative path. The painting was painted several years before the painting "Carpet-plane" by Vasnetsov appeared. And now, until the end of his days, Viktor Mikhailovich will work, immersed in the world of fairy tales, epics and legends.
In the Mamontov estate, his "Hut on Chicken Legs" will appear. And when Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov was going to build a new building for his overgrown meeting, he turned to Viktor Mikhailovich, and this house of art with a facade and decoration in old Russian style was erected from his drawings. And then Vasnetsov also built for himself a wooden fairy-tale house with a steep roof, in which he spent the last thirty years of his life. Everything here was in the Russian style: a stove with tiles, an oak table, sturdy stools and paintings on the walls.
The old dream of mankind
Madly in love with fairy tales, Viktor Mikhailovich. Any person who once saw the Three Heroes or Alyonushka written by him would never have confused him with anyone. Such is the picture "Vasnetsov's Carpet-Aircraft" and the painting "Ivan Tsarevich on a Gray Wolf". How courageous Ivan appears on the canvases of the artist. Overcoming all dangers, not afraid of either height or speed of the carpet.
But the most important thing is how Viktor Mikhailovich was able to depict the earth and all objects on it. As if he himself rose on this carpet and saw everything from a height of flight. With this picture, the author seemed to express the old dream of all mankind - to rise into the sky and soar like a bird, watching the land that goes to sleep, rivers and floating tree tops.
Description of the artwork "Carpet-plane". Vasnetsov and his fairy-tale characters
But what fate awaited the picture? When all the members of the railway board saw the canvas, they, perhaps, were struck by its talented writing, but nonetheless shocked. How can such a canvas hang in a serious institution, where they will decide some important issues, where officials sit? Mamontov himself was to blame for something, because he did not express any particular wishes when ordering and provided the artist with the maximum freedom that Vasnetsov used.
āCarpet-planeā was criticized by all the founders of the construction, and in the end a unanimous decision was made - to abandon the masterpiece altogether. But Mamontov bought the picture and replenished his personal collection with this masterpiece. A little later, Viktor Mikhailovich decided to show this canvas at the next exhibition. But here, the reaction was mixed. Someone admired the picture, others condemned. But from that moment on, they talked about the artist even more than before. Many understood that with this work, the author expressed great love for the creativity of his people and the hope for his beautiful and bright future, in which Vasnetsov himself believed. "Carpet-plane" was for him that symbol that would lead to something amazing and fabulous.
What does the viewer pay attention to when looking at a famous masterpiece?
In the works of Viktor Mikhailovich related to fairy tales, there is a unique combination of simple and ingenious. Where can I start the description of Vasnetsov's picture "Carpet-plane"? First of all, with fantastic figures that you initially pay attention to. A firebird, and a prince, and, of course, a miracle carpet. A noticeable contrast between the fabulous world and the real.
If you look carefully at the canvas, you can immediately see how Vasnetsov distributed the tonality of colors. The upper part of the picture is brighter, more saturated. Although the only source of light that illuminates it is a firebird. Each character is made so realistic that stroking this canvas, it involuntarily seems that somewhere there really is such a carpet.
Fairy tale and reality
As for the lower part of the picture, the usual fairy-tale atmosphere, over which the miraculous carpet flies, seems more dull and even lifeless. A lazy river, rare trees and fog covering the earth, and moonlight reluctantly illuminating the space around it.
But it is very difficult to convey all the deep meaning that the author put into his work in a simple description of the painting "Carpet-Aircraft". Using his fairytale characters, Vasnetsov not only expressed the dreams of any person - to rise above the gloomy routine, find his own fairy tale, and become happy. Viktor Mikhailovich in only one picture was able to convey how boundless the Russian expanses are, filling them with romance and tenderness.
The painting, written in 1880, has become so popular today that its reproductions can be found not only in many private houses and apartments, but also in institutions such as schools, kindergartens or clinics. And not only an adult, but every child, without hesitation, will say who the author is and what she is called.