The cultural environment from infancy surrounded Vasily Polenov. Therefore, it is not surprising that the development and formation of his talents was multifaceted: the talent of the painter was combined in him with the talent of an architect and musician. He was an educator, theatrical and public figure. A photo of Vasily Dmitrievich Polenov from a portrait of his friend and admirer I. Repin is presented below.
Childhood
Vasily Dmitrievich Polenov (1844 - 1927) was born in St. Petersburg in a noble family in which cultural traditions indulged from generation to generation. In the artist’s office was a portrait of his grandfather, a writer, the first organizer of the state archive, a participant in the First World War, and his father, a historian, secretary of the Russian Archaeological Society, who was busy with monuments of the past of Russia. Mother painted and wrote children's books. All the children were capable of drawing, and teachers from the Academy of Arts were engaged with them. In addition, children were taught music. Subsequently, Vasily Dmitrievich will play music in the evenings and compose romances to the words of Lermontov. Vasily Polenov’s childhood was happy and cloudless.
Study
In 1863, after graduating from high school, V. Polenov entered St. Petersburg University. But he is attracted to painting, so he attends the Academy of Arts. The listener Polenov not only deals with drawing, but also listens to lectures on the history of art, on anatomy, on descriptive geometry. He manages to make music (sings in the choir of the Academy) and is a regular at operas and concerts. In 1868, he continued his studies at the university at the law faculty and, while painting, in 1871 he received a large gold medal for the painting “Resurrection of Aire’s daughter”. A painting by Ilya Repin is painted on the same topic .
In France
After this, Vasily goes for a long time to study abroad. Together in Repin, he works on landscapes in the village of Völ, and in 1876 in Paris he completed the work “The arrest of the Huguenot.” He is often called the "Arrest of the Huguenot Jacobin de Montebel, Countess d'Etremont."
The painting depicts a modest and persistent woman, ready to climb a fire or lay her head on the chopping block for her beliefs. She is firm in her faith and will not give up on her. No less jealous of Catholicism are those who came to arrest her and send her to court. These terrible and bloody years of
religious wars in France are depicted in dark, oppressive colors. The color of the picture is extremely gloomy. The stone arches are heavy, from under which the young countess emerges. Light highlighted her sad face. She does not look up at her guards, who are filled with pride, because they are doing a holy work - they are fighting the enemies of the holy Mother Church. Cold and hopelessness blows from the whole work. The humanist artist, living in France, was imbued with a deep understanding of the historical era, which he transferred to the canvas. For this work at home, he received the title of academician. There, in France, he forever made friends with I. Repin and became closely acquainted with I. Turgenev. Communication with the ruler of thoughts, the singer of nature and a man from a noble nest will affect the work of Vasily Polenov.
Departure to the Balkans
In 1876, Polenov returned to Russia, but did not stay there. He is passionate about the unity of the Slavic peoples in the Balkans. V. Polenov first goes to the Serbian-Turkish front, then to the Russian-Turkish one. As a volunteer, he takes part in hostilities against the Turks. It is marked by two awards - the Serbian Golden Cross and the medal “For Courage”. From the theater of operations, he brings paintings, sketches, sketches, which depict mainly scenes of military life, Serbian and Montenegrin villages, characteristic national types.
In Moscow
Returning to his homeland, V. Polenov moved from St. Petersburg to Moscow. It is in Moscow and the Moscow region that he discovers the reality that still pleases the viewer. Here he writes his first masterpieces, which will reveal the bright original talent of Vasily Polenov.
"Grandmother's Garden" (1879)
The artist created a landscape combined with a genre scene. The Turgenev poetry of the old neglected estates is seen by the viewer on the canvas.
A cozy wooden mansion with jagged steps takes the viewer to nostalgic memories of his former splendor and the balls and receptions that he saw, and in which his then young and beautiful hostess participated. Now she, bent over by age, dressed in the fashion of the beginning of the century, is quietly walking along the sandy path, accompanied by her granddaughter or even great-granddaughter. The girl carefully supports the old woman. They merge with the surrounding garden. This elegy, this lyrics and contemplation in silver-pink, lilac and green colors, which was created by the artist’s skill, reveals not only the charm of the past, but the magic of bewitching colors. This picture was accepted by everyone immediately and unconditionally. Not so with the more monumental work that the artist wrote two years earlier.
“Christ and the Sinner” (1877)
Masters are concerned about the topic of women's rights, violated by social injustice and religious fanaticism. Christ is depicted as an ordinary earthly man.
Church censorship accused the author of
insulting the religious feelings of believers. There were therefore attempts to ban the work, which met with resistance from the public. The author of many works was the artist Vasily Polenov, whose paintings excited the society.
Life on the Oka
In the 90s V.D. Polenov acquires an empty sandy mound on the banks of the Oka. Here he builds a house according to his own design, breaks up a beautiful garden and inspirationally paints the landscapes of his heart, sweet to his heart. Vasily Dmitrievich Polenov especially loves the paintings of autumn, when nature is colored with all colors: gold, purplish, and the remains of greenery.
Golden Autumn (1893)
The canvas depicts not wet autumn, but a shining golden summer. Still warm, and calmly flowing its waters calm Oka over wide plains.
The coastal forest,
Prioksky distant
places, a tiny church in the distance - this is a generalized image of the motherland.
“Early Snow” (1891)
This is the first significant work of the painter when he moved to Bykhovo on the Oka. Suddenly snow fell. Trees and bushes have not yet cast off their foliage, and the sky is already covered with low snow clouds.
Oka has not yet been covered with real ice, but only turned into a thin ice crust. But already in the air, a frosty pre-winter is felt.
So together with his whole big family (wife and five children) V.D. Polenov spent the last years of his life on the Oka. There he created a museum. Now it is called Polenovo. He was also buried there under the modest Olonets cross, the drawing of which he himself created. Biography Polenov Vasily Dmitrievich is filled with a spiritual perception of life. He managed to take place both as an artist, and as a musician, and as a family man.