Vrubel portrayed Pushkin's heroine. Paintings by Mikhail Vrubel

Mikhail Vrubel wrote brilliant paintings, created amazing frescoes, worked on decorative panels and was the author of scandalous book illustrations. Many of his works became prophetic.

Beginning and the end

In 1885, an unknown student of the Imperial Academy of Arts, Mikhail Vrubel, completed “The Descent of the Holy Spirit” in the St. Cyril Church in Kyiv. And although I have a long history of independent study of the archives of the Kirillov Monastery, the study of a large number of monographs on ancient Russian and Byzantine painting, as well as the firm intention “not to add anything of our own,” the Mother of God and the apostles turn out to be “too reverent and exalted.” Surprisingly, the church in which Vrubel worked on what was perhaps his first monumental work was located on the territory of a psychoneurological dispensary, and in the years Soviet power was completely transferred to the hospital. So, prophetically, Vrubel took his first serious creative steps where he ended his journey - in a clinic for the mentally ill.

Portrait of a son

In 1901, an heir, Savvushka, was born into the Vrubel family. The joyful event is overshadowed by the baby’s congenital deformity - his childish face is distorted by a “cleft lip”. Vrubel blames himself for the trouble. The headaches tormenting the artist intensified. Depressions are replaced by outbursts of rage, which Vrubel often splashes out on strangers. A year later, he painted “Portrait of a Son”: a baby looks at the viewer from the canvas, whose face seems to be distorted with horror from the approach of something unknown. His tired and not childishly wise eyes reflect the bitterness of meeting this world and the reflection tragic fate, which the boy seems to guess about. A year later, Vrubel’s son dies of lobar pneumonia.

Tired soul

The desire to create his own Demon, as he really is, overwhelmed Vrubel throughout his life. He said that a demon is not a devil or a devil, a demon is a soul. Vrubel created the first Demon back in the late 80s, but the canvas has not survived. The artist admitted that he easily destroyed works in order to embody new ideas on the same canvas. But his “Seated Demon,” written in 1890, is well known and unforgettable. Still full of hope and strength, the 34-year-old artist paints a lonely young man in whom amazingly external strength and mental fatigue and powerlessness are combined. In the psychological atmosphere created on the canvas, it is not difficult to see the similarity with the state that an artist full of ideas and striving to realize them will experience: very soon the illness will begin to interfere with his work, and in the end it will exhaust, devastate and deprive him of strength.

Premonition of tragedy

It is unknown how things would have turned out creative destiny Vrubel, if not for the meeting with Savva Mamontov. The patron, with his characteristic insight, saw in the young artist something that others had not yet seen: a new genius. In 1897, Vrubel wrote “Portrait of S.I. Mamontov”, in which the patron appears sitting in his office, among familiar things. The entire compositional series is, as Natalya Suvorova writes, “a powerful heap geometric shapes and planes that are reminiscent of the primordial all-consuming chaos." Behind Savva Ivanovich’s back is a miniature tombstone of the Spanish sculptor Benlure, known for his allegorical sculptures of Governance and Justice. But the main attention of the viewer is focused on the figure of Mamontov, frozen in an uncomfortable position, and on his eyes, which seem to reflect a premonition of an impending catastrophe. Two years later, Mamontov will be arrested and charged with embezzlement. Despite the jury's acquittal, famous philanthropist will not be able to recover from the blow.

Legend of Faust

In 1896, Vrubel created the triptych “Faust” and the canvas “The Flight of Faust and Mephistopheles”. Konstantin Korovin spoke about his writing style: best friend: “When he painted on canvas or paper, it seemed to me that this was some kind of juggler showing tricks... Having measured the size, holding a pencil or pen, or brush somehow in his hand sideways, in different places He drew lines firmly on the paper, constantly connecting them in different places, then the whole picture emerged. Serov and I were amazed by this...” Even when he was already seriously ill, Vrubel perfectly conveyed portrait likeness and continued to demonstrate excellent technique. Alexander Benois, a contemporary of Vrubel, spoke of a direct connection between the incomprehensible Vrubel the creator and Faust: “It is believed that the Prince of Peace posed for him. There is something deeply truthful in these terrible and beautiful, moving to tears, pictures. His Demon remained true to his nature. He, who fell in love with Vrubel, nevertheless deceived him.” The final touch to the legend of Vrubel-Faust was the painful feeling of guilt that consumed the artist in the last years of his life.

Angel of Death

Throughout his work, Vrubel repeatedly turns to the theme of prophecies; in moments of illness, the theme becomes almost obsessive. In 1904, he created the “Six-Winged Seraphim” - the artist’s last large canvas, created in moments of enlightenment. The artist was sure that the talent and calling of the creator are similar to the mission of the prophet. And just as in the Old Testament parable Seraphim cleanses the prophet Isaiah from the sins, thereby preparing him for prophetic service, so Vrubel’s Azrael appears to finally establish the artist in the role of a seer who knows his destiny.

Defeated

“The defeated demon” seems to have taken away almost all of Vrubel’s strength. He could redo the plot several times a day and worked on the picture, sometimes 20 hours a day. And yet it was not possible to express his plans - his Demon turned out to be broken and insane. The painting had already been exhibited at the exhibition of the art association “World of Art,” and Vrubel continued his work on it: he came to the hall and, not paying attention to the audience, rewrote the Demon again and again. Eight years later, the blind Vrubel himself will be driven by illness to the very edge, from which he will tragically fall down, like a defeated Demon, whose mutilated body on the canvas is smashed against the rocks. The artist will consciously spend several hours standing in front of an open window, inhaling frosty air, which will result in pneumonia. On the eve of his death, Vrubel will pronounce his last prophecy: “We are going to the Academy!”, and tomorrow a memorial service will be held over his body in one of the halls of the Academy of Arts.

Vrubel's talent was multifaceted. He painted temples, painted huge multi-meter canvases and small easel paintings; he acted as a theater decorator, master book illustration and even as a sculptor.

Mikhail Vrubel is a Russian artist, first graduated from the Faculty of Law of St. Petersburg University, then from the Academy of Arts. On the recommendation of his teacher P. Chistyakov, he worked in ancient temple Kirillovsky Monastery near Kyiv. However, his work was not properly appreciated.

For a long time, Vrubel was unknown to the public, only in the late 90s, after the demonstration of the large panels “Princess of Dreams” and “Mikula Selyaninovich,” they noticed him and began to become interested in the artist’s work. However, his work constantly caused fierce controversy in the press.

Vrubel's works cannot be confused with anyone else. He developed a special, unique Vrubel style. This style is based on the dominance of three-dimensional sculptural design, the originality of which lies in the fragmentation of the surface of the form into sharp, sharp edges, likening objects to certain crystalline formations. Vrubel understands color as a kind of illumination, colored light penetrating the edges of a crystalline form. The crushing, iridescent color in Vrubel’s paintings and their crystalline texture are akin to the effects of mosaics.

Features of symbolism and the “modern” style are noticeable in Vrubel’s works. The artist is interested in the topic tragic loneliness and the death of the personality, which he seeks to reveal symbolically in the image of the Demon. In his work there are traditionally realistic works, there are also mythological ones, illustrations for the works of Lermontov, Pushkin, folk tales, epics and legends.

Turning to poetic pictures of nature, Vrubel also gave them a mystical and fantastic coloring. The influence of modernism had a particularly strong impact on Vrubel’s decorative works (panels, sculpture, stained glass sketches, etc.).

At the end of his life, Vrubel fell ill and was periodically treated in a psychiatric clinic. In the periods between attacks of mental illness, he wrote and created. In 1910, at the age of fifty-four, Vrubel died of pneumonia.

The true element of Vrubel's paintings is silence, silence that seems to be heard. His world is immersed in silence. He depicts indescribable moments, feelings that cannot be expressed in words. A silent duel of hearts, views, deep thought, silent spiritual communication.

Currents of high spiritual tension permeate Vrubel's world - this is the secret of its monumentality and the guarantee of longevity.

One of Vrubel's first works. This is a huge fresco “The Descent of the Holy Spirit...”, painted by the artist on the vault of the St. Cyril Church in Kyiv.

According to the Gospel tradition, the Holy Spirit appeared to the apostles in the form of a dove, and tongues of flame emanating from it “rested on each of them.” After this, the apostles acquired the gift of speaking in all languages ​​and preaching the teachings of Christ to all nations. Like other gospel tales, the plot of the “Descent” had its own iconographic scheme in church art, fixed by centuries-old tradition. Vrubel strictly followed the scheme, probably using ancient miniatures of the Gospels, but he interpreted the figures in his own way, showing himself as a modern artist.

The twelve seated apostles are arranged in a semicircle, so that the composition fits into architectural form vault. In the middle rises the figure of the Mother of God, standing very straight. The background is blue, golden rays emanate from a circle with a figurine of a dove, the robes of the apostles are light, with mother-of-pearl tints, creating the effect of glowing from within. The group of apostles themselves, overwhelmed by a common high spiritual uplift, each expressing this in their own way, makes an indelible impression: hands, now tensely clenched, now impulsively pressed to the heart, now lowered in thought, now reverently touching the hand of the person sitting next to them.

Vrubel in many of his works refers to the work of Lermontov. The demon is one of these images. But this is not just an illustration for Lermontov’s work; Vrubel puts his own vision, his own understanding of this image.

A demon is a fallen angel who rebelled against God and was cast down to earth by heaven. In mythology, the Demon is an image of titanic, but bound energy. He was rejected by heaven, but could not be accepted by earth either. Vrubel himself understood the Demon this way: “he personifies the eternal struggle of the restless human spirit, seeking reconciliation of the passions overwhelming it, knowledge of life and not finding an answer to its doubts either on earth or in heaven.”

The essence of this image is dual. On the one hand, there is the impressive greatness of the human spirit, which tolerates neither prohibitions nor fetters in its impulses towards freedom and fullness of knowledge. On the other hand, there is immense pride, an immense overestimation of the strength of the individual, which turns into loneliness, coldness, and emptiness.

Only God's curse
Fulfilled - from the same day
Nature's warm embrace
Forever cooled down for me.

The demon is depicted sitting on a mountain peak. Hopeless melancholy can be read in his gaze, in the tilt of his torso, in his wrung hands clasping his knees. Even this compositional technique, like a part of the image cut off by the upper frame, makes us feel the constraint and torment of the Demon’s existence.

The artist’s painting style in this work is interesting: the picture seems to be laid out from many intersecting planes-faces.

The picture is dominated by cold, lilac-blue tones.

Vrubel had long ago conceived the pathetic painting “The Defeated Demon.” He wanted to shock the viewer, to create a grandiose work, but it seems that he did not clearly understand the idea of ​​​​the picture: the Demon owned him more than he owned the Demon. He thought for a long time how to portray this Demon - flying or some other way. The idea of ​​the “Defeated” Demon arose as if by itself.

The demon is cast into a gorge among the rocks. The once mighty arms became pitifully twisted whips, the body was deformed, the wings scattered. Around the fallen man there is purple darkness and intertwined blue streams. They will flood it, a little more - and they will close it completely, leaving a blue surface, a pre-time expanse of water in which the mountains are reflected. The face of the fallen man with his painfully twisted mouth is wild and pitiful, although there is still a rosy glow in his crown.

Gold, dusky blue, milky blue, smoky purple and pink - all Vrubel's favorite colors - form an enchanting spectacle here.

The canvas that had just been painted did not look the same as it does now: the crown sparkled, the peaks of the mountains shone pink, the feathers of broken wings sparkled and shimmered, similar to those of a peacock. As always, Vrubel did not care about the safety of the paints - he added bronze powder to the paints to give them shine, but over time this powder began to act destructively, the picture darkened beyond recognition. But from the very beginning color scheme was openly decorative - it lacked the depth and richness of color, the variety of transitions and shades that Vrubel’s best works have.

When the painting was transported to St. Petersburg for the World of Art exhibition, Vrubel, despite the fact that the canvas had already been exhibited, rewrote it every day in the morning, and everyone saw this change. There were days when the Demon was scary, and then deep sadness appeared in his face... Vrubel was already deeply ill then.

“The Defeated Demon” captivates not so much with its painting as with the visible embodiment of the artist’s tragedy: we feel “here a man burned.”

While depicting fairy-tale characters, Vrubel did not illustrate famous literary subjects, he always created his own fairy tales, his own Demon. But this does not mean that he ignored the primary sources. When creating, for example, "The Bogatyr", he sincerely got used to the world of epic tales.

His “Bogatyr” - Ilya Muromets - is stocky, huge, sitting on a bull horse. Such a “hillbilly peasant” can fight with a “ninety pounds” club, drink one and a half buckets worth of wine, as the epic says; he feels “heavy from the strength, as from a heavy burden,” but he goes “a little higher than the forest standing, slightly lower than the walking cloud" - in the picture the tops of the fir trees can be seen at the feet of the horse. The forest is primevally dense, two hawks are hiding in its thick ligature. The broad-shouldered, squat, like a bear, hero looks vigilantly and sharply, listens sensitively, he has clothes and armor patterned, elegant - also in accordance with the epic, which speaks of the panache of the “old Cossack” Ilya:

Ilya put on silk bast shoes,
He put on a pouch of black velvet,
He put a Greek land hat on his head.
Vrubel felt the power of the heroic epic, but they were not as close to him as the fragile, lyrical, “melting and elusive” images.

They say that the portrait painting “The Swan Princess” was written based on the plot of “The Tale of Tsar Saltan” by Pushkin, and Vrubel’s wife Nadezhda Zabela-Vrubel served as the model for painting the portrait. However, there are no direct connections with the stage interpretation of “Tsar Saltan” in the film, and the princess herself does not even look like N.I. Zabela is a completely different person. Most likely, Vrubel came up with the face of the Princess, in which the features of both his wife and the daughter of the woman he once loved, and perhaps someone else’s, were distantly reflected and merged.

Of course, Vrubel did not just paint a portrait. The artist did not paint a living woman of flesh and blood, but fantastic creature, for whom the depths of the sea are his home. The beauty of Vrubel's Swan Princess is born of the sea element; it is, as it were, woven from sunset rays, the play of waves, the shine of stones, and the sound of the surf. On her lifeless face the play of colors - from the blue-black sea to the pink-crimson dawn - is like the play of tones on porcelain. Only the eyes live on this face, and there is immense sadness in them. Wings rustle in the wind, expensive stones sparkle in her headdress, and a farewell glance attracts her. In this look there is a longing for an earthly appearance, for earthly love and joy.

Of course, this is not Pushkin’s “The Swan Princess”, and not from Rimsky-Korsakov’s opera. There it is daytime, bright. Tsarevich Guidon saves her from the evil kite and marries her, and everything works out for everyone’s happiness. In Vrubel’s painting, the mysterious bird with the face of a maiden is unlikely to become a man’s wife, and her languid farewell gaze, her hand gesture, warning, calling for silence, do not promise well-being. The princess does not approach, she floats away into the darkness.

The mood of the picture is alarming and sad. The quivering mother-of-pearl plumage of the Swan, with reflections of the setting sun, is written in such a way that we hear this rustling, this trembling, we hear the cold, even blows of the surf on the shore, enhancing the feeling of hopelessness and sadness. Another moment - and the strip of dawn will go out, the beauty of the princess will disappear, only the great one will flap her wings. White bird and disappears into the waves...

A. Blok was especially fond of the painting “The Swan Princess”. A reproduction of it always hung in his office in Shakhmatovo. It was inspired by a large poem with the subtitle “To Vrubel.” The poems do not illustrate Vrubel’s painting, they are inspired by various associations that arose from the painting...

The distances are blind, the days are without anger,
Closed lips
In the princess's deep sleep,
The blue is empty...

There will be springs in eternal change
And the falls are oppressive.
A whirlwind filled with visions -
Pigeon summer...

What instant powerlessness?
Time is a light smoke...
We will spread our wings again,
Let's fly off again!

And again in a crazy shift
Cutting through the firmament,
Let's meet a new whirlwind of visions,
Let's meet life and death!

Pastel Pearl" - a small miracle of art, amazing game overflow in a pearl shell.

Who has ever held in his hand and looked at a natural sea ​​shell, could not help but marvel at the changing play of color in its layers. They reflect the tones of the sea, and the sunset sky, and the radiance of the rainbow, and the flickering of dull silver. A real treasure cave in miniature.

For Vrubel, all of nature was a cave of treasures, and in the overflow of the shell he saw, as if concentrated, the magic spilled in nature. It was only necessary to “copy” it: the color nuances of mother-of-pearl are elusive, changing with every turn of the shell, every change of lighting. Vrubel realized that the shimmer of a shell also depends on its texture - smooth, rough, layered.

Vrubel made a lot of drawings of the shell in charcoal and pencil before painting it in color, with all the tints of purple, blue, pink, greenish. These iridescences are created with such authenticity that it seems that if you turn the picture at different angles, then the colors will change, flash and fade, as in a real shell.

The shell is painted a little larger than life-size, and this enhances the impression of magic, as if in front of us is some kind of tower of the underwater kingdom. Then someone must live in it! Who else if not the daughters of the sea king?

Princesses arose with the same inevitability as everyone else fantastic images Vrubel - from the contemplation of natural forms, as if they were originally hidden in them, and you just had to look at them. The artist did not like the figures themselves; they were too much in the spirit of Art Nouveau - somewhat cutesy, exquisitely playful, which diminishes the artist’s intention.

Despite all the fact that “Pearl” - one of Vrubel’s last works - remains a genuine pearl of his work.

Vrubel loved to depict dense, climbing thickets of flowers and herbs. The artist delved into the weaving of stems, prickly spruce branches, in the “architecture” of lilac clusters, the strange shapes of horned shells, in the structure of ice crystals that form fern-like patterns on the glass in winter. All these wonders of nature, under the artist’s gaze, grew into Magic world, he peered again and again - and he seemed to see the outlines of figures, looking eyes...

Here is the painting “Lilac”... Purple thickets of lilacs fill the entire space of the picture, and it seems that they have no end beyond its borders. And in the bushes there is a female figure, either a girl or a fairy. Her smoky greenish face and hands, almost black dress and hair and dark hollows of the eyes - after all, this is nothing more than a thickened and revived shadow in the depths between the branches in the predawn gloomy hour. The sun will rise and she will disappear.

The painting "Pan" is unanimously recognized as almost the pinnacle of Vrubel's entire work. Surprisingly, the artist wrote it in two or three days! They say that the impetus was reading A. France’s story “Saint Satyr”. And the artist first called his painting “Satyr”. The Hellenic goat-footed god and the Russian Leshy are united here into one person. But it’s still more from Leshy - both the Russian landscape and the appearance of Pan. Where did this appearance come from, where did the artist get this remarkable bald head, round, browed, blue-eyed face, overgrown with wild curls? It is known that no one posed for Vrubel, and whether he spied such an old man somewhere in a Ukrainian village, or he simply imagined him on a moonlit night at the sight of an old mossy stump is unknown.

And at the same time, he is completely fantastic, he is the forest undead, the personification of what one imagines and imagines when lost at night. A gray stump begins to move, ram's horns curl under the shaggy moss, a gnarled hand detaches itself, clutching a multi-barreled pipe, and suddenly the round Blue eyes like phosphoric fireflies. As if responding to the silent call of the forest owner, the moon slowly creeps out from behind the horizon, the surface of the river and a small blue flower flash with a blue glow. The goblin is both the soul and the body of these copses and swampy plains; the curls of his fur are like a rising crescent, the bend of his arm echoes the bend of a crooked birch tree, and he is all gnarled, brown, made of earth, moss, tree bark and roots. The magical emptiness of his eyes speaks of some kind of animal or plant wisdom, alien to consciousness: this creature is completely elemental, devoid of any experiences, painful thoughts...

Name: Mikhail Vrubel

Age: 54 years old

Activity: artist

Family status: was married

Mikhail Vrubel: biography

Bright representative of the artistic elite at the turn of the 19th–20th centuries, Mikhail Vrubel was confident that creativity is like guiding a person magic crystal, which, depending on personal aspirations and preferences, can lead a traveler lost in the labyrinths of art to either heaven or hell. Without violating the generally accepted canons of composition, the creator was able, with all the power of his talent, to penetrate beyond the boundaries of earthly existence, to sketch pictures inaccessible to the eyes of ordinary people and present them to the judgment of art lovers.

Childhood and youth

Mikhail Aleksandrovich Vrubel was born on March 5, 1856 in the city of Omsk, located at the confluence of the Irtysh and Om rivers. The artist’s father Alexander Mikhailovich is a former combat officer, participant Crimean War and military operations in the Caucasus, military lawyer. Mother Anna Grigorievna - a relative of the Decembrist Basargin - gave birth to 4 children and died when Mikhail was barely three years old. Two years later, my father remarried the pianist Elizaveta Christianovna Wessel. Thanks to this kind-hearted woman, the artist’s love and understanding of music remained throughout his life.

Due to the specific nature of their work, the heads of the Vrubel family often moved from city to city. In 1865, the family moved to the Volga region, where Lieutenant Colonel Vrubel took command of the provincial garrison. It was in Saratov that Mikhail saw a copy of the fresco by the Italian sculptor and artist “The Last Judgment” brought to the city, which, to the surprise of his father and stepmother, after viewing he was able to reproduce with all the characteristic details.

His son’s penchant for art pleased Alexander Mikhailovich, but did not make any changes to the plans that the head of the family had for the heir. Mikhail's professional activity was predetermined from his very birth. The creatively gifted boy was not enthusiastic about the prospect of becoming a lawyer, but he did not dare to go against his father.

In 1874, Vrubel entered the law faculty of St. Petersburg University. northern capital had a hypnotic effect on Mikhail: the city-architectural museum, in which every house, every nook and cranny had its own history, captivated the active young man. He lived with relatives on Galernaya Street in the 47th house, and a literary prophet stayed next door (in the 53rd house) half a century before him.

Independent life beyond the boundaries and prohibitions of her father, she inspired Mikhail. The young man could, without fear righteous anger the head of the family, walk late into the night with fellow students and friends, discussing the topic of authentic music. During his student years, Vrubel met the composer Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky. This outstanding artist filled with his thoughts, beliefs and compositions a completely unformed spiritual world Mikhail. Impressed by the way Modest smashed the piano while performing the “Flea” recitative, Mikhail visually imagined the images of Faust and Mephistopheles, which the artist later transferred to canvas.

During the same period, Vrubel came to the realization that he was spending years, which are extremely important in art, on a discipline alien to him. Serving as a military lawyer, despite all the career prospects, was crowded out of the consciousness of the young man, who had a keen sense of the world, by his boundless love for painting. The guy, who did not see himself as a lawyer in the future, secretly from his relatives began attending lectures by Pavel Petrovich Chistyakov. In January 1880, Mikhail graduated from the university, and in the fall he was officially enrolled in the Academy of Arts.

The decision of the son who despised family tradition and who chose his own life path, plunged Alexander Mikhailovich into shock. Relations between relatives have deteriorated irrevocably.

In 1882, Mikhail, who had become disillusioned with the routine methods of teaching, found himself in Chistyakov’s workshop, and there was no trace left of the idea that teachers were instilling in students a love of dry clichés and schematizations of living nature. Having become Vrubel’s mentor, Pavel Petrovich discovered new facets in his student that had not previously manifested themselves, thereby adding to his teaching piggy bank, which at that time already included , and , with another talented student. The works written by Vrubel during his studies acquired the status of an academic standard and are kept in the academy’s collection to this day.

Painting

The first victory of the hardworking student was receiving a small silver medal for the academic drawing “The Betrothal of Mary to Joseph.” Sepia backlighting made it possible to achieve the finest gradation in the transmission of light and shadow, thereby creating a living, enlightened atmosphere of special spirituality that the people depicted on the canvas experienced. The work “Feasting Romans”, which depicted young rakes ironically laughing at the tipsy Patricius, also received the distinction.

In the fall of 1883, Professor Prakhov, on the recommendation of Chistyakov, invited Vrubel to Kyiv to work on the restoration of the 12th-century Cyril Church. In the city, crowned with the heads of ancient temples, Mikhail’s independent artistic life began. In November 1884, Adrian Viktorovich sent the well-established artist to Venice. The beauty of the most romantic city in Italy did not impress Mikhail. Vrubel spent a lot of time in cathedrals and museums, absorbing the experience of the great figures of the Renaissance.

After spending six months in Venice, in April 1885 Vrubel returned to Kyiv and, inspired by the trip, created four icons: “St. Cyril”, “Our Lady and Child”, “St. Athanasius" and "Christ the Savior". Michael combined the mysticism and asceticism of Byzantine abstraction with the vitality of the images of the Renaissance and filled the frozen types of the 12 apostles, depicted by him on the vault, with flesh and blood. It is noteworthy that the artist painted the faces of the saints from memory from his friends. Among the diversity restoration work, in addition to the “Descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles,” the frescoes “The Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem” and “Lamentation” stood out.

No matter how important and spiritually fulfilling the work in the Cyril Church was, Mikhail was cramped within the framework of canonized tasks. His temperament and passion as a painter required the release of accumulated color energy. In 1886, a portrait from life “A Girl Against the Background of a Persian Carpet” and a painting “Oriental Fairy Tale” saw the light of day. The works breathed life, fully reflecting Vrubel’s passion for subtle nuances colors and detailing.

In 1887, Prakhov invited Vrubel to paint the Vladimir Cathedral. Mikhail Alexandrovich created at least six versions of “The Tombstone Lament” (four have survived). This plot is absent in the Gospel and is not typical for Orthodox icon painting, but is found in art Italian Renaissance. It is noteworthy that independent work Vrubel, in which he first showed the world the image of a demon, were rejected. Moreover, Adrian Viktorovich’s iconographic daring caused bewilderment, and in 1889 he removed the artist from work.

Mikhail takes the works not accepted by the church ministers to Moscow. The painting "Demon Seated", which depicts a fallen angel with a wounded human soul, became a symbol of the coming era. With this work, Mikhail Alexandrovich destroyed the pictorial structure frozen in impenetrable conservatism, becoming an object of attack and censure.

During the Moscow period, Vrubel painted portraits of S.I. Mamontov and K.D. Artsybushev, creates decorative panels “Venice” and “Princess of Dreams”, and also illustrates the poem “Demon” (“Tamara and the Demon”, “Head of the Prophet”, “Demon at the Gate of the Monastery”, “Date of Tamara and the Demon”).

Vrubel's participation in exhibition activities"World of Art" and a number of international exhibitions brought the artist European fame. Among his later masterpieces, the painting “The Swan Princess”, depicting Pushkin’s heroine, as well as “Lilac”, “Pearl”, “The Defeated Demon”, “Pantomime”, “Six-Winged Seraph”, “Pan” and “Fortune Teller” especially stood out. Last job The master became a portrait of the symbolist poet, which, due to the progressive illness of the creator, was never completed.

Personal life

Vrubel's first serious hobby was Prahov's wife Emilia Lvovna. According to biographers, it is her face that is depicted on the icon “The Mother of God and Child” painted after returning from Venice. Mikhail managed to overcome his vicious desire for the wife of his patron.

The next amorous interest grew into a wedding. The artist was introduced to his first and only wife, Nadezhda Ivanovna Zabela, by his Moscow friend Savva Mamontov. At the time of their acquaintance, the artist was known only to a narrow circle of art connoisseurs, and Nadezhda was already the prima donna of the Private Russian Opera. The singer, with her voice and beauty, inspired Vrubel to paint the painting “Hansel and Gretel”, in which he depicted Nadezhda along with her friend Tatyana Lyubatovich.

It is noteworthy that an unspoken agreement was concluded between the artist and the master, which stated that if the work was successful, Nadya would marry Mikhail without any wrangling. The product was a success. The wedding celebration took place in Geneva. Vrubel literally worshiped his wife. Marriage seemed to him a happy ending to many years of wandering in search of himself. In addition to the newfound peace of mind, the creator also received confidence in the future. In September 1901, little Savva was born to Mikhail and Nadezhda, but this joy was overshadowed by the boy’s congenital defect - a cleft lip.

Vrubel saw in this “spoiled blood” and “fatal heredity” and from then on became thoughtful and absent-minded. This state of mind turned him away from everyone creative ideas and returned to the image of a demon. Two months after the birth of his son, he began the painting “The Demon Defeated.” Work on it continued for a year, interrupted only for a short time by teaching stylization to students of the Stroganov School. But Vrubel was unable to escape “The Demon” for long.

He painted the picture like a man possessed, sometimes 20 hours a day, supporting himself with wine. He changed the face of the demon, even when the painting had already been included in the World of Art exhibition. The exceptional degree of responsibility that he placed on his shoulders destroyed the artist’s already precarious psychological balance. The painter plunged into a severe depressive state. He considered himself a criminal, worthy of punishment for allowing himself to paint both Christ and the demon.

Death

In April 1902, Vrubel was admitted to a Moscow clinic. Doctors diagnosed the master with an incurable mental illness. In March 1903, remission occurred and the artist was discharged, although, as it turned out, not for long. In May of the same year, Vrubel’s son died, and already in September Mikhail was again admitted to the clinic. Terrible weeks of oblivion and delirium were replaced by hours of comparative calm - and then he painted, however, at the request of the doctors only from life, nothing fantastic.

An incurable disease that progressed over the years in 1906 caused Vrubel to lose his sight. Mikhail Alexandrovich spent the last four years in pitch darkness in the St. Petersburg hospital for the mentally ill.

The artist physically suffered from the fact that he no longer had the opportunity to contemplate life, the movement of which he had not so long ago been able to capture with his magic brush. Vrubel did not try to commit suicide, but, standing for a long time in frosty days under the open window, deliberately bringing the inevitable end closer. Mikhail Alexandrovich died of pneumonia on April 1, 1910. An inspirational speech at a funeral held at Novodevichy Cemetery, said, calling the artist “a messenger of other worlds.”

In 1913, Nadezhda Ivanovna, who survived her husband by three years, was buried next to Vrubel.

Works

• "Hamlet and Ophelia";
• "Tombstone Lament";
• "The Flight of Faust and Mephistopheles";
• "Primavera";
• "Shadows of Lagoons";
• "Six-Winged Seraphim";
• "Venice";
• "Lilac";
• "Pan";
• "Demon Seated"
• "Pearl";
• "Bogatyr";
• "Snow Maiden".

He owns an entire era in art, Vrubel's search is compared to Leonardo's method. The first symbolist, his style of painting was original and turned out to be prophetic for new directions in painting of the 20th century.

The artist’s father, Alexander Mikhailovich Vrubel, was a military lawyer, a former combat officer, who participated in the Crimean campaign and military operations in the Caucasus. The artist’s mother, Anna Grigorievna Basargina, a relative of the famous Decembrist, gave birth to four children and died when Misha was four years old. Due to his father's service, the family moved frequently. A.M. Vrubel to marry E.Kh. Wessel. Vrubel Jr.'s relationship with his stepmother developed well, and thanks to her vocation (she was a pianist), the artist grew up listening to classical music.

In 1874, M. Vrubel graduated from the famous Odessa Richelieu Gymnasium with a gold medal.

Already at the age of five, the boy drew enthusiastically and, arriving in St. Petersburg, his father enrolled him in the school of the Society for the Encouragement of Artists. In Odessa, a boy studies drawing at the school of the Society of Fine Arts. At the age of nine, M. Vrubel copied Michelangelo from memory. However artistic education the father vaccinated his son only for general development. So in 1874 M. Vrubel studied to become a lawyer at St. Petersburg University. But M. Vrubel’s dream remains painting; he attends exhibitions, studies, participates in debates about the purpose of art, and attends evening classes at the Academy of Arts.

After graduating from St. Petersburg University and passing military service M.A. Vrubel, in 1880 became a student at the Academy of Arts. Vrubel developed a close relationship with another Russian artist at the Academy, V. Serov. And in 1886 he met K. Korovin. His teachers were P. Chistyakov and I. Repin. He was critical of modern art. For example, he told teacher Repin to his face that he couldn’t draw. For his statements, Vrubel received the reputation of an arrogant person, although he looked modest and shy. From memoirs it is known that Vrubel performed in the most different images. Either he is a “noble gentleman” dressed to the nines (his father was a Pole), then he is dressed in a black velvet suit, trousers and stockings like a Venetian from a painting by Titian, then he surrounds himself strange people: snobs, revelers, circus performers, Italians, poor people, alcoholics (as friend Korovin said).

In 1884, Vrubel left the Academy. On the recommendation of Chistyakov, he goes to Kyiv to A. Prakhov to restore the ancient paintings of the St. Cyril Church. The Russian artist spent six years in Kyiv, studying Byzantine icon painting under the guidance of Prakhov, and also worked in the Vladimir Cathedral. Vrubel's iconographic daring caused confusion, which is why in 1889 he was removed from this work. Then he moved to Moscow. Here his life and quest are connected with the Moscow house and estate near Moscow in Abramtsevo, owned by the famous art lover, philanthropist and inspirer of the famous art circle, Sava Mamontov. In addition to painting, at this time Vrubel took up sculpture, was engaged in ceramics, design, decoration theatrical productions, decorative panels. In 1890, his painting “Seated Demon” saw the light of day. This picture was conceived back in Kyiv. The painting subsequently became a symbol of the coming era - the era of symbolism, religious reformism, which tempted the then secular culture.

In 1896, Vrubel's first exhibition took place, which was the result of a scandal. The commissioned paintings by Mamantov were rejected by the Academy of Arts, designated as “not artistic.” These were two works: “Princess Dream” and “Mikula Selyanovich”. As a protest, Mamontov organized the exhibition “Vrubel Panels”.

Immediately after the exhibition, Vrubel married the singer Nadezhda Zabela; the young people got married in the summer in Geneva. At the invitation of Mamontov, Zabele becomes the leading artist of his private opera.

Over the next five years, the Russian artist created all his most famous works– it was a fruitful period of his life. He exhibited a lot - at the exhibitions of the “World of Art”, the Vienna Secession, “36”... Although the same A. Benois was always very critical of his pictorial innovations.

In 1899, Vrubel lost his father, and in 1901 his son Savva was born, with a congenital defect - a “cleft lip” - which made a painful impression on the artist. At the beginning of 1902, V. Bekhterev discovered that he had incurable disease(taste of the spinal cord), which threatened with madness. In 1903, Vrubeby’s young son died, a year after his portrait was painted. This is how Vrubel turns into a permanent resident psychiatric clinics. Not long before this, he painted a picture, terrible in its doom, “The Defeated Demon.” During periods of darkness, the artist fell either into delusions of grandeur or into complete self-abasement.

Before 1906, there were periods of enlightenment when the artist began to work intensively. In 1905 he was elected academician of painting. This was the last event perceived by his mind. In 1906 he became blind.

The life of the famous Russian artist M.A. Vrubel ended within the walls of the St. Petersburg clinic of Dr. Bari. At the funeral, A. Blok called the artist the author of “drawings stolen from eternity” and “the messenger of other worlds.”

Vrubel was lonely and perplexed as a person, and his paintings were not understood and not accepted by people. Only at the end of his life, when he ended up in a psychiatric hospital, his paintings became famous.

Famous paintings by M.A. Vrubel

The painting “Pan” (1899) opens a series of “nocturnes” by the Russian artist. The continuation was the paintings “The Swan Princess” and “Lilac”. N. Zabela was the niece of N. Ge, who influenced Vrubel’s night stories. Ge was considered a master of night color.

Pan character Greek mythology, depicted, however, by Vrubel under the influence of Russian folklore, which he loved so much at that time. Pan, the deity of forests and fields, is a symbol of the night, which is a window into other worlds inaccessible to daytime consciousness.

The background of the picture is a Russian landscape. God seems to grow out of a mossy stump, and around him are fields, rivers, and birches, asleep in the silence of the night. The eyes of God, blue, luminous, amaze with their bottomlessness. From Greek mythology, only the pipe is involved in the picture. According to mythological stories, Pan was a judge in shepherd's pipe competitions. The half-horn of the moon fills the space of the picture with fantastic light, simultaneously echoing the horns of the deity.

Painting “Flying Demon” (1899) – unfinished work. The theme of the demon worried Vrubel all his life and in this work he returns to it again. This picture is a hymn of freedom and beauty. At this time, Vrubel was reading the works of Nietzsche. It is possible that the painting was not completed by the artist because, in an effort to show freedom, he depicted an image of doom.

The demon's face conveys a premonition of tragedy. Huge eyes, deathly pallor, determination, rough sculpting of the face itself creates the image of “world sorrow”. The elongated figure of the demon conveys the feeling of rapid flight. The distinctive features of Vrubel's paintings are violet and lilac tones and a decorative background.

Vrubel’s painting “The Swan Princess” (1900) is dedicated to N. Zabela, who played the role of the Swan Princess in the play “The Tale of Tsar Saltan.” The composer of the play was Rimsky-Korsakov. This painting was the result of the artist’s friendship with the composer, who recognized N. Zabele. In this work, the artist conveyed a soulful musical image of a fragile and alien creature thrown into our world.

In the background there is a theatrical set - burning orange windows. A lush decorative kokoshnik from Zabela’s stage costume on the head of the Swan Princess. The virtuosity of using a brush is visible in the image of the plumage, the rays of the setting sun play on it. Shimmering colors, subtle transitions of gray and pink make this work almost truly “sound” like unearthly music. This picture is the breakthrough into the otherworld that the Symbolists called for.

The painting “Lilac” (1900) is associated with the farm of N. Ge, Chernigov province, where Vrubel saw thickets blooming lilac. “Lilac” represented the design of the pictorial language of symbolism. This is one of the most complex works Vrubel, he also displayed philosophical meaning, namely, bridging the gap between form-appearance and essence-meaning. The painting “Lilac” reconciled Vrubel with A. Benois, who admitted that while standing near the painting, he smelled spring flowers.

Vrubel calls the heroine of the film Natasha, connecting her with Pushkin’s world. The girl embodies the soul of lilac.

Masterpiece of Vrubel M.A. – painting “Demon Seated”

The painting “Demon Seated” was painted in 1890 and is in the State Tretyakov Gallery, in Moscow. This image was conceived by the Russian artist while working in Kyiv; it is inspired by Lermontov’s poem and is in tune with the era of symbolism. Vrubel worked on the painting already in Moscow, in Mamontov’s house, in the studio provided. Vrubel wrote to his father about his painting: “The demon is not so much an evil spirit as a suffering and mourning spirit, with all this a powerful, majestic spirit.” A. Blok fell in love with the painting, calling it “a symbol of our time.” The artist wrote to his sister: “My search is exclusively in the field of technology. The rest has already been done before me, just choose.” In this he means the appeal of painting to literature. V. Vasnetsov also sensitively depicted literary works in his paintings.

When the artist painted the demon, at the beginning of the work, it fit quite well on the canvas. By the end of the work, the demon had grown so much that the artist had to build on the canvas; in the final version, the Demon is depicted with a cut off head. The background only in this picture is realistic. At the same time, it seems theatrical - fantastic, motionless, decorative. It echoes the emptiness of the soul. The artist himself mentioned more than once that demon is translated from Greek as “soul.” The coloring of the picture is a contrast of colors: the predominant lilac color fights with the occasional orange-golden color. The way Vrubel wrote “the demon” could not be written by any of his contemporaries. The artist boldly dissects a single form into separate facets, turning the world he created into a mosaic of skillfully cut precious stones. Vrubel's “demon” combines beauty, intelligence, greatness, power and at the same time impotence, helplessness (as can be seen from his hopelessly clasped hands). Blok saw the “demon” as “a young man in the oblivion of “Boredom.” The Demon's entire body is made up of metal muscles.

• Virgin and Child

• Tamara in a coffin

• Tamara and the demon

We publish the story of the brilliant Mikhail Vrubel, who was faithful to his creativity until the end of his life.

"The Demon Defeated", 1901-1902

The year 1901 was marked by a major family event - Mikhail Alexandrovich Vrubel and his wife Nadezhda Ivanovna had a son. The couple was preparing for this event very cheerfully, it seemed to them that the birth of a child would not interfere with their elegant and social life, they fantasized about how they would go abroad with the child to exhibit “The Demon”.

“The Demon Seated”, 1890 (before illness)

The spouses were in for a terrible disappointment - the boy was born with a split upper lip, this deeply struck Mikhail Vrubel. From that very moment, his relatives and friends began to notice that something was wrong with the artist.

Mikhail Vrubel with his wife, Nadezhda Ivanovna Zabela-Vrubel, 1892 (before illness)

Vrubel paints a portrait of his son, who was named Savva, and gives his appearance that expression of extreme anxiety that he himself is probably experiencing.

“Portrait of the Artist’s Son,” 1902 (beginning of illness, but before first hospitalization)

At the beginning of 1902, the painting “Demon Defeated” was shown to the public at the World of Art exhibition in St. Petersburg. This is what Vrubel’s wife’s sister, Ekaterina Ivanovna Ge, remembers about that exhibition: “Mikhail Alexandrovich, despite the fact that the painting was already exhibited, rewrote it every day from early morning, and I was horrified to see the change every day. There were days when the “Demon” was very scary, and then deep sadness and new beauty... In general, despite the illness, Vrubel’s ability to create did not leave him, it even seemed to grow, but living with him was already becoming unbearable.”

“The Defeated Demon”, 1901-1902 (started before illness, rewrote it many times)

In March 1902, the artist was first admitted to a private psychiatric hospital. The picture of the illness was dominated by ideas of one’s own greatness; a period of such strong excitement ensued that meetings with even the closest people - his wife and sister - were interrupted for six months.

"Pan", 1899 (before illness)

In September of the same year, Vrubel was transported to the clinic of the psychiatrist Serbsky, wearing only a coat and hat, even without underwear, as they said that he had destroyed all his belongings.

“The Swan Princess”, 1900 (before illness)

In this hospital, things went much better, he wrote completely logical letters to his family, and on the advice of the doctor, he began to paint again.

"Lilac", 1900 (before illness)

On February 18, 1903, Mikhail Vrubel left the clinic, but he was very sad, and by April he was completely “unstuck”: he often cried, was sad, said that he was no good, could not work at all, although he was offered various orders. On May 3, 1903, a misfortune happened - Savvochka died, only child Vrubeli. In the face of this grief, Mikhail Alexandrovich behaved very courageously, personally took charge of organizing the funeral, and tried to support his wife, who was in despair.

“Portrait of N. I. Zabela-Vrubel”, 1904 (during illness)

After the funeral of their son, the Vrubels left for their estate near Kiev, where the artist became very nervous and demanded that he be taken to a hospital as soon as possible. Someone advised that Vrubel be sent to one of the psychiatric clinics in Riga.

One of the versions of the work “Pearl”, written in pastel, approximately 1904 (during illness)

This time the illness was of a completely different nature: there was no trace left of megalomania; on the contrary, it was replaced by complete oppression. Vrubel was despondent and sad, considered himself a nonentity and wanted to lose his life.

“Self-Portrait with a Shell”, 1905 (during illness)

In the fall, the artist’s sister moved him from Riga to Moscow. In a Moscow clinic, he began to draw very successful portraits of patients, but his thoughts were confused; it seemed to Vrubel that both his wife and sister were also patients in a psychiatric hospital.

“Water lilies”, 1890 (before illness)

The drawings made in the clinic were presented at an exhibition of Moscow artists; not a shadow of the disease was visible in them.

"Hamlet and Ophelia", 1884 (before illness)

During this period, Vrubel painted the painting “The Six-Winged Seraphim,” depicting an angel with a burning lamp, a very beautiful thing, made with burning and bright colors.

“Six-winged Seraphim (Azrael)”, 1904 (during illness)

By the spring of 1904, the artist was so ill that doctors and relatives thought that he would not live to see the summer and wanted to take him abroad, but then abandoned these plans. Moscow clinics were closed for the summer, so the psychiatrist Serbsky advised Vrubel to be placed in the psychiatrist Usoltsev’s hospital, which had recently opened in the vicinity of Moscow. Patients in this hospital lived with the doctor's family and enjoyed great freedom.

“Portrait of Doctor F. A. Usoltsev”, 1904 (during illness)

The move to Usoltsev’s clinic brought amazing benefits: Vrubel began to eat (before that he had denied himself food, considering himself unworthy of food), his thoughts became clearer, he drew, wrote letters to family and friends, and two months later he recovered so much that he returned home.

The fence of a psychiatric hospital; Usoltsev’s clinic was located on this site.

After the artist was discharged from the hospital, the Vrubels moved to St. Petersburg, where Mikhail Alexandrovich led an absolutely healthy person: He rented an apartment, installed electricity in it and worked very hard.

"Morning", 1897 (before illness)

During this period, Vrubel began to write his amazing “Pearl”, which is now in the collection of the Moscow Tretyakov Gallery.

“Pearl”, 1904 (during illness)

By the beginning of 1905, Vrubel’s wife began to notice that Vrubel was very agitated; he became intractable, irritable, and spent money excessively on completely unnecessary things. The artist’s wife had to “discharge” the psychiatrist Usoltsev from Moscow, who took Vrubel to his Moscow hospital.

“After the concert” (Portrait of the artist’s wife), 1905 (during illness)

Usoltsev had a calming effect on the patient. Once in the clinic, Vrubel began to sleep, and insomnia has always been one of the dangerous symptoms of his illness. Relatives hoped that this time the illness would not last long, alas, but they were mistaken - excitement in Once again gave way to oppression. Despite his illness, Vrubel did not stop working: he painted a portrait of the entire Usoltsev family, many sick people and the poet Bryusov, who visited the artist.

“Portrait of the poet V. Ya. Bryusov”, 1906 (during illness)

Bryusov left very interesting memories of his first meeting with Mikhail Vrubel, which took place at Usoltsev’s clinic: “To tell the truth, I was horrified when I saw Vrubel. He was a frail, sick man, wearing a dirty, wrinkled shirt. He had a reddish face; eyes like a bird of prey; sticking hair instead of a beard. First impression: crazy! After the usual greetings, he asked me: “Is it you I should write?” And he began to examine me in a special way, artistically, intently, almost soulfully. Immediately his expression changed. Genius shines through the madness.”

Photo of the poet Bryusov.

When Vrubel painted Bryusov, those around him began to notice that something strange was happening to his eyes, the artist was forced to come very close to see the model. New suffering was approaching with terrifying speed; having finished the portrait of Bryusov, Vrubel almost did not see his work.

"Fortune Teller", 1894-1895 (before illness)

Mikhail Vrubel understood the horror of his situation: the artist, whose world was fabulously beautiful, is now almost blind... He began to refuse food, saying that if he starved for 10 years, he would see clearly, and his drawing would be unusually good.

“Six-Winged Seraphim”, 1905 (before illness)

The unfortunate artist was now embarrassed by his acquaintances, he said: “Why should they come, I don’t see them.”

“Valkyrie (Portrait of Princess Tenisheva)”, 1899 (before illness)

The outside world had less and less contact with Mikhail Vrubel. Despite all the efforts of his sister and wife, who regularly visited the artist, he plunged into the world of his own dreams: he told something like fairy tales that he would have eyes made of emerald, that he created all his works during the Ancient World or the Renaissance.

"Hansel and Gretel", 1896 (before illness)

During the last year of his life, the artist more and more insistently refused meat, saying that he did not want to eat “slaughter,” so they began to serve him a vegetarian table. Vrubel’s strength gradually left him; sometimes he said that he was “tired of living.”

"Seraphim", 1904-1905 (during illness)

Sitting in the garden in my last summer, he once said: “The sparrows are chirping at me - barely alive, barely alive.” The general appearance of the patient seemed to become more refined, more spiritual. Vrubel walked towards the end with complete calm. When he began to have pneumonia, which then turned into fleeting consumption, he took it calmly. On his last conscious day, before the agony, Vrubel especially carefully cleaned himself up, warmly kissed the hands of his wife and sister and did not speak again.

Photo of M. A. Vrubel, 1897 (before illness)

Only at night, having briefly come to his senses, the artist said, turning to the man who was caring for him: “Nikolai, I’ve had enough of lying here - let’s go to the Academy.” There was some kind of prophetic premonition in these words: within 24 hours Vrubel was solemnly brought in a coffin to the Academy of Arts - his alma mater.

“Bed” (from the series “Insomnia”), 1903-1904 (during illness)

I would like to end the story with the words of the psychiatrist Usoltsev, who, like no one else, appreciated Mikhail Vrubel, understanding the complexity of his brilliant personality: “I often heard that Vrubel’s work is sick creativity. I studied Vrubel for a long time and carefully, and I believe that his work is not only quite normal, but so powerful and durable that even a terrible illness could not destroy it. Creativity was at the core, in the very essence of his mental personality, and, having reached the end, the disease destroyed him... He died seriously ill, but as an artist he was healthy, and deeply healthy.”

“Rose in a glass”, 1904 (during illness)