And Levitan evening ringing. Description of Levitan’s painting “Evening Bells”

Knight at the crossroads

Year of creation: 1882

Size: 167 x 299

Technique: Oil on canvas

1878, when the artist presented traveling exhibition The painting “The Knight at the Crossroads” turned out to be a turning point in the artist’s life. A recognized genre painter, he rushed to unusual for Russian realistic art themes of an epic-fairy-tale nature. Folklore images lived in the artist’s soul for a long time; back in the early 1870s, he completed the earliest sketch of the composition “The Knight”. In 1882, he enlarges and reworks the 1878 painting. The image of a knight on a white horse, stopping in thought in front of a “prophecy” stone in the middle of a swampy plain, seems to resurrect the poetic spirit folk legends. As in them, the heroic-epic beginning is fused in the picture with a lyrical intonation, which is introduced by a sunset landscape with darkening, mysterious distances. Crows, a skull, bones, ancient boulders, a road stretching into the vast distance - all this enhances the anxious mood felt in color scheme canvas. In the measured rhythm of plastic forms, in conveying the breadth of space, even in the use of large-format canvases, Vasnetsov sought to get closer to the epic structure of the epic tale. At the same time, the artist is fascinated by the historical and everyday side. The painting was executed in Vasnetsov’s characteristic free, generalized pictorial manner. An enlarged version of the painting of the same name from 1878, located in the Serpukhov Historical and Art Museum.

Vasnetsov Victor Mikhailovich

Knight at the Crossroads

Creation: 1882

Size: 167 x 299

Technique: Oil on canvas

Victor Vasnetsov’s painting is a free interpretation of the Russian traditional legend of The Three Journeys of Ilya Muromets. The artist depicts the hero in a moment of reflection, before a stone inscribed with the following words: “If you go straight ahead, there will be no life; there is no way forward for he who travels past, walks past or flies past.”Victor Vasnetsov interprets the legend as a real event, depicting the knight in ethnographically and historically authentic armor and in a natural landscape setting. The artist employs literary devices to contrast the forces of lightness and darkness - the lucid figure of the knight on the white horse, the ominous black raven on the stone, the skull and bones scattered across the steppe. The interpretation of the landscape as the endless Russian plain and the loneliness of the thickset rider on the horse lend an epic ring to the picture.

“How can I drive straight - I live without being - there is no way for either a passer-by, or a passer-by, or a flyover. N right to go - to be married. N go alevu - be rich” . An ancient text from Russian epics about Ilya Muromets haunted the artist Viktor Vasnetsov all his life. The topic of choosing a path, when the entire path of life changes dramatically, constantly arose before him. Famous painting“The Knight at the Crossroads” became one of the results of Vasnetsov’s many years of work.

Born into the family of a hereditary clergyman, Viktor Mikhailovich was supposed to become a priest, like all his ancestors, including his father. Enters and practically graduates from Theological Seminary. Having completed only a year of education, with the blessing of his mentors and parents, he leaves his studies at the seminary and goes to St. Petersburg to pursue his dream: to enter the Academy of Arts.

There was practically no money, the aspiring artist rented the cheapest corners, lived from hand to mouth, worked in cheap publishing houses, but entered the academy.

Viktor Vasnetsov was very lucky to meet interesting people. At the Academy of Arts on Vasilievsky Island, among his friends were the colors of Russian painting - Ilya Repin, Valentin Serov, Mikhail Vrubel, Mikhail Nesterov.

Study begins under the guidance of Ivan Kramskoy himself. Later, at the invitation of Repin, Vasnetsov travels to Europe, where he gets acquainted with the work of European artists and studies new creative trends.

Vasnetsov is accepted into the Association of Itinerants. While still studying at the Academy, Victor begins to exhibit his paintings at exhibitions. The canvas “Preference” is bought by philanthropist Pavel Tretyakov for his gallery. Prosperity and money appear. What more could a young artist wish for?

Vasnetsov's soul is rushing about. He respects the creativity of the Itinerants, is grateful to them for their science, but does not want to paint everyday life anymore. Viktor Mikhailovich gravitates towards the Art Nouveau style. A hereditary Slavophile, he wants to write his own Russian story, based on beautiful and ancient Russian folklore.

How will such new art be received? Will paintings be bought? The artist stands in front of the stone of fate, only not with a spear, but with a brush at the ready. And he chooses - Forward!

From the brush of Viktor Vasnetsov come canvases inspired by ancient Russian epics: “After the battle of Igor Svyatoslavovich with the Polovtsians”, “Heroic Leap”, “Dobrynya Nikitich’s fight with the seven-headed serpent”, “Calling of the Varangians”, “Bogatyri” (Three Bogatyrs), “Vityaz” at the crossroads".

Initially, the paintings were received with restraint. Even friends' opinions were divided. Contemporaries were confused: this was completely different from the realist Vasnetsov they knew.

Kramskoy turned out to be the most far-sighted of all. In a letter to Repin, he directly said: “...it is difficult for Vasnetsov to break through the bark of the routine of artistic tastes.”

At the moment of difficult experiences caused by a misunderstanding of creativity, Vasnetsov was warmly and heartily supported by his teacher and friend P.P. Chistyakov:
“...You, most noble Viktor Mikhailovich, are a poet and artist. The Russian spirit smelled so distant, so grandiose, so original in its own way, that I simply became sad: I, a pre-Petrine eccentric, envied you and Koltsov’s poems involuntarily slipped into my soul: “Although the young man’s wings are tied...”

I wandered around the city all day and a string of familiar pictures stretched out and I saw my native Rus'... and quietly passed one after another and wide rivers and endless fields, and villages with Russian churches and you, Russian in spirit, in meaning, dear to me. Thank you, sincere thank you from... a Russian person...»

"Knight…" captivates the viewerits oppressive gloomdesperation and hopelessness. Heavy thoughts overwhelmed the warrior, forcing him to bow his head in thought. The war horse, his faithful companion, echoing the feelings and thoughts of the hero, also stands with his head bowed. The spear, which had fallen with its tip to the ground, “thought about it.”

It’s all to blame for a gloomy stone blocking the rider’s path with an inscription that does not bode well: “No matter how straight you go, you can’t live, there’s no way for a passer-by, a passer-by, or a flyover.”

The characteristic background adds a gloomy mood. Inhospitable terrain circling over the field crows and the bones of the dead scattered in the grass, creating t the impression of fatality and persistence of fate. On foreground the remains of a horse and a man pointing yutthat there were already brave men, but they laid their violent heads in the ground. The general tension is complemented by the bloody glow of the sunset. Even the water depicted in the distance is associated with a dead swamp.The threat is in the air.

Warrior Pose speaks of great fatigue. ABOUT he hesitates, hesitating immediately enter into battle.

The pose and appearance of the horse confirm the assumption that the travelers have not known rest for many days. Horse bowed his head wearily. Neither the wind nor the excitement of battle develops his tail and mane. They hang limply, demonstrating extreme fatigue.

P the sunset evening sky, as if talking about the possible imminent decline of life, enhances the impression e from the presented image of the knight and the fate of the Russian heroes fighting for peace on Mother Earth.

TO The spear that the knight holds in his hand is intended for foot soldiers, and not for horsemen. The special finishing of the lower part of the shaft is inconvenient and even dangerous for them.With this detail the artist states: despite the fatigue, in the gardener is ready fight with the enemy, even if you lose your horse. The Knight stands at a crossroads, but he has nothing to choose.A plan for a future fierce battle is brewing in my head. Nno matter what, he is determined and ready to fight, no matter what fate awaits him ahead.After all, he is a Knight! His destiny is to protect the Russian Land from the enemy! A real warrior has no choice left or right, only forward!

Vasnetsov has always been distinguished by his gradual movement towards a masterpiece. All his great paintings necessarily had many predecessors. The masterpiece was hatched in the master’s head for years.

In 1877, Viktor Vasnetsov wrote the sketch “Warrior in a Helmet with Chainmail.” It is curious that he posed for the figure of a warrior younger brother artist Arkady (Apollinaris), also great historical artist, whose paintings we know from school history textbooks.

Gradually, the composition of the work begins to emerge, where the equestrian knight stopped in front of the “prophecy stone” on which his future fate is inscribed.

Plot new painting inspired by the ancient epic “Ilya Muromets and the Robbers”. The heroes completely captured the artist’s consciousness. In 1877, work on the first version was completed.

As a result, Vasnetsov exhibited the painting at the VI Traveling Exhibition in 1878.

The picture was well received. In the press there are only laudatory and positive reviews. “Warrior in a Helmet with Chain Mail” was sold into private hands and is now in the Serpukhov Art Museum.

The final version of the painting, the one that can now be seen in the Russian Museum in St. Petersburg, was painted in 1882 specifically for the collection famous philanthropist and the creator of the Private Opera Savva Mamontov.

Viktor Vasnetsov and Savva Mamontov were family friends. Every summer the Vasnetsovs rented a dacha in Akhtyrka, next to the Mamontovs’ estate – Abramtsevo.

Viktor Mikhailovich and his family were a welcome guest at the Mamontovs, drew their children, and with his own hands made a fairy-tale gazebo “The Hut on Chicken Legs,” to the delight of the children.

“The Knight at the Crossroads,” the description of which, as well as rave reviews in the press, became known to Mamontov, aroused the desire of the patron to have such a picture in his personal collection.

Initially, the knight was facing the viewer. By unfolding the figure of the horseman, the artist thereby directed everything the viewer's attention to the fortune-telling stone. It is the inscription inscribed on it that becomes key point the whole picture.

It's scary, ominous all around. The gloomy gray stone has darkened with time. The once white boulder is overgrown with moss. The inscription on it is ominous. Some letters have been erased. Skulls look with empty eye sockets at the brave knight, human and horse bones, dried by the winds and the scorching sun, turn white in the grass.

More than ten The artist devoted years of creativity to the creation of “The Knight at the Crossroads.”

“The Knight at the Crossroads”

The question of choosing a path in a person’s life is posed in this painting by Vasnetsov very spicy . The emphasis is solely on individual self-determination. Everything depends only on free choice, from the will of everyone. Which path should I take? Go ahead, risking everything, even your own lifesouth, or turn to the side and take an easier road?

Each reader, thoughtfully looking back at his personal life, will probably find three or four cases when he was faced with a choice, on the decision of which the further course of his fate depended.

It could be a serious situation, like in the picture, or a seemingly random quick episode. And only from the height of the past years one can see: here there was a turn, here I could have acted differently and life would have gone differently...

The painting “The Knight at the Crossroads” has not lost its relevance today.

Many people, unfortunately, would choose for themselves two easy paths to success, although in most cases this ease is illusory. Enough most of young people dream of solving their problems by successfully getting married, while gaining access to other people's wealth. Another mirage.

Rich people are not particularly keen to allow anyone access to their capital. The destiny of such people is to temporarily serve new wealthy relatives.

Only the first, most difficult and dangerous path, for those who want to find exactly their place in the sun. This path is very thorny. In modern cemeteries there are whole pieces better land occupied by the graves of young children, approximately the same age. These are the seekers better life from the nineties...

But not everything is so gloomy. You can work all your life, for example as an electrician, have good family, loving wife, raise children, then grandchildren. This is also a choice and not a bad one. It's impossible for everyone to be a billionaire. Of course, you want to live richer, better: the main question is the price, how do you need to pay for it?

Russia has always been a country of unexpected ups and downs, unlike the West, where the elites have long been established and do not allow strangers in.

In Russia, under certain circumstances, an intelligent and determined person can go from zero to very great heights. A striking example is our country's president, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin. A man from a simple family, having gone through a difficult path full of dangers, became the leader of a huge country.

But let's return to Viktor Vasnetsov. The fabulous heroic cycle brought him well-deserved fame, prosperity for his family, and respect in society.

The last painting by Vasnetsov acquired by Pavel Tretyakov, popularly known as, was called “Bogatyrs”. The artist worked on it for twenty years.

It would seem that everything is fine, but Viktor Mikhailovich Once again sharply turns the boat of fate.

The restless artist again stood at the fateful stone and chose. The paintings are set aside long years, Vasnetsov takes on the painting of the Vladimir Cathedral in Kyiv.

As always, he did it very dignified and brilliantly. But this is the story of another masterpiece!

Choice life path, the main idea of ​​the picture. Vasnetsov is an artist - a philosopher who poses important questions to his viewer. What will you do?

The painting “The Knight at the Crossroads” was painted by V. M. Vasnetsov under the influence of Russian folk tale"Ilya Muromets and the robbers." The first sketches for this plot date back to the early 1870s.

The first version of the work was completed in 1877, and a year later the author presented it to the public at the VI Traveling Exhibition. In 1882, the final version was released, which was intended as a gift for Savva Ivanovich Mamontov.

In the center of the composition is the figure of the hero himself - Ilya Muromets. At first V. M. Vasnetsov planned to turn the figure of the warrior towards the viewer, but in final version The view of the knight opens from the back from the side, and his face is not visible.

Ilya Muromets sits on a powerful war horse white and is armed with a spear, a mace, a shield and a bow with a quiver full of arrows. His entire figure is monumental, expressing tired determination.

The thoughtfulness of his posture is reflected in his head tilted slightly downwards and his spear tilted downwards. The author wants to show the unity of thoughts of the warrior and his brave horse: the horse’s pose repeats the figure of Ilya Muromets, it also bows its head, while standing confidently on strong legs.

In front of the character there is a gloomy stone with the inscription “No matter how straight you go - you will not live - there is no way for the passer-by, nor the passer-by, nor the flyover,” the text completely repeats the epic. The words following this phrase, already known to any resident of Russia, were hidden and partially erased by the author during the processing process.

The general mood of the picture is emphasized by the gloomy background. The swampy terrain, inhospitable skinny vegetation, stones of gloomy gray, green and brown tones scattered around, as well as bones scattered on the ground and a raven flying over the field make it clear that it is not easy for a glorious warrior in a foreign land. He is faced with a responsible choice, and it is difficult for him to make the right decision.

In addition to the description of the painting “The Knight at the Crossroads” by V. M. Vasnetsov, our website contains many other descriptions of paintings by various artists, which can be used both in preparation for writing an essay on the painting, and simply for a more complete acquaintance with the work of famous masters of the past .

When we look at the painting “The Knight at the Crossroads,” the first image that comes to our mind is, of course, Ilya Muromets, the hero of epics and legends. But in the title of the painting, as well as in the artist’s idea, no name appears. Before writing this masterpiece, Viktor Vasnetsov drew many sketches, sketches and sketches. Were completely different variants of this painting: at the beginning, in some sketches the hero was depicted facing the viewer. The composition included a road. But in the end, it was more important for the artist to show the stone with the inscription and the field dotted human bones. At the same time, he completely removed the road and left one of the three sayings: “If you go straight, you won’t be alive.” Most likely, with this saying, Vasnetsov wanted to emphasize the doomed and hopeless fate of the hero, in his person showing the senselessness of military actions. This saying is also reinforced by the gloomy landscape: the remains of fallen soldiers next to a stone, the evening sky and a small flock of crows.

From the start of work on the painting to its completion it took Vasnetsov fifteen years. Of course, he was simultaneously working on other canvases. But an interesting fact that many art historians argue about is that the knight is holding an infantry spear, not a horse one. This detail surprises everyone because in all the sketches and sketches the hero never has an infantry spear; it is present only in the final version. What did the famous Russian painter want to say with this striking difference, one can only guess. In general, this masterpiece is very different from other paintings; it stands out for its pessimistic mood, which is completely atypical for the artist’s works.

Year of painting: 1878.

Dimensions of the painting: 79 x 147 cm.

Material: canvas.

Writing technique: oil.

Genre: mythological painting.

Style: romanticism, symbolism.

Gallery: State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia.

Other paintings by the artist:

Description of the painting by Viktor Vasnetsov “Alyonushka”

Description of the painting by Viktor Vasnetsov “Bogatyrs”

Description of the painting by Viktor Vasnetsov “Gamayun, the prophetic bird”

B The original theme, which began with the painting “After the Battle of Igor Svyatoslavich with the Polovtsians,” received further development V series of works, the main character of which is the hero-knight. The first experience dates back to 1870, when Vasnetsov painted the watercolor “Bogatyr”. It was this small composition, still of a sketchy nature - a warrior sitting on a horse and looking into the distance - that became the prerequisite for the appearance of one of the most significant work Vasnetsov "The Knight at the Crossroads". The artist was sometimes reproached (and sometimes rightly) for being too beautiful and decorative, but the depth and philosophical meaning No one would dare deny this work.

The picture is based on the epic "Ilya Muromets and the Robbers", but the appeal to literary source- just a reason to reflect on the eternal Russian question “what to do?” In Russia in the 1870s. the problem of choosing a path was especially urgent - the ideas of populism were already beginning to become obsolete, and the path of violence, terrorist ideas, naturally, could not be approved by society. In more in the narrow sense The plot expressed Vasnetsov’s own search for his own path in art. “This is an expression of my personal thoughts,” he said.

Before us is the twilight steppe, illuminated dim light dying dawn. On the battlefield, strewn with skulls, there stands a stone, and next to it, a dejected horseman with a lowered spear stopped in deep thought.

Bogatyr. 1870s
State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow

The first sketches for “Vityaz” appeared when the artist was just over twenty years old. The Vasnetsov house-museum contains many sketches representing the long process of searching for images of a hero, a stone, a field strewn with bones... One of the sketches, “A Warrior in a Helmet with Chainmail,” was written based on the artist’s brother Arkady. The idea was hatched for a long time and only in 1877 was it fully formed into a painting, which was exhibited at the Sixth Traveling Exhibition. In this first version, the knight was turned to face the viewer and carefully read a detailed inscription explaining what would happen if he went straight, right or left.

The canvas earned the approval of critic V. Stasov, but did not satisfy the artist himself. It took several more years to think about the new idea. In the second version, the size of the canvas increased, and the figure of the hero gained monumentality. Now we don’t see the knight’s face; it’s more important for the artist to focus on the inscription. “No matter how straight you go, you can’t live, there’s no way for a passer-by, a passer-by, or a flyover.” “The following inscriptions: “to go to the right - to be married; go to the left - be rich" - are not visible on the stone, I hid them under the moss and erased part of them," Vasnetsov explained in a letter to Stasov, who took an active part in the work on the painting. Thus, the viewer’s attention is drawn to the gloomy prophecy, and it becomes clear that the knight has no other path, only this disastrous one. And if we look more closely, we will see that in front of the knight... there is no road!

What is this? Sad irony the author over the futility of all attempts of the Russian people to find the right way? One thing is consoling - the epic says that the hero, who was not afraid of the dire warning, managed to turn his fate around, which still instills some optimism in the viewer...