Original paintings of the master of battle painting Vereshchagin in the Museum of Cherepovets

An exhibition dedicated to the anniversary of Vasily Vereshchagin, the great master of battle painting, whose skill is known and highly appreciated by art connoisseurs around the world, is open at the Art Museum of Cherepovets. It will be possible to visit it until December 10th. This year, Vasily Vereshchagin turned 170 years old.

Residents of Cherepovets had the opportunity, in addition to graphic works stored in the museum, and high-quality reproductions of Vereshchagin’s paintings, to see three paintings by the artist, which had never been shown to the public before. These canvases were brought to Cherepovets specially for the exhibition from the storehouse of the Tretyakov Gallery. To arrange the exposition of the exhibition, its organizers came up with an interesting idea - next to the portrait of the hero of the day, Vereshchagin’s original works are placed on a black background, and their copies and reproductions of paintings are on the background of white walls.

The plots of paintings by Vereshchagin were not invented. The artist served as an officer in the Russian army, participated in hostilities. Creating his works, Vereshchagin believed that his task was to convey the truth about the war to humanity through creativity, not embellishing reality, paying tribute to the true heroes with his canvases, rather than ostentatious heroism.

Residents of Cherepovets expected that they would be able to see the original of Vereshchagin’s painting "The Apotheosis of War", which is considered the main painting of the artist. This picture to this day can be called a symbol of the era with its ongoing wars. Unfortunately, only its copy is shown at the exhibition.

The exposition of the exhibition includes the only large-scale canvas by Vereshchagin - “Attack by surprise”, which was given the greatest attention of the audience. The artist’s patriotism is shown not by praising the power of weapons, but by representing the horror of war, protesting against it.

Ludmila Trautmane