"Dostoevsky. A Writer’s Diary"

On the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the birth of F. M. Dostoevsky, the Kaluga Museum of Fine Arts and the Kaluga Regional Scientific Library named after V. G. Belinsky will open the third exhibition of the joint project “Dostoevsky. A Writer’s Diary ".

On it, viewers will get acquainted with the final works of the so-called "Great Five Books" by Dostoevsky. The novel "Teenager" was first published in the journal "Otechestvennye zapiski" in 1875, whose original May issue was provided by the Belinsky library. The "teenager" is often called "the most Petersburg novel" by the author for its vivid description of the city, therefore the exhibition presents the work of Mstislav Dobuzhinsky, one of the best graphic artists at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, who has the same subtle feeling for St. Petersburg as FM Dostoevsky.

Three years after the publication of The Teenager, the writer began work on the novel The Brothers Karamazov. At this time, he visited the monastery of the Kaluga diocese, Optina Pustyn, whose description will be included in the novel. The exposition contains two graphic works by Kaluga artists Dmitry Ivanov and Boris Pugachev, illustrating the views of the monastery. Dostoevsky died two months after the completion of the novel, which he dedicated to his beloved wife Anna Grigorievna. In 1882 she published the complete works of F. M. Dostoevsky, and two volumes, which include The Brothers Karamazov, are presented at the exhibition.

The exposition is also supplemented with portraits of the writer made by the famous graphic artist of the first half of the twentieth century Vladimir Favorsky and Moscow artist Nikolai Voronkov.

The second exhibition “Dostoevsky. The Writer’s Diary: “The Great Pentateuch” took place ”will be held from August 19 to October 15, 2021 at the address Kaluga, st. Lenin 103 (IOC).