"The last letter from the front" by Vitaly Smagin will be transferred to the collection of the Irkutsk Art Museum as the artist’s widow

Collection of the Irkutsk Regional Art Museum. V.P. Sukachev on the eve of Victory Day replenished with the work of Vitaly Smagin "Last Letter from the Front." The decision to donate the work to the museum was made by the widow of the artist - Lyudmila Ilyinichna. The painting is dedicated to the father of Vitaly Smagin - George Zakharovich Smagin, who died in the fields of the Great Patriotic War. For his courage in battle, he was awarded the Order of the Red Star, which is also depicted in the picture.

In the center of the composition is the father’s last letter from the front, dated December 1943. This heirloom is carefully stored in the artist’s family. An excerpt from a letter addressed to his wife and sons is reproduced on the canvas: “The anger in me against the fascists is great and this is understandable if you see what the German leaves behind in the villages, what kind of suffering our people doom to. Write soon, I want to know how you live. Vitya and Vova, dad loves you very much. Be healthy, obey your mom, remember your dad. Hello Vienna and Tole. " Vitaly Smagin completed work on this painting in August 2015, a few months before his death.

May 4, 2016 at 15.00 on the street Lenin, 5 a ceremonial transfer of the work as a gift to the museum. Then, during the memorable days dedicated to the 71st anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War, the “Last Letter from the Front” will be presented in the exposition of the Main Building of the Museum.

Vitaly Georgievich Smagin (July 14, 1937, Brattsevo, Moscow Region - December 9, 2015, Irkutsk) - Soviet and Russian painter, monumental artist. People’s Artist of the Russian Federation. Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Arts. Honorary Citizen of Irkutsk. In 1965 he graduated from the Irkutsk Art College. In 1971, he graduated from the Leningrad Higher Industrial Art School named after V.I. Mukhina. In 1982-1986 he was chairman of the Irkutsk Regional Union of Artists. The author of the project of the memorial "Eternal Flame" and the memorial at the Lisikhinsky cemetery in Irkutsk, as well as the memorial cemetery in Pivovarikha.