Russian fairy tales and epics, permeated with magic, inhabited by heroes familiar from an early age, excited and inspired poets, artists, composers. The fairy-tale plot received a special development in Russian culture in the 19th century, when creators of different artistic forms worked in a single impulse - composers staged operas based on the fairy tales of writers, and artists were inspired by theatrical performances.
The Swan Princess
This is how Mikhail Aleksandrovich Vrubel's (1856-1910) beautiful painting The Swan Princess was created, which adorns one of the halls of the Tretyakov Gallery. Fascinated by the opera N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov's "The Tale of Tsar Saltan" based on the story of the fairy tale of the same name by A. S. Pushkin, the artist first drew sketches of theatrical scenery and costumes. Then a portrait of the Swan Princess appeared, the part of which was performed by the artist's wife. However, the fabulous winged beauty from the picture no longer resembles the surviving photographs of the singer - she is original and tragic, like many images of M. A. Vrubel.
Storyteller
Perhaps the most famous paintings expressing the spirit and beauty of Russian fairy tales are the masterpieces of Viktor Mikhailovich Vasnetsov (1848-1926). From early childhood, Vasnetsov absorbed the spirituality of the Russian land: following the example of his father, he was going to become a priest. But without finishing one class at the seminary, the future artist listened to the call of his heart and entered the Academy of Arts. Since then, all his life, he tried to convey to other people the magic that he himself felt - the run of the Gray Wolf with Ivan Tsarevich through the dense forest, the flight of a fairy carpet over the Russian expanses, the melancholy of the younger princess of the underworld.
The richest collection of works by V. M. Vasnetsov can be seen in his house-museum, which looks like a fairytale tower.
The artist worked on the famous painting "Heroes" for about twenty years - it became the pinnacle of his work. Three monumental figures of Russian fellows personify the strength, honor, dignity of the people serving for the glory of their land.
Pictures familiar from childhood
The creativity of A. S. Pushkin was inspired not only by composers. Ilya Yakovlevich Bilibin (1876-1942), after a long work on his own style, became the best, canonical illustrator of Pushkin. His style of painting, "Bilibino", consisted in strict graphic lines, colored with bright watercolors, in an abundance of Russian folk decor.
At first, the artist was not interested in Russian fairy tales, and he was engaged in portrait and landscape painting. However, in 1899, at the exhibition, he saw a painting by V. M. Vasnetsov's "Heroes" and was so amazed by this epic canvas that since then he devoted his whole life to painting Russian fairy tales.
The namesake of the famous painter, Yuri Alekseevich Vasnetsov (1900-1973) illustrated children's nursery rhymes, jokes and folk songs. His lively and funny pictures have been reprinted in children's books for more than half a century.
Sea kingdom
The great influence of V. M. Vasnetsov also influenced the work of another Russian artist - Ilya Efimovich Repin (1844-1930), becoming the prototype of the protagonist of the painting "Sadko". I. E. Repin depicted the moment of the Novgorod epic, when the sea king shows his daughters to the guslar Sadko. A string of beauties walk in front of the Russian musician, but he only looks where he fancies the silhouette of his beloved girl Chernava. The painting was bought by the future Tsar Alexander III, and the artist received the title of academician for it.
