The author of the painting is the Swan Princess. Essay based on Vrubel's painting "The Swan Princess". In Slavic mythology, the goose and swan have the gift of speech

Days of free visits to the museum

Every Wednesday you can visit the permanent exhibition “Art of the 20th Century” in the New Tretyakov Gallery for free.

The right to free access to exhibitions in the Main Building on Lavrushinsky Lane, the Engineering Building, the New Tretyakov Gallery, the V.M. House-Museum. Vasnetsov, museum-apartment of A.M. Vasnetsova is provided on the following days for certain categories of citizens first come first serve basis:

First and second Sunday of every month:

for students of higher educational institutions of the Russian Federation, regardless of the form of study (including foreign citizens-students of Russian universities, graduate students, adjuncts, residents, assistant trainees) upon presentation of a student card (does not apply to persons presenting student cards “student-trainee” );

for students of secondary and secondary specialized educational institutions (from 18 years old) (citizens of Russia and CIS countries). Students holding ISIC cards on the first and second Sunday of each month have the right to free admission to the “Art of the 20th Century” exhibition at the New Tretyakov Gallery.

every Saturday - for members of large families (citizens of Russia and CIS countries).

Please note that conditions for free admission to temporary exhibitions may vary. Check the exhibition pages for more information.

Attention! At the Gallery's box office, entrance tickets are provided at a nominal value of “free” (upon presentation of the appropriate documents - for the above-mentioned visitors). In this case, all services of the Gallery, including excursion services, are paid in accordance with the established procedure.

Visiting the museum on holidays

On National Unity Day - November 4 - the Tretyakov Gallery is open from 10:00 to 18:00 (entrance until 17:00). Paid entrance.

• Tretyakov Gallery in Lavrushinsky Lane, Engineering Building and New Tretyakov Gallery - from 10:00 to 18:00 (box office and entrance until 17:00)
• Museum-apartment of A.M. Vasnetsov and the House-Museum of V.M. Vasnetsova - closed

Waiting for you!

Please note that the conditions for discounted admission to temporary exhibitions may vary. Check the exhibition pages for more information.

The right to preferential visits The Gallery, except in cases provided for by a separate order of the Gallery management, is provided upon presentation of documents confirming the right to preferential visits to:

• pensioners (citizens of Russia and CIS countries),
• full holders of the Order of Glory,
• students of secondary and secondary specialized educational institutions (from 18 years old),
• students of higher educational institutions of Russia, as well as foreign students studying at Russian universities (except for intern students),
• members of large families (citizens of Russia and CIS countries).

Free visit right The main and temporary exhibitions of the Gallery, except in cases provided for by a separate order of the Gallery’s management, are provided to the following categories of citizens upon presentation of documents confirming the right of free admission:

• persons under 18 years of age;
• students of faculties specializing in the field of fine arts at secondary specialized and higher educational institutions in Russia, regardless of the form of study (as well as foreign students studying at Russian universities). The clause does not apply to persons presenting student cards of “trainee students” (if there is no information about the faculty on the student card, a certificate from the educational institution must be presented with the obligatory indication of the faculty);
• veterans and disabled people of the Great Patriotic War, combatants, former minor prisoners of concentration camps, ghettos and other places of forced detention created by the Nazis and their allies during the Second World War, illegally repressed and rehabilitated citizens (citizens of Russia and the CIS countries);
• conscripts of the Russian Federation;
• Heroes of the Soviet Union, Heroes of the Russian Federation, Full Knights of the Order of Glory (citizens of Russia and CIS countries);
• disabled people of groups I and II, participants in the liquidation of the consequences of the disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant (citizens of Russia and CIS countries);
• one accompanying disabled person of group I (citizens of Russia and CIS countries);
• one accompanying disabled child (citizens of Russia and CIS countries);
• artists, architects, designers - members of the relevant creative Unions of Russia and its constituent entities, art critics - members of the Association of Art Critics of Russia and its constituent entities, members and employees of the Russian Academy of Arts;
• members of the International Council of Museums (ICOM);
• employees of museums of the system of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation and the relevant Departments of Culture, employees of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation and ministries of culture of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation;
• volunteers of the “Sputnik” program - entrance to the exhibition “Art of the 20th Century” (Krymsky Val, 10) and “Masterpieces of Russian Art of the 11th - early 20th Century” (Lavrushinsky Lane, 10), as well as to the House-Museum of V.M. Vasnetsov and the Apartment Museum of A.M. Vasnetsova (citizens of Russia);
• guides-translators who have an accreditation card of the Association of Guides-Translators and Tour Managers of Russia, including those accompanying a group of foreign tourists;
• one teacher of an educational institution and one accompanying a group of students from secondary and secondary specialized educational institutions (with an excursion voucher or subscription); one teacher of an educational institution that has state accreditation of educational activities when conducting an agreed training session and has a special badge (citizens of Russia and CIS countries);
• one accompanying a group of students or a group of conscripts (if they have an excursion package, subscription and during a training session) (Russian citizens).

Visitors to the above categories of citizens receive a “Free” entrance ticket.

Please note that the conditions for discounted admission to temporary exhibitions may vary. Check the exhibition pages for more information.

Vrubel Mikhail Alexandrovich is one of the famous Russian artists of the 19-20 centuries.
On his canvases he brings to life Russian folk tales, epics, and legends.
Having once visited S. Mamontov’s private opera, Mikhail Vrubel was inspired to paint the painting “The Swan Princess”.
It is dedicated to the character of the opera N.A.
Rimsky-Korsakov based on the well-known fairy tale by A.S.
Pushkin "The Tale of Tsar Sultan".

The canvas is simply amazing.
In the painting, the author depicted the moment when the princess turns into a swan.
A very beautiful girl turned to face us and looked mysteriously from behind.
On her head is an expensive crown decorated with precious stones.
A long veil falls from her to the floor, sparkling with jewels along the edge.
Under the veil you can see a dark thick braid.
You can read sadness and loneliness on your face.
The eyes are very expressive and you can see farewell in them.
She must again become a lonely bird and sadly float on the waves.
We cannot see her clothes, since her whole body is already covered with feathers, only her face and hands remain.
Large wings spread out on both sides of the girl, as if they want to quickly hide her from our eyes.

In the distance of the picture you can see the castle of King Sultan.
This is the only brown spot in the picture.
All other colors are white and blue.
The sky in the background is dark and dark and you can see how the sea is raging, how the waves are hitting the shore and foaming with anger.
Nobody wants to part with such a beauty.
And only the fact that the Swan Princess is very light against the entire dark background tells us that she will return to us in the form of a beauty.

Mikhail Vrubel, with his reproduction of the Swan Princess, wants to show us how beautiful our women are and despite the fact that they are fragile and defenseless, without their support and support no king would have such power.

"The Swan Princess". Deep meaning is contained in just two words. The charm of native nature, the proud and gentle soulfulness of a fairy-tale bird girl.
The secret spells of yet conquered evil witchcraft.
Loyalty and firmness of true love. The power and eternal force of good.
All these features are combined into a wonderful image, marvelous in its unfading freshness and that special majestic beauty characteristic of folk tales.
What a gift it was necessary to have in order to translate this pure and chaste appearance into a picture!

Tell in the language of painting about a dream, about the incredible. Only a great artist who understood the beauty of Rus' could do this.

“Wings are native soil and life,” wrote Mikhail Vrubel, and in another address to a close comrade he exclaimed:

“How much beauty we have in Rus'... And you know what stands at the head of this beauty - a form that has been created by nature forever. And without references to the code of international aesthetics, but it is endlessly dear because it is the bearer of the soul, which will be revealed to you alone and will he tell you yours?"

In this way, very few people are given the ability to understand the depth of the most intimate in art, and that is why Vrubel was able to write a masterpiece of our school, because he loved the Fatherland, the people, and the beauty.

"The Swan Princess". The wide-open, enchanting eyes of the princess look into the very depths of your soul. It's like she sees everything.

That’s why, perhaps, the sable eyebrows are raised so sadly and a little surprised, and the lips are closed. She seems ready to say something, but remains silent.

The turquoise, blue, emerald semi-precious stones of the patterned kokoshnik crown flicker, and it seems that this tremulous radiance merges with the reflection of dawn on the crests of the sea waves and with its ghostly light it seems to envelop the delicate features of a pale face, making the rustling folds of a semi-airy white veil, held against the breeze, come to life wind with a girl's hand.

Huge snow-white but warm wings emit pearlescent, pearly light. The sea is agitated behind the Swan Princess. We can almost hear the measured sound of the surf on the rocks of the miracle island, shining with crimson, scarlet, welcoming magic lights.

Far, far away, at the very edge of the sea, where it meets the sky, the rays of the sun broke through the gray clouds and lit up the pink edge of the evening dawn...

It is this magical flickering of pearls and precious stones, the trembling of dawn and the glare of the flames of the island lights that creates the fabulous atmosphere that permeates the picture, making it possible to feel the harmony of high poetry sounding in the folk legend. Incredible goodness is poured into the canvas.

Maybe sometimes only the slight rustle of wings and the splash of waves break the silence. But there is so much hidden songfulness in this silence. There is no action or gesture in the picture. Peace reigns.

Everything seems to be enchanted. But you hear, hear the living heartbeat of a Russian fairy tale, you seem to be captivated by the gaze of the princess and are ready to endlessly look into her sad kind eyes, admire her charming, sweet face, beautiful and mysterious.

The artist captivated us with the magic of his magical muse.
http://www.art-catalog.ru/picture.php?id_picture=1319

"The Swan Princess" is essentially a stage portrait of Zabela. This type of theatrical portrait was popular among many Russian symbolist artists; just remember Konstantin Somov and Alexander Golovin. Vrubel paints his wife against the background of his own scenery for “The Tale of Tsar Saltan”, in a costume he created for the play. But the stage convention was transformed by the powerful onslaught of Vrubel’s brush, transformed into a fairy tale. Before the eyes of the viewer, the miracle of the transformation of the sea surf into the wings of the Swan Princess, also likened to her precious clothes, takes place. The incorrect light of sunset transforms reality, making it unsteady and ambiguous. This kind of poetics of allusions and associations, characteristic of symbolism, is inherent in many of Vrubel’s works. The pearly color of the picture seems to be generated by music. Vrubel had the gift of synesthesia - the ability to see music in color. “I can endlessly hear the orchestra, especially the sea. Every time I find new charm in it, I see some fantastic tones,” Vrubel said about Rimsky-Korsakov’s opera “Sadko.”
The unsteady and gentle, mysterious and exciting image of the Princess retains the lyricism and sincerity of Zabela’s singing.
Text - Valery Maloletkov.

In Vrubel’s painting, the mysterious bird with the face of a maiden is unlikely to become a man’s wife, and her farewell, languid gaze, her hand gesture, warning, calling for silence, do not promise well-being. The mood of the picture is alarming: the blue twilight is thickening, the crimson streak of sunset is visible and some evil red lights in the distance are not the same as in the clear city of Ledenets. The princess does not approach, she floats away into the darkness, and only turned around for the last time to make her strange sign of warning. Her face is unusually beautiful: the “indescribable beauty” of fairy-tale princesses, and her magically shimmering plumage, smoky, shimmering pink, and an airy veil, and kokoshnik pearls, and shining precious rings. “The Swan Princess” perhaps represents the culmination, crowning and end of the fairy tale theme. Alexander Blok was especially fond of the painting “The Swan Princess”. A photograph of it always hung in his office in Shakhmatovo.

Dry lips, sunken eyes,
The opal moisture of the blue night.
It's good that you can't absorb it,
You can't when your soul doesn't want to
No broken wings in the facet of existence,
Diamonds not cracked in the mirror,
There are drops of life in wounded wounds, but yours is
A calm, unconfused mind.
The earthly cannot express everything,
To penetrate through the thickness of understandings.
Let thin into the eye sockets, like through a window
Closed - flies in and knocks.

Painting by Russian artists
Painting by Mikhail Vrubel “The Swan Princess”. Canvas, oil.

Vrubel felt the power of the heroic epic, but, probably, he was closer to more fragile and lyrical images, “melting and slipping away,” similar to those that his wife created on stage. A large string of fairy-tale works is crowned by two famous paintings, which are certainly remembered by everyone who knows Vrubel’s paintings at all: “Pan,” painted in 1899, and, finally, “The Swan Princess” in 1900.
Different opinions have been expressed about the merits of “The Swan Princess” - not everyone agrees to consider it a masterpiece. It does not have that serenity that is so touching in “The Sea Princess” - anxiety and prophetic premonitions suddenly creep into the fairy-tale world. A.P. Ivanov spoke about this picture: “Isn’t it the Virgin of Resentment herself who, in the words of the ancient poem, “splashes her swan wings on the blue sea” before the days of great disasters?”

Yes, Vrubel’s Swan Princess is more likely to originate from the Virgin of Resentment “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” than from the heroine of Pushkin’s “The Tale of Tsar Saltan” or Rimsky-Korsakov’s opera on this plot. In Pushkin and Rimsky-Korsakov it is daytime, bright. Tsarevich Guidon saved her from the evil kite, she becomes Guidon’s wife and arranges everything for everyone’s happiness. In Vrubel’s painting, the mysterious bird with the face of a maiden is unlikely to become a man’s wife, and her languid farewell gaze, her hand gesture, warning, calling for silence, do not promise well-being. The mood of the picture is alarming: the blue twilight is thickening, the crimson streak of sunset is visible and some evil red lights in the distance are not the same as in the clear city of Ledenets. The princess does not approach - she floats away into the darkness and only turned around for the last time to make her strange sign of warning.

Her face is extraordinarily beautiful - indeed, the “indescribable beauty” of fairy-tale princesses, and her magically shimmering plumage, smoky, shimmering pink, and her airy veil, and her kokoshnik pearls, and her shining precious rings. Everything is even “too beautiful” - maybe that’s why not everyone likes this picture now. She is accused of being theatrical. But, I think, it is no more and no less theatrical than Vrubel’s other fantastic paintings: in his “magic theater” “The Swan Princess” perhaps represents the culmination, crowning and end of the fairy-tale theme. There are no direct connections with the stage interpretation of “Tsar Saltan” in the film, and the princess herself does not even look like N.I. Zabela - a completely different person, unlike “The Sea Princess,” where the portrait resemblance is undeniable. N. A. Prakhov found in the face of the Swan Princess similarities with his sister, E. A. Prakhova. Most likely, Vrubel came up with the face of the Princess, in which the features of both his wife and the daughter of the woman he once loved, and perhaps someone else’s, were distantly reflected and merged.

Alexander Blok was especially fond of the painting “The Swan Princess”. A photograph of it always hung in his office in Shakhmatovo. It was inspired by a large poem with the subtitle “To Vrubel.” There are no direct “illustrative” rehashes of Vrubel’s images in it - poetic ideas arise associatively, are inspired, awakened by the picture, its shimmers and flashes of colors, its atmosphere of unclear prophecies, farewell to the past, premonitions of the new...

The distance is blind, the days are without anger, the lips are closed.
In the princess's deep sleep, Blue is empty.
There were days - above the towers
The sunset was blazing.
Gently in white words
Brother called to his brother...

A magical horseman appears:
A white horse, like a cherry blossom...
The stirrups are shining...
His caftan is brocade
Spring has poured.
It spilled - it will disappear in the clouds, It will flare up behind the hill...

There is a sense of turmoil:
There will be springs in eternal change
And the falls are oppressive.
A whirlwind full of visions - the Pigeon Year...
What instant powerlessness?
Time is a light smoke...
We will spread our wings again, We will fly away again!
And again, in a crazy shift
Cutting through the firmament, Let's meet a new whirlwind of visions, Let's meet life and death!

This was written by the young Blok, the author of “Poems about a Beautiful Lady” and “Unexpected Joy”; wrote, standing at a crossroads, saying goodbye to the mystical idylls of his youth. “I have a vital connection with Vrubel,” he would say later. Vrubel knew nothing about this - he did not know either Blok or young Russian poetry in general; he loved Rimsky-Korsakov, Turgenev, Chekhov, Ibsen, he had his own “whirlwind full of visions” and his farewells. “With the Swan Princess,” he said goodbye to the “lack of anger,” the anxietylessness of the Russian epic - the beautiful princess floated away, the fairy tale ended, and again the Demon persistently called, that “monumental Demon” that was postponed for the future.

The painting “The Swan Princess” is one of those works of art that fascinate, that are memorable and push to certain experiences. Today the painting is displayed in the Tretyakov Gallery.

What does the picture say?

The picture is thematic. It depicts a young woman who was drawn from the top image of the main character of “The Tale of Tsar Saltan.” It was the artist, the author of the canvas, Vrubel who worked on the decorations for the famous opera. It is interesting that the role was sung by the wife of a famous artist. Perhaps this is what inspired him to create such a subtle and poetic canvas.

According to critics and art researchers, this painting is the most striking “theatrical,” so to speak, creation of Vrubel. As contemporaries said, the singer’s voice and appearance were surprisingly combined with what she created on stage for the audience. The voice was amazing, it was impossible to compare it with anything, it was both light and gentle, but it combined so many bright colors that it overwhelmed those who listened to it with emotions. At the same time, the voice combined expressiveness and amazing calm.

Everything about this princess is absolutely extraordinary:

• Her eyes are wide, like deep lakes and the endless blue sky;
• Pleasant and mysterious smile;
• Graceful body curves.

Moment of the painting

The canvas conveys exactly the moment when the swan transforms into a mysterious beauty. At this moment, it seems as if everything around is freezing, as if time has stopped and nothing else exists in the world except this beautiful princess, mesmerizing with her beauty. The amazingly beautiful kokoshnik also plays a significant role in the image. It is rich and beautiful, and only emphasizes the beautiful face of the heroine of the picture.

The author conveys anxious anticipation through the absence of the slightest movement. This happens because dusk is gathering, because soon, after a few moments that fly by unnoticed, the viewer can no longer contemplate this beauty. But in the picture it is precisely the moment when she is in front of us, when we turned out to be worthy of the princess paying attention and giving her unique look. It is not only beautiful, but also carries a certain meaning. This is a farewell look. She is sad, and this makes her even more beautiful. The snow-white image gives the heroine innocence and fragility.

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