Interesting facts about the Tretyakov Gallery briefly. Six secrets of the Tretyakov Gallery. Saratov. State Museum of Art

On August 31, 1892, philanthropist Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov proposed to the Moscow City Duma to donate the art gallery he created to the city. The Tretyakov Gallery remains to this day the main cultural place in Moscow, and many secrets are associated with some of the Tretyakov Gallery’s paintings. We will talk about six of them.

Miraculous icon

More than 60 icons were bequeathed to the Tretyakov Gallery, but the most mysterious of them is the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God.

Chroniclers say that the icon saved Moscow from Khan Makhmet-Girey. On the morning of May 21, 1521, the Tatars saw “countless Russian troops” on the other side of the Oka and reported this to the khan with horror. Khan did not believe it and sent scouts to make sure. The messengers actually saw a large army and said: “King, why are you delaying? Let’s run quickly, an immense number of troops are coming towards us from Moscow.” The cruel, powerful Makhmet-Girey retreated.

In September 1999, one of the main Orthodox shrines in Russia was transferred to the Church of St. Nicholas at the Tretyakov Gallery. There it is still stored under bulletproof glass, and special devices maintain a special temperature and humidity regime.

This icon is already more than 9 centuries old, and the layer of varnish on the icon has undergone color and structural changes and has begun to peel off little by little. All this required restoration measures. Over a long period of various restorations, two places on the icon always remained untouched - these are the faces of the Mother of God and the baby.

Truth with a double layer

One of the most mysterious works of the Tretyakov Gallery is Nikolai Ge’s painting “What is Truth?” The canvas depicts a weak, emaciated, but unbroken Christ, addressed by Pontius Pilate. Emperor Alexander III did not like the picture. “Well, what kind of Christ is this? This is the sick Miklouho-Maclay,” the tsar commented.

However, the picture turned out to be not as simple as the autocrat and other art lovers believed. Before the restoration of the painting, an examination was carried out, which showed that under the painting layer there is another work - “Mercy”. The painting “Mercy” was painted in 1879 and the following year was exhibited at the 8th exhibition of the Association of Traveling Art Exhibitions. Critics reacted negatively to “Mercy,” and 10 years later, in 1890, the artist used the canvas to work on a new painting, “What is Truth?” Over time, the top layer of paint became more transparent, and the previously painted image began to appear between the heads of Pilate and Christ.

The work to recognize the old paint layer revealed another surprise. Under the top layer of paint were also early versions of the painting “The Crucifixion”.

Rehabilitation of Venetsianov

Until 1986, until a major renovation of the gallery, Alexey Venetsianov’s painting “Peter the Great. The Foundation of St. Petersburg” hung on the main staircase. Scientists noted the strangeness of the picture: the sky was somehow “non-Venetian,” and the Thunder Stone—the base of the “Bronze Horseman”—looked much smaller than in reality.

In 1986, the painting was transferred to the depository, and in 2005, when the gallery was being prepared for its 150th anniversary, “Peter...” was sent for scheduled restoration. An x-ray taken before restoration showed that the painting had a second layer!

The stone on the second layer looks much larger, and Peter has different eyes there - “Venetianovsky”. In addition, the king's face is different. As experts established, there was a tear in the canvas in the painting, and the restorer, correcting the drawing, eventually “recorded” Venetsianov’s entire creation. The staff uncovered the bottom layer and restored it. As a result, the picture became truly Venetian.

Four bears and two authors

Many Russians call the painting “Morning in a Pine Forest” by Ivan Shishkin and Konstantin Savitsky more prosaically - “Three Bears” - despite the fact that there are not three, but four bears in the painting. This is due to the fact that in Soviet times, “Teddy Bear” candies were sold with a reproduction of this picture on a candy wrapper - and only three bears fit there.

However, the main feature of the painting is not the title, but the signature. Despite the fact that the canvas was painted by two artists (Savitsky painted those same bears, and Shishkin painted a beautiful forest and the light breaking through the trees), only Shishkin’s signature is at the bottom.

The fact is that when Tretyakov acquired the painting, he removed Savitsky’s signature, since in the painting, “from the concept to the execution, everything speaks about the manner of painting, about the creative method peculiar to Shishkin.”

However, Savitsky did not oppose this and noted that he voluntarily renounced copyright.

The painting has changed gender

40 years ago, “Portrait of an Unknown Man in a Tricorne Hat” by Fyodor Rokotov amazed art lovers. It turned out that the portrait depicted not a man, but a woman: under the top layer of paint a brooch and neckline were discovered. Experts learned the history of the painting: one day a close friend ordered a portrait of his beloved wife from Rokotov. But his wife died, and he married a second time. Then a friend asked the artist to “complete” the portrait of the deceased so that he could admire her without offending the feelings of his second wife. Then the painter decided to change the gender of the character in the picture and made him “unknown”.

Understanding art is not as difficult as it seems. To do this, it is not necessary to study for several years to become an art critic. It is enough to talk with experts who will talk about famous paintings in such a way that later in the museum you can see them from an unexpected angle.

Lecturer of the educational project Level One, certified art historian Natalya Ignatova revealed the secrets of the five most mysterious paintings of the Tretyakov Gallery.

News and facts publishes this amazing material for its reader.

“Bogatyrs”, Viktor Vasnetsov, 1898

Viktor Vasnetsov devoted a significant part of his life to the painting with three heroes of epics and fairy tales. The canvas is one of the Tretyakov's record holders for the number of years spent on its creation. The artist made the first sketch in 1871, and completed his masterpiece only in 1898.

Contrary to popular belief that the heroes went out into the field just to take a walk and survey the surroundings, they are ready to rush into battle. The enemy stands in the distance, as if behind the viewer, his presence is evidenced by gathering clouds, hawks that anticipate prey, but the main thing is the extended sword of Dobrynya Nikitich and the bow ready to shoot in the hands of Alyosha Popovich.

The prototype of Ilya Muromets was Emperor Alexander III, the artist painted Dobrynya Nikitich from himself, but the prototype of Alyosha Popovich is not reliably known, he could have been a commoner - Vasnetsov, in the process of working on the picture, painted many portraits of peasants, cab drivers and blacksmiths, who, as it seemed to him, were somewhat similar to famous fairy tale characters.

“Unequal marriage”, Vasily Pukirev, 1862

The plot for the painting was suggested to Vasily Pukirev by his friend, artist Pyotr Shmelkov. He knew well the customs of wealthy and influential people, for whom arranged marriages were commonplace. Pukirev thanked his friend for the idea by depicting him on the right behind the bride’s back. The painter himself is also present in the picture: he painted himself in profile in the image of the best man of the bride with crossed arms. Initially, the artist did not plan to put himself on the canvas: in his place was a friend whose lover was married to an elderly man. Moreover, Pukirev’s friend, due to family circumstances, was forced to attend that unpleasant wedding as a best man.

Subsequently, the friend asked the artist to remove him from the canvas so that mutual friends and relatives would not remember this story again. Then Pukirev wrote himself instead of him. If you visually divide the canvas diagonally from the upper right corner to the lower left, then the bride and her two friends will appear on the right side. While on the left are the relatives and friends of the groom, deliberately depicted as unpleasant people. Thus, the canvas is divided into two semantic parts, as if personifying good and evil. Moreover, the priest ends up on the side of evil. This technique testifies to the artist’s commitment to the principles of realism, thereby raising the question of the role of the church in society.

“Morning in a pine forest”, Ivan Shishkin, Konstantin Savitsky, 1889

Not all sweets lovers know that two artists worked on the famous painting, which was then replicated on chocolate candy wrappers. Shishkin was in charge of the forest, and Savitsky was in charge of the bears. Moreover, it was Savitsky who came up with the plot of the film. There were initially two bears, but then their number grew. Collector Pavel Tretyakov purchased the painting for 4 thousand rubles.

However, it is believed that the collector did not like Savitsky's work. According to legend, Tretyakov said: “What terrible bears!” And Savitsky’s name was blurred out on the canvas: according to one version, it was done by Tretyakov, and according to another, it was the artist himself, who was offended, unable to tolerate criticism from the gallery owner. Shishkin's skill is expressed in the lighting of the forest: on the tops of the pines the first rays of the sun are masterfully painted, which viewers usually do not notice, distracted by the figures of bears.

“The Appearance of Christ to the People”, Alexander Ivanov, 1857

Alexander Ivanov painted the first significant painting based on a biblical story in 1834. It was "The Appearance of the Risen Christ to Mary Magdalene." And just three years later, in 1837, he began creating the main work of his life - the epoch-making canvas “The Appearance of Christ to the People.” The artist worked on the painting for 20 years in Italy. In the process of creating the canvas, he made more than 500 studies and sketches. All connoisseurs of painting in Russia knew that Ivanov was working on a monumental canvas. In May 1858, the painter decided to send the painting to St. Petersburg. According to legend, during the journey the ship was overtaken by a strong storm. The artist rolled the canvas into a pipe and raised it above his head - he chose not to see the death of his creation, but to drown himself if the ship went under water.

However, the canvas still arrived in St. Petersburg, where it was exhibited in one of the halls of the Academy of Arts. The public received the picture coldly - there were complaints about the too small figure of Christ, and about the water, depicted not in an academic manner, but with free strokes. It is curious that Ivanov was ahead of his time in this sense, because later the Impressionists would work in a similar manner. In addition, the canvas turned out to be unfinished. On the left side you can see an old man in a white loincloth, which is reflected in the water as a red spot. In the sketches, the bandage was indeed red, and the artist, apparently, simply forgot to repaint it. A month after the presentation of the work, Ivanov died, and a few hours after his death, Emperor Alexander II purchased the painting for 15,000 rubles. Despite the fact that the amount was substantial, initially the artist, who devoted half his life to this work, was counting on a much larger fee, but, unfortunately, did not manage to receive even this money.

“Moscow courtyard”, Vasily Polenov, 1878

The painting of the Wanderer Vasily Polenov is closely related to another of his works called “Grandma’s Garden.” Both canvases depict the same house in the Arbat area, only from different sides. Polenov wrote his most famous work after moving to Moscow from St. Petersburg and settling in one of the apartments in the building at the intersection of Durnovsky and Trubnikovsky lanes near the Church of the Savior on the Sands.

The view depicted in the painting was from his window. Moreover, it took Polenov very little time to create the masterpiece: in fact, it is a sketch painted from life. For the first time in the history of Russian painting, the artist combined two genres - everyday life and landscape. The public, tired of the gloomy and depressive paintings of the Wanderers, accepted the cheerful sunny picture with delight. No one was even embarrassed by the garbage dump depicted in the lower left corner, which most viewers mistake for a well.

Pavel Tretyakov is the founder of the Tretyakov Gallery. How was the life of this philanthropist? We will talk about this in the article.

Brief information about the life of the great philanthropist

Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov was born on December 27, 1832 in Moscow. His parents were merchants. Throughout his childhood, Pavel Mikhailovich was an excellent assistant to his father at work. He and brother Sergei were inseparable. From an early age they worked together and later created the famous art gallery.

By the end of the 40s of the 19th century, the Tretyakov merchants owned five trading shops. But soon the family breadwinner, Mikhail Zakharovich Tretyakov, fell ill with scarlet fever and died. Pavel and Sergei took full responsibility for the family and trade. After the death of his mother, Pavel Mikhailovich headed a paper spinning factory, where he was very successful.

By nature, Pavel Tretyakov, interesting facts from whose life you will learn further, was a kind and sensitive person. He loved comfort and appreciated art. At work they spoke of him as a businesslike, persistent and firm person. But it cannot be said that he was extremely strict with his subordinates.

Tretyakov's early years

His interest in great art began at the age of twenty, after visiting the Hermitage in St. Petersburg. It was then that the idea arose to collect my own collection of paintings. He understood that collecting a unique collection would take up all his free time, but Pavel was inspired by the idea.

The first paintings were purchased in 1853, the next year he bought nine paintings by old Dutch masters - they decorated his living rooms until Tretyakov’s death. A couple of years later, his collection was replenished with works by N. G. Schilder “Temptation”, V. G. Khudyakov “Finland Smugglers”, followed by the purchase of paintings by I. P. Trutnev, A. K. Savrasov, K. A. Trutovsky, F. A. Bruni, L. F. Lagorio, as well as the famous portrait of the archaeologist Lanci of Italian origin.

The purpose of collecting Pavel Tretyakov was not enrichment and fame, but a love of art and the gift of his collection to the people.

Marriage

The year 1865 was marked for the young philanthropist by his marriage to a twenty-year-old girl, Vera Nikolaevna Mamontova, who was quite educated for that time. The bride was brought up in the same family as him, and had a very warm attitude towards music and art in general. After a while, daughters are born to them, and later a son, Mikhail. But, unfortunately, he grew up as a sickly child and required constant attention. Mikhail's life was short.

Pavel Mikhailovich's activities are aimed at collecting works of his contemporaries and artists - democrats of the national school. The heart of the Tretyakov Gallery is considered to be the works of I. N. Kramskoy, V. I. Surikov and E. Repin.

First steps

Communicating with famous people, Tretyakov decides to create a large hall of portraits of his compatriots and contemporaries. To do this, he created a list of names, according to which Tretyakov accepted orders for portraits.

Pavel Mikhailovich chose the location for the future museum of painting in Lavrushinsky Lane, where he began constructing a luxurious two-story building for the future Tretyakov Gallery. In the summer of 1893, the long-awaited opening took place. Later, the fate of the gallery was decided by the people. It was transferred to the city of Moscow. As a reward, the autocrat offered Pavel Mikhailovich a noble title, but he refused, choosing the merchant class of which he was so proud.

The history of the emergence of the Tretyakov family of merchants

P. Tretyakov came from an old merchant family. The great-grandfather of Pavel and Sergei, Elisey Martynovich Tretyakov, came from the merchants of Maly Yaroslavets, known since 1646. In 1774, he moved to Moscow with his wife Vasilisa and children: Osip and Zakhar. Elisha later remarried, and his second wife bore him a son, Misha. In 1831, the matured Mikhail married Alexandra Borisova. This is how Pavel and Sergei Tretyakov were born. They also had sisters: Sophia, Elizaveta and Nadezhda. The father carefully monitored the education of his children. The Tretyakov family was a model of obedience and politeness. There were no quarrels or resentments between the children. The brotherly love of Pavel and Sergei later laid the foundation for the creation of the famous Tretyakov Gallery.

Tretyakov brothers

After the death of their parents, Pavel and Sergei had to take control of the factories into their own hands. Their work proceeded smoothly and successfully. According to written sources, the Tretyakov family was not rich enough. The Tretyakov brothers took the money that was spent on purchasing the collection from the family budget and the income of their enterprises.

Sergei fully supported his brother and was actively involved in charity work. They worked, rested and together founded the Arnold-Tretyakov School. It is still famous today because this educational institution was created for the deaf and dumb in Moscow.

Sergei Mikhailovich Tretyakov was the head of the city and a passionate collector of collections.

Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov devoted his entire life to collecting. There was one difference between the brothers: Sergei Mikhailovich regarded collecting as his hobby, while Pavel Tretyakov saw a certain mission in his desire, and later in his activity.

Happiness and love of philanthropist Tretyakov

The biography of Pavel Tretyakov indicates that he became the last of his family members to marry. This happened in the thirty-third year of his life. His wife was Vera Nikolaevna Mamontova. All her life this woman was a guiding star for Pavel Mikhailovich. Vera Nikolaevna could not come to terms with only one main rival - her husband’s art gallery, on which he spent his entire fortune and most of his time.

At thirty-two years old, Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov was the only bachelor in the family. Nobody expected him to get married anymore. But soon he announces his engagement to Vera Mamontova, and then his wedding.

Pavel Tretyakov met Vera Nikolaevna at one of the family evenings at the Mamontovs’ house. Vera Nikolaevna grew up in a merchant family. Her femininity, high intelligence, and love of music charmed the patron of the arts.

The wedding date was set for August 22, 1865. To the surprise of everyone, the marriage of Pavel and Vera turned out to be strong and happy. Their family was large. They and six children lived in the house. Vera Nikolaevna maintained warmth and harmony in the family throughout her life. However, their family life was not so rosy. The husband was strict and kept financial records. New clothes were bought only after the old ones had worn out. The fact is that Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov spent all the family’s money on replenishing his art collection and on charity.

Despite such huge expenses, Vera Nikolaevna never blamed her husband for this. She valued his love and always agreed with him.

Grief in the Tretyakov family

Not all of Pavel Tretyakov’s children were able to become the pride of their parents. In 1887, the Tretyakov family was overtaken by an inevitable misfortune: the youngest son of Pavel Mikhailovich died, seriously ill with scarlet fever. Another blow that followed the first was the doctors’ verdict that the second son had dementia. Unable to bear such a surprise of fate, the philanthropist withdrew into himself and became completely detached.

In 1893, Pavel Mikhailovich’s beloved wife suffered a mini-stroke, and five years later she fell ill with paralysis. And then Tretyakov realized that Vera Nikolaevna was dearer to him than anything in the world. He himself fell ill from the experience, and on December 16 he left this world. Vera Nikolaevna passed away three months after the death of her husband. In 1898, according to his will, the gallery became the property of the city of Moscow. And in 1918, by order of the leader of the proletariat, it received the name of the State Tretyakov Gallery. During Soviet times, the Tretyakov Gallery collected not only paintings by artists of the 18th and 19th centuries, but also works by artists of the post-revolutionary period: Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin, Yuri Pimenov, Semyon Chuikov, Arkady Plastov, Alexander Deineka...

Death of a patron

The merchant Pavel Tretyakov was known not only as a collector of the collection, he was an honorary member of the Society of Connoisseurs of Art and Music. He also took an active part in charity work. At one time, together with his brother, he founded a school for the deaf and dumb in Moscow.

At the beginning of December 1898, Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov fell ill with a stomach ulcer. Even in the last hours of his life he thought about business in the gallery. The last request of the dying man was to save the gallery, and our contemporaries did just that.

Philanthropist Pavel Tretyakov was buried at the Danilovsky cemetery. Now his ashes rest in the Novodevichy cemetery.

Substitution of a famous painting

In 1913, the mentally ill icon painter Abram Balashov, while in the Tretyakov Gallery, cut up the artist Repin’s painting “Ivan the Terrible Kills His Son.” The faces in the painting had to be restored again. And the gallery keeper (at that time he was E.M. Khrustov), ​​having learned about this, threw himself under the train.

The surprising fact was that the artist himself did not notice any changes in his work. This saved the gallery from collapse.

Interesting facts about the Tretyakov Gallery

• In 1929, the Church of St. Nicholas was closed in Tolmachi, which immediately became one of the storerooms of the Tretyakov Gallery. It was connected to exhibition halls on the top floor of a two-story building, which was intended to display the painting “The Appearance of Christ to the People” by Alexander Ivanov.
• During the Great Patriotic War, Tretyakov's collection was evacuated to Novosibirsk. The meeting occupied seventeen carriages.
• The history of the painting “The Rooks Have Arrived”. This picture was painted by the famous artist Alexey Savrasov. After the death of his newborn daughter, he tried many times to repeat his work. It all ended with the artist painting the walls of taverns with a copy of this painting. And with the money he earned he bought himself bread and vodka.
• In order to get the desired painting, Pavel Mikhailovich paid for the artists’ trips. In 1898, Osip Braz painted a portrait of A.P. Chekhov, which Pavel Mikhailovich sent to Nice. However, the writer himself did not like the portrait.
• The well-known Malevich wrote four versions of the famous “Black Square”, and two of them are in the Tretyakov Gallery.

Immortal Legacy

To summarize, it can be noted that the meaning of Pavel Tretyakov’s life is his famous collection. In Russia, a rare person with such obsession and fanatical desire tried to convey “beauty” to all people, not paying attention to prejudices and social inequality. There was truly a great man who loved his homeland and people, Pavel Tretyakov. The Tretyakov Gallery is his greatest contribution to world art. And the memory of the man with a capital M, which Tretyakov was, will never die!

Understanding art is not as difficult as it seems. To do this, it is not necessary to study for several years to become an art critic. It is enough to talk with experts who will talk about famous paintings in such a way that later in the museum you can see them from an unexpected angle.

Lecturer of the educational project Level One, certified art historian Natalya Ignatova revealed the secrets of the five most mysterious paintings of the Tretyakov Gallery.

“Bogatyrs”, Viktor Vasnetsov, 1898

Viktor Vasnetsov devoted a significant part of his life to the painting with three heroes of epics and fairy tales. The canvas is one of the Tretyakov's record holders for the number of years spent on its creation. The artist made the first sketch in 1871, and completed his masterpiece only in 1898.
Contrary to popular belief that the heroes went out into the field just to take a walk and survey the surroundings, they are ready to rush into battle. The enemy stands in the distance, as if behind the viewer, his presence is evidenced by gathering clouds, hawks that anticipate prey, but the main thing is the extended sword of Dobrynya Nikitich and the bow ready to shoot in the hands of Alyosha Popovich. The prototype of Ilya Muromets was Emperor Alexander III, the artist painted Dobrynya Nikitich from himself, but the prototype of Alyosha Popovich is not reliably known, he could have been a commoner - Vasnetsov, in the process of working on the picture, painted many portraits of peasants, cab drivers and blacksmiths, who, as it seemed to him, were somewhat similar to famous fairy tale characters.

“Unequal marriage”, Vasily Pukirev, 1862

The plot for the painting was suggested to Vasily Pukirev by his friend, artist Pyotr Shmelkov. He knew well the customs of wealthy and influential people, for whom arranged marriages were commonplace. Pukirev thanked his friend for the idea by depicting him on the right behind the bride’s back. The painter himself is also present in the picture: he painted himself in profile in the image of the best man of the bride with crossed arms. Initially, the artist did not plan to put himself on the canvas: in his place was a friend whose lover was married to an elderly man. Moreover, Pukirev’s friend, due to family circumstances, was forced to attend that unpleasant wedding as a best man.
Subsequently, the friend asked the artist to remove him from the canvas so that mutual friends and relatives would not remember this story again. Then Pukirev wrote himself instead of him. If you visually divide the canvas diagonally from the upper right corner to the lower left, then the bride and her two friends will appear on the right side. While on the left are the relatives and friends of the groom, deliberately depicted as unpleasant people. Thus, the canvas is divided into two semantic parts, as if personifying good and evil. Moreover, the priest ends up on the side of evil. This technique testifies to the artist’s commitment to the principles of realism, thereby raising the question of the role of the church in society.

“Morning in a pine forest”, Ivan Shishkin, Konstantin Savitsky, 1889

Not all sweets lovers know that two artists worked on the famous painting, which was then replicated on chocolate candy wrappers. Shishkin was in charge of the forest, and Savitsky was in charge of the bears. Moreover, it was Savitsky who came up with the plot of the film. There were initially two bears, but then their number grew. Collector Pavel Tretyakov purchased the painting for 4 thousand rubles.
However, it is believed that the collector did not like Savitsky's work. According to legend, Tretyakov said: “What terrible bears!” And Savitsky’s name was blurred out on the canvas: according to one version, it was done by Tretyakov, and according to another, it was the artist himself, who was offended, unable to tolerate criticism from the gallery owner. Shishkin's skill is expressed in the lighting of the forest: on the tops of the pines the first rays of the sun are masterfully painted, which viewers usually do not notice, distracted by the figures of bears.

“The Appearance of Christ to the People”, Alexander Ivanov, 1857

Alexander Ivanov painted the first significant painting based on a biblical story in 1834. It was "The Appearance of the Risen Christ to Mary Magdalene." And just three years later, in 1837, he began creating the main work of his life - the epoch-making canvas “The Appearance of Christ to the People.” The artist worked on the painting for 20 years in Italy. In the process of creating the canvas, he made more than 500 studies and sketches. All connoisseurs of painting in Russia knew that Ivanov was working on a monumental canvas. In May 1858, the painter decided to send the painting to St. Petersburg. According to legend, during the journey the ship was overtaken by a strong storm. The artist rolled the canvas into a pipe and raised it above his head - he chose not to see the death of his creation, but to drown himself if the ship went under water.
However, the canvas still arrived in St. Petersburg, where it was exhibited in one of the halls of the Academy of Arts. The public received the picture coldly - there were complaints about the too small figure of Christ, and about the water, depicted not in an academic manner, but with free strokes. It is curious that Ivanov was ahead of his time in this sense, because later the Impressionists would work in a similar manner. In addition, the canvas turned out to be unfinished. On the left side you can see an old man in a white loincloth, which is reflected in the water as a red spot. In the sketches, the bandage was indeed red, and the artist, apparently, simply forgot to repaint it. A month after the presentation of the work, Ivanov died, and a few hours after his death, Emperor Alexander II purchased the painting for 15,000 rubles. Despite the fact that the amount was substantial, initially the artist, who devoted half his life to this work, was counting on a much larger fee, but, unfortunately, did not manage to receive even this money.

“Moscow courtyard”, Vasily Polenov, 1878

The painting of the Wanderer Vasily Polenov is closely related to another of his works called “Grandma’s Garden.” Both canvases depict the same house in the Arbat area, only from different sides. Polenov wrote his most famous work after moving to Moscow from St. Petersburg and settling in one of the apartments in the building at the intersection of Durnovsky and Trubnikovsky lanes near the Church of the Savior on the Sands.
The view depicted in the painting was from his window. Moreover, it took Polenov very little time to create the masterpiece: in fact, it is a sketch painted from life. For the first time in the history of Russian painting, the artist combined two genres - everyday life and landscape. The public, tired of the gloomy and depressive paintings of the Wanderers, accepted the cheerful sunny picture with delight. No one was even embarrassed by the garbage dump depicted in the lower left corner, which most viewers mistake for a well.

"Moscow City Gallery Pavel And Sergei Mikhailovich Tretyakov"has been a huge success with visitors since its inception, and many of its 180,000 exhibits have a history filled with secrets and mysteries. E.G.. RU collected several little-known facts about the Tretyakov Gallery.

Pavel Tretyakov: entrepreneur, philanthropist and collector

Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov was born on December 15, 1832 into a merchant family. Communication with peers did not work out, so the future Russian legend spent most of his free time reading as a child.

In his free time, the young man loved to go to the “flea market” of the Sukharevsky market. He was attracted to paintings by old masters, and by the age of 20 he became the owner of more than a dozen similar paintings. It was then that he was scammed for the first time by slipping in a cheap fake instead of the original painting.

The future entrepreneur instantly realized that if he did not want to make mistakes in the future, he should acquire paintings only by contemporary artists for his collection. The best thing is from them themselves.

A hobby that has become the meaning of life

At the age of 23, Pavel Tretyakov decided not only to collect paintings, but also to exhibit them for public viewing. Modern researchers have discovered a receipt that Pavel Tretyakov issued to the artist on May 22, 1856 Vasily Khudyakov for the painting “Skirmish with Finnish Smugglers” (1853), calling this day the beginning of the founding of the Tretyakov Gallery.

Gradually, the hobby completely captured the mind of the young entrepreneur. He personally selected and acquired paintings by Russian masters, entrusting his brother Sergei, who lived in Europe, to purchase paintings by the best Western artists.

When the Moscow City Gallery of Pavel and Sergei Tretyakov became available to the general public, its exhibition consisted of 1276 paintings, 471 drawings and 10 sculptures by Russian artists, as well as 84 paintings by foreign masters.

“Ivan the Terrible and his son Ivan November 16, 1581”

Few people know that the picture Ilya Repin, better known as “Ivan the Terrible Kills His Son” (1885), was strictly prohibited from being shown at exhibitions for several years. The censorship believed that it dealt a severe blow to tsarism and the Orthodox religion.

Pavel Tretyakov achieved the lifting of the ban and hung the canvas in his gallery. True, this did not protect her from attack. In 1913, an Old Believer icon painter Abram Balashov slashed it with a knife, declaring that it was written by the devil himself. Fortunately, Ilya Repin was still alive at that time and repaired the damage with his own hands.

The attack was repeated in May of this year. 37 year old Igor Podporin broke the glass of a painting using a metal fence post, and then hit the canvas with it several times. He told the police that he acted spontaneously under the direction of “voices from above,” but law enforcement officers consider this attack to be a targeted and well-prepared action.

Today the painting is under restoration. Experts are at least happy that the faces and hands of the characters, considered the main elements of the composition, were not damaged by the vandal’s actions.

"Young Painter"

Pavel Tretyakov personally purchased this wonderful canvas, signed with the name Anton Losenko, considered the founder of Russian historical painting.

But experts noticed that the style of its writing is seriously different from Losenko’s works. During Tretyakov’s lifetime, they tried not to talk about this openly, but in the 1910s, the gallery’s Board of Trustees decided to submit it for independent examination.

What a surprise it was when the signature of another artist was discovered under the washed-out initials of Anton Losenko! Today, “Young Painter,” written in 1765-1768, has the signature of the real author - Russian artist Ivan Firsov.

"Bears" without its author

“Morning in a Pine Forest” (1889) is considered one of the Tretyakov Gallery’s masterpieces. This picture looks at us from the labels of the “Bear-toed Bear” chocolate candies, which the Einem confectionery factory began producing in pre-revolutionary times.

Two artists worked on the canvas. Ivan Shishkin painted a landscape of a fairy forest, and Konstantin Savitsky- bears.

Pavel Tretyakov liked the picture so much that without hesitation he paid the authors four thousand rubles. But, upon returning home, he personally washed off Savitsky’s signature with turpentine.

In his opinion, the signature of one artist, Shishkin, was much better associated with the title of the painting “Morning in a Pine Forest.”

“The Cossacks write a letter to the Turkish Sultan”

In 1890, Ilya Repin painted the painting “Cossacks,” which Pavel Tretyakov immediately decided to purchase. But I didn’t have time. The emperor was ahead of him AlexanderIII, which the artist simply could not refuse.

In the 1930s, the Soviet government redistributed some of the Tretyakov's masterpieces to provincial museums. “Cossacks” went to the Kharkov Art Museum, where they are exhibited to this day.

"Girl with Peaches" and "Unknown"

The modern exhibition of the Tretyakov Gallery contains paintings that its creator categorically refused to acquire during his lifetime.

The painting “Unknown Woman,” or, as it is commonly called today, “Portrait of an Unknown Woman,” was painted Ivan Kramskoy in 1883. Pavel Tretyakov, who got acquainted with it, stated that the girl depicted on the canvas is too beautiful, and the picture itself suffers from a lack of realism.

He refused to buy the painting, but after his death it was acquired by the Tretyakov Board of Trustees, becoming one of its masterpieces. During Soviet times, reproductions and copies of “Portrait of an Unknown Woman” became widespread and could be seen on the walls of thousands of Soviet apartments.

A similar story with the painting. Valentina Serova“Girl with Peaches” (1887), which Pavel Tretyakov did not regret seeing in his gallery, but it is still there.