A short biography of Mikhail Vrubel, paintings

"Where do artists come from?" A. Blok thought. Is it from the ancient tragedies? What seal do they carry? The biography of Mikhail Vrubel answers: the seal of fate and madness. The artist was phenomenally gifted. He was subject to monumental painting, easel painting, graphics, theatrical scenery, sculpture. What did Mikhail Vrubel look like? Photo of 1897 demonstrates this to us.

Origin

The heredity of Vrubel is amazing. It affects the diversity of ethnic composition. It mixed Russians, Tatars, Finns, natives of Prussian Poland and Warsaw Poles. These complex mixes will undoubtedly affect the artist's life. The biography of Mikhail Vrubel and thanks to this will be very difficult. Soul softness, abstracted thoughtfulness - it came to him from his mother, at the age of 23, who died of tuberculosis. Inflexibility, ardor, unexpected resolute actions and perseverance, when it was necessary to overcome life's difficulties, is from the father. He was and looked like him: thick blond hair, straight nose. And my mother's eyes were brown.

Childhood

It was a beautiful, cheerful, inventive child. He invented games based on the adventures of Mine Reed and Fenimore Cooper and enthralled and united everyone around him. But at the same time he could sit for hours, reading and viewing illustrations and reproductions of paintings. Misha was born in Omsk in 1856. But the father's service was held at the crossings. They lived in both Astrakhan and Kharkov. There he married again, and his wife devoted much time to children from the first marriage. She had not had her.

In Saratov, another city where Vrubeli lived, they brought a copy of the "Last Judgment" by Michelangelo. And here for the first time the amazing visual memory of Michael was shown. He recalled the mural with all the details. By this time he had already taken drawing lessons. The family was big and poor. Father Michael did not make a career, probably because he came from poor nobles and was a Catholic. But for the children, parents tried to do everything possible so that they could follow their abilities and hobbies.

So serenely formed in childhood, the biography of Mikhail Vrubel. Anxieties and difficulties, travel and unsettled life, poverty - this will all come later, starting with a young independent life.

In Academy

After graduating from the Odessa Gymnasium, where he seriously studied literature, history, German, French and Latin languages, and then St. Petersburg University, in 1880 Vrubel entered the Academy of Arts. Now the life that will lead Michael Vrubel, his biography will forever be associated with art. He begins to be interested in tragic themes, universal and philosophical.

His work "Hamlet and Ophelia" (1884, RM) is not accidental. He is attracted by strong and rebellious personalities. Pose to him Valentin Serov and his cousin. Temen coloring, but cobalt plays with all shades. The picture remained unfinished, because it so happened. An artist who did not finish the Academy is invited to work in Kiev. Painter Mikhail Vrubel, whose biography suddenly changes, will show there his still unknown facet of talent as a master of monumental paintings.

Kiev, Italy and again Kiev

At the suggestion of art critic A. Prahov he enthusiastically works, painting the Cathedral of St. Cyril's with frescoes. He created four original compositions in place of the lost and restored 150 fragments of frescoes, which date back to the 12th century. Five years spent in search and work, paid very poorly. But the art critic, in order to put an end to the hobby of the young artist by his wife, sends Vrubel to Ravenna.

Most of all it was attracted not by the flowering of the Renaissance, but by earlier art and Gothic mosaics and stained glass. He greedily absorbs the plastic and coloristic decisions of the Italians, that with his striking visual memory, which manifested itself in his childhood, it is not difficult for him.

The result will be when you return to Kiev masterpieces - watercolor sketches of paintings of the Cathedral of Vladimir (1887). They were not accepted because they were at variance with the concept and tradition of images in the Orthodox Church. In "Gravestone", which is presented above, the whole depth of maternal grief can be traced. In it, Mary's grief, her suffering, and immeasurable love are expressed as much as possible. She petrified, looking at her eyes, full of tears, at her son. The simplicity of color ratios and laconism of the composition express the depth and grandeur of mourning. In these works, the harmony of antiquity and the expression of the feelings of modern man were combined.

Moscow (1890-1902)

In Kiev, he was entrusted with far from the most important work. Constant earnings he did not have, and accidentally Vrubel leaves for Moscow, for a short time, just to meet with friends. He will stay here for a long time. And this will be the most fruitful and bright period in creativity, which Mikhail Vrubel did not yet know. Biography of him will write off an acquaintance with Konstantin Korovin and Savva Mamontov.

Demon and Tamara

At this time, Lermontov's jubilee is published in two volumes. Little-known, but interesting Vrubel is instructed to illustrate the "Demon". For himself, the artist has already addressed this topic, but was not satisfied with the result. Immediately he performed 30 black and white drawings in watercolor. They are strikingly expressive. Tamara connects heaven and earth with him.

Decorative panels and other works

In 1894, Vrubel receives orders for the creation of decorative panels. "Venice" is a medieval city, living a full life, and "Spain" inspired by the opera "Carmen". In some proximity to her is the canvas "Fortune-teller" (1895).

The painting shows ace of spades in the foreground. The way it is painted means good deeds and mutual feelings. Expectations that owned the author, he was not deceived. Love and Hope came to him. In a few months he will be married to Nadezhda Ivanovna Zabela. So the biography of Mikhail Vrubel will be updated. This will happen in 1896. And along with the singer in his life is music. The artist is full of strength. He creates.

Mikhail Vrubel: paintings with names

In these years (from 1896 to 1902) a new world was created - the world of Vrubel. He will write a series of magnificent portraits - "S. I. Mamontov "," K. D.Artsibusheva "," Princess of Dreams "and" Mikula Selyaninovich "," Lilac "," Morning "," Pan "," Swan Princess "," Bogatyr "," Demon flying "," Demon defeated "," Portrait of a son ", a suite of portraits of his wife. He works earnestly, without regretting himself, for 14 hours a day. And illness comes.

Irreversibility (1903-1910)

Mental ailments due to the fact that those around them simply do not understand, look with fear or mockery, are always heavy for the patient and for his loved ones. But these are the most common diseases, like a stomach or heart disease, but everyone around here understands everything, and they are full of sympathy. Not so with depression and clouding of consciousness. And how bitter it is to read about Vrubel's disease now, when there is a whole range of drugs that could lead him out of a progressive disease.

At least for a longer period leave it in the company of healthy people. And then he left and lost contact with them. Nevertheless, he tried to write a little. Here is a rose in a glass, here is a portrait of Bryusov, to which the poet himself wanted to be like.

The heaviest

This is the last period when the artist became blind. Four years he will spend in complete darkness, when thoughts are swirling in his head and they can not be transferred to the canvas. There is only one thing left: listening to music, enchanting voice of his wife, listening to how books are read to him. But he was in another world, a world of hallucinations, from which he occasionally left. Just before he died, he returned to our world, washed, as he loved, himself with cologne. And by morning he was gone. It was in 1910.

The genius, Mikhail Vrubel, who was not understood by his contemporaries went so quietly and uncomplainingly. Biography and creativity were a protest against evil, filled with all the passion of his ardent nature. In his tragic images he embodied light and nobility. The struggle between the two opposite principles - light and darkness - is the theme of his works. Block spoke over his grave that Vrubel left his Demons to all "as spellcasters against purple evil."