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Vasily
Grigorievich Perov

Russia • 1833−1882
Vasily Grigorievich Perov (approximately from December 21-23, 1833 to January 2-4, 1834, Tobolsk - May 29, 1882, p. Kuzminki) - Russian artist, genre painter.

Features of creativity: working in the historical and portrait genre, Perov chose scenes from the life of the common people for his paintings. His canvases expose the nobles, mired in luxury and ignorance, while the peasants and workers work hard from morning to night to feed their family. If you look at the photo of Vasily Perov's pictures posted on this page, you can see that he uses quite clear and accessible methods for the average person, reproducing with accuracy not only the environment, but also the feelings felt by his characters.

Famous paintings: "Janitor","Troika","The arrival of a governess","Birdies", Self portrait, portrait of F.M.Dostoevsky, "Hunters on camp","Old parents","Tea drinking in Mytishchi... "

From student to master

The future artist Vasily Perov studied painting at the school of Arzamas. The father, noticing the success of the young man, decided to continue the art education and determined the young man to go to school, which was supervised by A.V. Stupin. The teacher allowed him one of the first to use oil paints, being sure that a real master would come out of Basil. During the period of schooling, the first paintings with the signature of Vasily Perov appear, their names are “Crucifixion”, “Village Troika”, “Beggar begging ...”

Perov's further training took place at the Moscow Art School, which trained painters, sculptors and architects. In 1856, the painter was awarded a small silver medal for a portrait of his brother. In this work, the influence of Stupin’s school was still traced, but already a year later, his own style emerged on the canvases of Basil.

The Academy of Arts of St. Petersburg appreciated the talent of the artist Vasily Perov: in 1860, he received a small gold medal for a painting called The First Rule. This opened the way for the painter to the Academy. A year later, he again amazes everyone with his talent, receiving a large gold medal - this time for the canvas "Sermon in the village". A nice bonus to the award was the permission to travel abroad: the artist could leave as a boarder. In 1862, the marriage took place between Perov and Elena Shaynes, after which the young went on a trip to the cities of Germany, which ended in Paris. In the capital of France, the artist stayed from 1863 to 1864, capturing on his canvases a variety of street scenes.

Returning to Moscow, in the period from 1865 to 1870, Perov worked on the implementation of his long-time intention - he painted pictures that showed the plight of ordinary people: peasants, tutors, workers. "The arrival of a governess…", and "Troika»Brought to the artist, in addition to fame, the title of academician. A well-known collector P.Tretyakov bought a “Troika” for his painting collection.

In 1867, several paintings by Vasily Perov (their names: "Amateur"," First Chin "," Troika ","Guitarist","Seeing off a dead person") Exhibited at the World Exhibition, held in Paris. Two years later, together with G.G. Myasoyedov Perov organizes the society of the Wanderers. The artist's further creative career brought him fame among the public, critics and visitors to art exhibitions spoke about him, and P. Tretyakov made Perov a large order to paint portraits of Dostoevsky, Dahl, Pogodin, Maykov, Ostrovsky, Turgenev.

Pictures of Vasily Perov - the bitter truth of life

Shocked by the depressed position of ordinary people, Perov sought to convey on the canvas the whole horror of their daily struggle for life. His favorite technique was such an arrangement of characters, in which they seemed to look at the viewer with a mute reproach. This allowed to achieve the desired effect, each work of the painter denounced the arrogant, hypocritical and sanctimonious society in its indifference to the tragedies of "little" people. Such are the paintings "Troika", "The arrival of a governess ...", "Village funeral", "Master boy"And so on.

Today, paintings by Vasily Grigorievich Perov are a world heritage and adorn art museums, galleries and private collections.
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