Polenov V.D. "Christ and the Sinner"

Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman taken in adultery, and, placing her in the middle, they said to Him: Teacher! this woman was taken in adultery; and Moses commanded us in the law to stone such people: What do you say? They said this, tempting Him, in order to find something to accuse Him of. But Jesus, bending low, wrote with his finger on the ground, not paying attention to them. When they continued to ask Him, He bowed down and said to them: He who is without sin among you, be the first to throw a stone at her. And again, bending low, he wrote on the ground. (John 8:3-8).

In December 1880, the beloved sister of the artist Vasily Polenov, Vera, became seriously ill. Vasily Dmitrievich fell into such a state as if he himself was sick. He and Vera were thirty-six. They were born on the same day, and, as often happens with twins, one turned out to be weaker than the other. Vera Dmitrievna was in fragile health. For many years, the family tried to improve her well-being at resorts in France, Switzerland, and Crimea, but to no avail... When Verochka was ill, Vasily always did something nice for her. Now a drawing, now poetry... This time he began to write a symphony. I was in a hurry to complete at least the first part in time for her recovery. They talked for a long time while he sat next to Vera’s bed. We remembered our childhood years. They had a wonderful childhood. Dad - a St. Petersburg nobleman, Dmitry Vasilyevich Polenov - was a famous archaeologist and bibliographer. Mom was engaged in painting and children's literature.

There was a real cult of Ivanov in the family. His father met him in Italy. I've arrived. He spoke enthusiastically about the amazing work of this... this... genius artist. And from then on, the Polenovs lived in anticipation of the arrival of the author of “The Appearance of Christ to the People” in St. Petersburg. Ivanov had no one in the capital. It was decided that he would stay with them. Dmitry Vasilyevich even purchased a large rocking chair, which could accommodate Alexander Andreevich, dear to his heart, and they would start talking about painting, about art... These dreams were not destined to come true. Six weeks after arriving in Russia, Ivanov fell ill with cholera and died suddenly. In memory of him, a chair and an original sketch by Ivanov, which depicted the folds of the clothes of John the Baptist and the two apostles, remained in the Polenovs’ house.

Do you remember, - asked Vera, - you dreamed of continuing the work started by Ivanov. Ivanov created the Forerunner and showed Christ coming to the people, but you wanted to create Christ who came and made His way among the people? Give me your word that you will start working and writing seriously big picture, which we have been talking about for a long time?
- Which one, Verochka?
- Christ and the sinner...
A few days after this conversation, Vera Dmitrievna died.
The first one is behind the scenes. It was not in vain that my sister was worried about Polenov. He was 36 and hadn't done much. He spent two years on the Serbian-Turkish front, first as a volunteer on the front line, then as an artist at the headquarters of the heir to the throne. He took part in battles and received a medal “For Bravery” and a cross. When he returned, he wrote “Moscow Courtyard”, “Grandma’s Garden”, “Overgrown Pond”...

Then I got into the Mammoth circle, into this almost incessant whirlwind of the carnival... I got involved theatrical performances, tried himself as a decorator, a tragedian actor and even a composer... But everything was not the same... Probably, Vasily Dmitrich thought, that sinful woman who was brought to Christ by the scribes and Pharisees also lived like this and lived carefree, until one day I didn’t feel the wonderful day, I didn’t understand with my whole being that sin really kills...

Shocked by the death of his sister, Polenov cannot come to his senses for a long time. He flees to Abramtsevo. There he finishes the long-started painting “The Sick Woman.” And there, together with Vasnetsov, he designs, builds and paints a personal church. Then he goes on his first trip to the East, where he begins to collect material for his votive painting...

More or less, he comes to his senses only after finding his new guardian angel. He marries Natalya Vasilievna Yakunchikova... The young people spend the winter of the year in Rome. Vasily Dmitrich is doing great there and is constantly working. The wife writes it younger sister Elena that he “was drawn into his picture, that it became completely clear to him, he saw it. Things were going as well as possible..."

After some time, Natalya Vasilievna writes that “In Russia, in the Mamontov circle, “Scarlet Rose” is playing. Vasily is drawn there. Well, you can’t connect everything. “Scarlet Rose” - for two weeks of passion, but the work must go on ... "

After some time, Mamontov himself comes to Rome. “... Vasily is carousing as hard as he can. You can’t imagine how heavy a spirit came over me with the arrival of Savva Mamontov. At the same time, terrible spoiledness, selfishness, rudeness of feelings. You can’t imagine how much it pains me that he will paint a picture in such a mood now. Maybe I’m exaggerating, but it seems to me that it would be better if he abandoned it... I must say that the right-wing group was written under the influence of Savva and is terribly disgusting to me, except for the sinner.”

The following letter from Moscow: “Vasily left the painting for now. Working on others. I have great doubts about what he will write in the spring. I know him too well. I am now beginning to fully realize how many more moral torments are connected ahead with this thing and its fate ... "

In 84, a son was born into the Polenov family, but in 86 the boy suddenly died. Polenov cannot come to his senses for a whole year, suffers from an attack of neurasthenia, and is haunted by thoughts of suicide. In this state, he starts working on the painting...
When they continued to ask Him, He bowed down and said to them: He who is without sin among you, be the first to throw a stone at her. And again, bending low, he wrote on the ground. They, having heard this and being convicted by their conscience, began to leave one after another, starting from the eldest to the last; and only Jesus remained and the woman standing in the middle. Gospel of John

The words of Christ sounded like thunder from a clear sky. It was the fourth year of His preaching... This time they were sure that they had put Jesus in a hopeless situation. If He now agrees to the requirement of the law, they will say: “Behold! He said that he came to seek and save the lost, but He Himself condemned this lost to stoning.” If Christ has mercy on the sinner, He will break the law. And such a clever provocation turns against them.

They began to agonize over how to behave next. “I can’t throw the first stone,” everyone thought, “but really no one can? We must see... And Jesus himself. He is certainly without sin.”

Curiosity won over the instinct of self-preservation. “If the Teacher is a true prophet, then it doesn’t cost Him anything to reveal my sin to everyone. No wonder they’ll beat me up... I’ll go while He’s not looking...

It was difficult choice: you can remain righteous before people, but guilty before your conscience and God; you can repent and expect, together with this fallen woman, fair retribution. Jesus, bending low, gave everyone complete freedom of this choice...

“Which of you is without sin?” - that’s what Polenov called the finished painting. It was first shown at the 15th exhibition of the Itinerants on February 24, 1887, but became a sensation even before the opening day. Tretyakov dreamed of purchasing this painting. While haggling over the price, he suggested that the artist announce to everyone that the painting had already been sold. And, if Alexander III likes it at the exhibition, then Polenov will receive a substantial amount, otherwise the price will be less.

At the end of February Vasily Dmitrich “Today the sovereign was at the exhibition. He was unusually sweet and delicate. When he saw me, he was delighted, offered his hand, and asked why I never visited St. Petersburg. Approaching my painting, he said: “Interesting, but it’s a pity that the painting is poorly lit.” Then the empress approached and noticed that the expression on Christ’s face was excellent. “It’s true,” said the sovereign, “from a distance he seemed a little old to me, but the expression on his face is wonderful. Polenov, is your painting available?” “It belongs to no one, Your Imperial Majesty” “In that case, I leave it behind me”...

Polenov V.D. Christ and the sinner. Cardboard for a painting of the same name., 1885. Canvas, charcoal, chalk. State Memorial Historical-Artistic and natural museum-reserve V.D. Polenova, Tula region. The artist did not paint the drawing because he considered it a “finished thing.”

The picture was not just “accepted”. It was a triumph. A real reward for many years of work. Not a single picture has evoked such serious judgments in our time. Everyone was delighted.

There was a truth and a big fly in the ointment. At the insistence of censorship, the picture was renamed. In the exhibition catalog she was listed as “Christ and the Sinner.” IN imperial museum The canvas was exhibited under a completely different title: “The Prodigal Wife.” Polenov took this very painfully. “Don’t you understand,” he was indignant, “this completely contradicts the Gospel story. After all, it clearly says that this is a sinner, not a prodigal woman.” And she is not the heroine of my picture. Its meaning is to affirm human dignity, Christian charity, forgiveness and love.”

Ten years later he will once again have to argue with the official view of art. “The other day I returned from St. Petersburg. What complacency, what contempt! Everyone calls my painting “nihilistic.” But I protest against this. I have never been a nihilist, I have always been against the destruction of cynicism. I always hated and now I hate dynamite death penalty, arbitrary And this main topic modern Russia".
Jesus, standing up and not seeing anyone but the woman, said to her: woman! where are your accusers? no one judged you? She answered: no one, Lord. Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.

Besides the name, one more, perhaps the most main question I wanted to put Polenov in front of the viewer. The question is whether Christ did not become guilty of breaking the law by releasing the sinner, since the commandment of Moses demanded that evil be destroyed from Israel?... No, he did not: the spirit of the law was observed - the woman repented so deeply that she would no longer sin. Evil has been exterminated. The love of Christ also fulfilled the letter of death, called upon by the fear of death to keep others from corruption - the Savior took upon Himself the sin of this woman. He will die for her on the Cross... This is precisely what Polenov sees as a continuation of the work of Ivanov, who chose the words of John the Baptist for the “Appearance of the Messiah”: “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.”

Based on materials from the Alchevsk Orthodox website (alchevskpravoslavniy.ru)

Through his efforts, several temples were erected - and his youngest daughter claimed that her father was an atheist. He devoted almost 40 years of his life to working on paintings about the life of Christ, but at the same time he perceived Him not as God, but only as a historical figure. And yet, when creating his paintings, he hardly imagined that a hundred years later for many people they would become a guide to the world of faith.

Olga Atroshchenko, candidate of art history, curator museum items painting department 2 half of the 19th century- early 20th century State Tretyakov Gallery

“We can’t predict”

Through the work of artists such as Vasily Polenov, many people of my generation came to faith. Polenov created a whole cycle of paintings entitled “From the Life of Christ”, where he talks about the events from the birth to the death of the Savior. And his paintings revealed the gospel story to many.

Vasily Polenov. Gallery of paintings, photos and drawings by the artist. V.D. Polenov with his younger daughters Olga and Natalya, 1902

After a huge gap in religious tradition, when people lost faith, when the prayer life for the majority of the population of our country ended, many arose a strong religious thirst. In 1988, when the 1000th anniversary of the Baptism of Rus' was celebrated, the theme of Christianity, for a long time which was banned for society and was not included in the circulation of art criticism (many art historians did not touch upon the analysis of works related to Christianity), is finally becoming accessible. Especially for this date, an exhibition was organized at the Polenov Museum, and most of it consisted of reproductions of gospel paintings “From the Life of Christ.”

And I remember that I had to endlessly tell visitors not so much about artistic method Polenov or about how exactly he interpreted the gospel stories, or about the events that took place in that distant era.

Polenov portrayed the Gospel events delicately and unobtrusively, and this allowed even an unprepared person to understand what and Who they were about. The world of icons was complicated for many at that time: for this it was necessary spiritual experience, basic knowledge about Orthodox culture. And here before us were paintings that depict real person in real conditions, in Palestinian nature - and interest involuntarily arose, questions arose. And then, for those who seriously began to look for answers, the meaning of the Gospel and Christian life was gradually revealed.

Polenov himself hardly suspected what role his works would play years later, because his religious views were difficult. But as often happens when it works great artist, he cannot know about the final result of his work. “It is not given to us to predict...” - Tyutchev said about the power of words, the same thing is here when we're talking about about art with a capital letter.

Where there is no place for miracles

Vasily Polenov showed his gospel cycle “From the Life of Christ” at an exhibition in 1909, a year before the death of Leo Tolstoy. Polenov, who cared about the opinion of the writer he revered, sent Tolstoy an album with photographs of his works, which he himself colored by hand, since the photographs were black and white.

And although Lev Nikolaevich had a difficult attitude towards the artist’s art, he nevertheless appreciated this album and said: “I see a great merit in this, including pedagogical: these paintings would be a good illustration for my gospel».

What made Tolstoy respond to Polenov’s work this way? Why are these paintings a reflection? his gospels, and not the true Holy Book?

Vasily Polenov. “She brought joy to those who mourn.” 1890

Let's look at Polenov's works from the gospel cycle: according to the chronology of events, the first of them is “Mary went to the Highland Country.” Polenov depicts the Virgin Mary as a young woman who walks with a bundle in her hands along a narrow path and, as we assume, to meet Elizabeth. Last picture- “She announced joy to those who weep,” where Mary Magdalene, having seen that the tomb of Christ is open and empty, announces to those who weep: Christ is Risen! But where is Polenov’s Risen Lord? He's gone. In the artist’s cycle there is no miraculous Birth, no miraculous Resurrection, no miracles of healing - no miracles at all.

The archives of the Tretyakov Gallery contain quite a lot of letters from Vasily Dmitrievich and his relatives. From them we know that he treated religion like many “advanced” people of that time. It is now easy for us, who have the terrible 20th century behind us, to judge that era and many of its misconceptions - we have a completely different experience. But it was very difficult for the people who lived at that time: doubts assailed them more and more, and the experience of secular culture had a great impact.

Vasily Polenov. Palestine. Sermon on the Mount. 1890

The books of European thinkers who captured the minds of the Russian intelligentsia played a huge role in undermining faith. For example, Ernest Renan, who took the position that Christ is just historical figure, and everything else is a myth that was invented after His death. Or David Friedrich Strauss, who tried to logically prove the fictitiousness of all the Gospel miracles, said that the Gospel is a myth, it is absolutely the same as myths Ancient Greece, and there is no historical basis here.

Polenov talked a lot about religion, he was interested in its history, the truth was important to him - but he understood the truth as scientific discovery, he needed evidence (not only he thought so, but also many others who were confused by the rapid development of science and replaced faith with an attempt to scientifically explain all the secrets of the world). He argued a lot both with himself and with religious philosophers, but always adhered to his original point of view. Of course, based on the views of those thinkers who impressed his own perception of the gospel events.

Polenov had a great influence on Polenov’s religious views. It is no coincidence that Vasily Dmitrievich, according to his youngest daughter, did not like, for whom everything is Christ-centric. Polenov was much closer to Tolstoy and his focus on moral improvement.

Who was Christ for Polenov?

Moral ideal. Really lived on earth an ordinary person, whose death led to the appearance of a grandiose book called the Gospel with its highly moral preaching.

Polenov’s youngest daughter, Natalya Vasilievna, argued that for her father earthly life Jesus Christ has always been the standard, His personality is ideal, harmonious. A person, according to Polenov, should strive for this standard and, moreover, he can achieve it.

This is the deep and at the same time daring idea that the artist adhered to. We see this idea in his work: here Christ was born, here He works - and here, finally, is His heroic death.

Vasily Polenov. Among the teachers. 1896

Polenov has a painting “Among the Teachers”, which is kept in Tretyakov Gallery. Its plot is clear: Mary and Joseph, returning from a holiday in Jerusalem, lose the twelve-year-old child Christ, thinking that He is walking somewhere nearby in the crowd, among people, but they do not find him; They search for three days and, returning to Jerusalem, find him among the teachers. There is an icon of the Midnight of Pentecost, where Christ the Youth is depicted on the throne in the center, and teachers sit around him. Polenov portrays this plot completely differently. First of all, you pay attention to the deep doorway, where Mary and Joseph are depicted and where it opens beautiful view, and only then do you look at the boy who is sitting surrounded by elders.

When I started researching Polenov’s art, I thought for a long time about what this painting could mean, why he paints it this way - and why he works on it so thoroughly? Of course, Polenov was tormented by the question of how to explain that this “simple carpenter” could create such a teaching that has continuously captivated people for so many centuries. How is this possible?! And being completely perplexed by this question, Polenov solves it in a purely human way: he places little Christ in the center and, as it were, shows that He took a little from this sage, from another, from a third - and as a result of such influence, or let’s say, His teaching was formed by comprehending the tradition.

Vasily Polenov. Dreams. Jesus on Lake Gennesaret. 1894

There is no talk about grace, about the Divine essence of Christ. Therefore, when you look at the Gospel cycle, in one picture He is sitting on a rug near open door small room where the Talmud is read, in another early in the morning he stands on the mountain, admiring rising sun, and, as Renan naively writes, this nature, this sun had such an effect on Him that such a beautiful, humane teaching emerged. And the people of the generation to which Vasily Dmitrievich Polenov belonged believed in this: there could be nothing supernatural.

Polenov has a lot of discussions about how to portray Christ. And he comes to the conclusion that Christ in his paintings must be outwardly healthy and attractive - because the person who created such a teaching cannot be flawed in some way, he must be a harmonious, beautiful person.

Therefore, in all his works we see this type of image of Christ as a man, attractive in appearance and rich spiritually.

“Your mission for centuries is not clear to you”

In addition to a series of gospel paintings, Vasily Dmitrievich wrote the book “Jesus from Galilee”: he attempted to compile a set of four canonical Gospels. As Polenov himself wrote, he decided to combine all four Gospels into a single whole, taking the same principle that he followed in his painting work: from the birth of Christ to His death (by the way, Tolstoy tried to do the same thing when he decided to write a materialistic gospel).

Christ. Sketch for the painting “Which of you is without sin?” 1888

But when he showed this work to his to a close friend, a historian who apparently also worked on the history of religion, Valery Nikolaevich Lyaskovsky, analyzed it and made a lot of edits: his comments took up about 15 typewritten sheets. In his letter to Polenov, he says: “You probably in your work do not understand the essence of Christ, His divine-human nature and are trying in every possible way to move away from this topic, to avoid it. But you, nevertheless, are the son of the Gospel, who said: “I will not go,” but went himself. For your mission throughout the centuries is not clear to you, but you serve according to the word of Him who said: heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away(Mk 13 :31)".

In another one of his letters, Lyaskovsky asks Vasily Dmitrievich: “You always turn to the works of Renan, Reville, but have you read other theological literature written over so many millennia: the Fathers of the Church, or at least Khomyakov?” Vasily Dmitrievich did not turn to this literature; it did not interest him very much, since he was completely unable to penetrate its structure and understand what it was about.

"Christ and the Sinner"

The painting “Christ and the Sinner” is one of the most famous works Polenov and, perhaps, the most powerful work from his gospel cycle from the point of view psychological portraits characters.

Vasily Polenov. Graphic version of the painting “Christ and the Sinner”. H., coal, it.kar. 1885

I would even say that of the two large options, one of which is picturesque and is located in the Russian Museum, and the other is graphic and is located in the Polenov Museum-Reserve, graphic version the most developed in terms of psychology, the characters in it are defined more sharply.

In a painting, it makes a greater impression color scheme achieved by Polenov.

Vasily Polenov. Christ and the Sinner (Which of you is without sin?). 1908

The artist worked on this painting for almost 20 years. In 1868, he made the first graphic sketch, and then abandoned his idea for a long time. Then follows a ten-year break, and in 1881-1882. Polenov traveled to Palestine, where he explored earthly path Christ, got acquainted with the realities of eastern life, made sketches, took photographs, collected costumes, studied the features of architecture, life, nature - because he wanted to approach his work on the painting with the greatest historical accuracy, to the most small parts. Everything he saw there made a strong impression on him, and as a result, the artist shows us his own reconstruction of the Jerusalem Temple, which, as many think, turned out to be quite convincing. He depicted the temple, the stones of which are heated from the scorching eastern sun, so luxurious and, apparently, he was so carried away that the first thing that catches our eyes when looking at the picture is the sun, olive trees and poplars stretching into the distance and, of course, this magnificent temple King Solomon. And only then do we go lower and see the Savior. The artist Alexander Ivanov, the author of the painting “The Appearance of Christ to the People,” did not have the opportunity to travel to the places where the Savior lived; his landscape was painted in Italy - but nevertheless he showed us spiritual Palestine. And Polenov failed to show us the spiritual, but showed us the real Palestine, which is no worse, but this showed a completely different approach to the topic.

Vasily Polenov. View of Jerusalem from the west. Jaffa Gate and Citadel. 1888

When I became interested in Polenov’s art, it was important for me to understand why such huge amount gospel stories, which the Gospel offers us, does Vasily Dmitrievich choose this particular plot for a large-scale canvas? The Gospel of John contains the story of how the scribes and Pharisees brought a woman to Christ with the question: Teacher! this woman was taken in adultery; and Moses commanded us in the law to stone such people: What do you say? To which Christ replied: whoever is without sin among you, be the first to throw a stone at her(In 8 :4-7). These words of Christ did not fit into the minds of his accusers at that time: according to the apocrypha, they were amazed not only by His answer, but also by the fact that He knew everything about them, that He seemed to be reading their sins.

What affected Polenov in this plot, who denied the Divine nature of Christ? The idea of Christian forgiveness.

And, oddly enough, a miracle that happened in relation to the sinner: Polenov draws attention to the fact that the girl will be saved. Even if these are not the specific miracles of healing or resurrection that are described in the Gospel - Polenov does not pay attention to them, but still a miracle of great mercy towards man.

“Religion is the same creative act”

Shortly before his death, Polenov corresponded with his friend, a young man who was old enough to be his son, Leonid Vasilyevich Kandaurov, with whom he traveled to Palestine in 1899. Some conclusions and conclusions in it sound somewhat naive: “For a long time I have been interested in the history of religion, I visited all the countries where it originated: Egypt, Greece, Palestine, and came to the conclusion that religion is the same creative act person." In the same correspondence, he discusses how man differs from animals: first of all, in that man is given the gift of creation. Polenov himself did not see life outside of creativity.

Vasily Polenov. Parthenon. Temple of Athena Parthenos. 1881

In a letter to Ilya Semenovich Ostroukhov, a friend of Polenov, the artist’s wife described the last days of Vasily Dmitrievich (the artist died in deep old age): how scary it was, on the one hand, to look at the torment loved one, but on the other hand, she admired that while dying physically, he continued to think and create. His last wish was to visit the Hermitage and the Louvre, to look at the paintings of his favorite artists. Then he was in a state of oblivion, waking up from which he suddenly started talking about Savva Ivanovich Mamontov, asked about his son Vsevolod and remembered that he often visited musical evenings- and he wanted to listen to music.

That is, Vasily Dmitrievich was always in creative process, and perhaps that is why faith for him was thought of as a kind of creativity.

Why did Polenov build churches?

Polenov participated in the creation of several temples. At the request of the peasants, he built a church on his estate. Why did he do this? Because he believed that it was better to build a church than something for entertainment. And also because the temple for him was the same synthesis of arts, a combination of architecture, painting, and singing, which he loved very much and even wrote music for worship, because he had musical abilities. But in general, he did not observe the ritual side of religion. Aesthetics and, to some extent, tradition were important to him.

Temple in Abramtsevo. Photo by Yulia Makoveychuk

Another amazing temple, in the creation of which Polenov participated, was the church in the Abramtsevo estate. However, the initiative to create this temple came from the owner of the Abramtsevo house, Elizaveta Grigorievna Mamontova, a woman of high spiritual culture, which was recognized by everyone who knew her. And artists - Vasnetsov, Nesterov, Repin and others - picked up this idea; they were interested, first of all, in freely, without censorship pressure, to express their creativity.

The iconostasis was designed by V. D. Polenov and inspired by Polenov’s travels through Palestine

And Vasily Dmitrievich Polenov also welcomed this idea. Together with Vasnetsov they created architectural project temple, Polenov also developed a design for the iconostasis, and painted several icons himself. There were many pleasant moments for collaboration in the creation of the temple: it is known that even children collaborated with the artists. And the result was magnificent: this church is a pearl in terms of both architecture and design; completely new trends in art are evident here. From now on it begins new era in the development of Russian religious painting, the founders of which should still be called V. M. Vasnetsov and M. V. Nesterov. After all, it was for this temple that Vasnetsov painted the Virgin and Child for the first time, and then in a finished, polished form he would present this image in the Vladimir Cathedral in Kyiv.

Photo by Yulia Makoveychuk

But if we look at the Abramtsevo temple through the eyes of Nesterov, a deeply religious man, we will see that his soul, first of all, was touched by the image created by Vasnetsov St. Sergius Radonezh. It was this image that gave Nesterov a reason to think and create his own pictorial version of the saint. But Polenov’s Annunciation on the doors of the Royal Doors, and Repin’s Savior Not Made by Hands left him completely indifferent.

It is also noteworthy that when Polenov, along with other artists, was invited to paint the Vladimir Cathedral, he refused and did not go. Vasnetsov was amazed, he wrote to the artist: how can this be? You have been in Palestine so much, you have seen everything with your own eyes. Why are you refusing? And Polenov replied that he had no inclination for this and could not deceive either himself or others. It was a very honest thing to do.

There was another temple in Kologriv, the design and decoration of which was also created by Vasily Polenov. But he did this only in some exceptional cases and only when it was not a government order, when there was no censorship, when the artist could safely realize his plan.

About how time put everything in its place

I thought for a long time about why Polenov devoted almost 40 years of his life to the image of Christ, why the artist, who had such a difficult attitude towards faith, considered his gospel cycle “the main work of his life.” And one day I went into some icon shop, and my gaze fell on something familiar: I saw that same Polenovsky work, the first of the gospel cycle - “Mary went to the Highlands.”

Vasily Polenov. “Maria went to the Highlands.” 1890

But only above Mary’s head a halo shone, and, like on icons, there were inscriptions on the painting. Then I asked: “What kind of icon is this?” “Oh, this is a very important icon,” they answered me. - “What is it called?” - “Maria Nagornaya”. - “And the author?” - “We don’t know, the author is unknown.”

Do you understand?

The artist depicted the plot as a common occurrence, but life turned everything upside down and showed that this is an image to which one can pray. It turned out to be unimportant what exactly Polenov thought and wanted to put into his work: now this painting exists as an icon.

Portrait – VTB Press Service

Back in teenage years Under the impression of Alexander Ivanov’s painting The Appearance of Christ to the People, Vasily Polenov had the idea to create a large canvas with ethical content, capable of influencing the viewer with the power of its drama. According to the artist, such a work would meet the needs of the time and the spiritual needs of people.

The painting was preceded by several trips to Egypt, Palestine and Syria to study the life, customs and color of ancient Judea. The first sketches were made during a retirement trip in 1873 and 1876. The artist needed a trip to the East in order to “get used to” the atmosphere of the biblical narrative, imbued with its spirit, and create a historically accurate setting in the picture.

Then the scribes and Pharisees took her in adultery, and, placing her in the midst, they said to Him:
Teacher! this woman was taken in adultery; and Moses commanded us in the law to stone such people: What do you say? They said this, tempting Him, in order to find something to accuse Him of.
But Jesus, bending low, wrote with his finger on the ground, not paying attention to them.
When they continued to ask Him, He bowed down and said to them: He who is without sin among you, be the first to throw a stone at her.
And again, bending low, he wrote on the ground.
They, having heard this and being convicted by their conscience, began to leave one after another, starting from the eldest to the last; and only Jesus remained and the woman standing in the middle.
Jesus, standing up and not seeing anyone but the woman, said to her: woman! where are your accusers? no one judged you?
She answered: no one, Lord! Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.”

In 1881–82, during a trip to Syria and Palestine, Vasily Polenov came across the ruins ancient temple the times of King Herod, who, in his opinion, could well have been a silent witness to those ancient biblical events.

The artist unfolds the action of the painting against the background everyday life eastern city: they talk, not paying attention to what is happening in the square; upstairs, in the residential area, laundry is hung out to dry, and a man on a donkey, on the right, moving straight towards us, is going about his business.

The plot of the painting, the idea of which arose from Polenov during his studies at the Academy of Arts in 1868, allowed him to express important moral problems contained in the gospel narrative - the idea of Christian love for one's neighbor and moral self-improvement. That’s why its name was so important to him. Already in his declining years, Polenov wrote with grief in one of his letters:

“I called this picture “Which of you is without sin.” This was her meaning. But censorship did not allow these words to be put in the catalogue, they allowed “Christ and the Sinner”... And in the museum of Alexander III they called her “the prodigal wife”, which completely contradicts the gospel story, which clearly states that this is a sinner, not a prodigal woman. .. So the name remained. It is not mine, and does not correspond to the Gospel story.”

This work of the artist “hacked” the existing tradition of depicting Christ. Polenov focused his attention on the human in Him, leaving out everything actually metaphysical and mystical. For him, Christ is not God, but a wanderer, a sage, a humanist. Such a rationalistic solution to the topic was fully consistent with the ethical quest of the time, largely determined by the books of E. Renan and the religious reformism of L. Tolstoy (although the writer himself sarcastically called Polenov’s Christ a “floor polisher”).

The work sparked heated debate. The reaction of young people is accurately illustrated by V. Veresaev’s assessment: “The picture shows such a Christ,” he wrote, “as we can now only think of Him—not God, but a man with a huge soul.”

Christ and the sinner. 1888
Vasily Polenov. 1844 - 1927 Russian Museum.

Even in his youth, under the impression of Alexander Ivanov’s painting The Appearance of Christ to the People, Vasily Polenov had the idea to create a large canvas with ethical content, capable of influencing the viewer with the power of its drama. According to the artist, such a work would meet the needs of the time and the spiritual needs of people.

The painting was first shown at the XV exhibition of the Association of Itinerants in February 1887. The picture was initially condemned by censors, and the President of the Academy of Arts, Grand Duke Vladimir, determined: “...It is harmful for the people.”
However, Alexander III, who saw the painting, allowed its display and even, oddly enough, purchased it for his museum.
The painting was preceded by several trips to Egypt, Palestine and Syria to study the life, customs and color of ancient Judea. The first sketches were made during a retirement trip in 1873 and 1876. The artist needed a trip to the East to “get used to” the atmosphere biblical narrative, imbued with its spirit, create a historically accurate setting in the picture.

At that time, such large canvases were not produced in Russia - the dimensions of the painting were 3.07 meters by 5.85 meters. The artist goes to Italy, orders a canvas there and sends it to Russia.
In total, while working on this topic, he made more than 150 preparatory drawings, studies, sketches and versions of the painting, some of them are stored in the State Russian Museum.
The subject of this painting was the famous Gospel episode about Christ and the sinner (Gospel of John, chapter VIII.)
It says:
“Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. And in the morning he came to the temple again, and all the people came to him.
He sat down and taught them.
Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to him a woman taken in adultery, and, placing her in the middle, they said to him:
Teacher! this woman was taken in adultery; and Moses commanded us in the law to stone such people: What do you say? They said this, tempting Him, in order to find something to accuse Him of.
But Jesus, bending low, wrote with his finger on the ground, not paying attention to them.
When they continued to ask Him, He bowed down and said to them: He who is without sin among you, be the first to throw a stone at her.
And again, bending low, he wrote on the ground.
They, having heard this and being convicted by their conscience, began to leave one after another, starting from the eldest to the last; and only Jesus remained and the woman standing in the middle.
Jesus, standing up and not seeing anyone but the woman, said to her: woman! where are your accusers? no one judged you?
She answered: no one, Lord! Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.”

In 1881–82, while traveling through Syria and Palestine, Vasily Polenov came across the ruins of an ancient temple from the time of King Herod, which, in his opinion, could well have been a silent witness to those ancient biblical events.

The artist sets the action of the painting against the backdrop of everyday life in an eastern city: people enter and leave the temple, talk, not paying attention to what is happening in the square; upstairs, in the residential area, laundry is hung out to dry, and a man on a donkey, on the right, moving straight towards us, is going about his business.

The plot of the painting, the idea of which arose from Polenov during his studies at the Academy of Arts in 1868, allowed him to express what was important to him. moral issues contained in the gospel narrative - the idea of Christian love for one's neighbor and moral self-improvement. That’s why its name was so important to him. Already in his declining years, Polenov wrote with grief in one of his letters:

“I called this picture “Which of you is without sin.” This was her meaning. But censorship did not allow these words to be put in the catalogue, they allowed “Christ and the sinner”... And in the museum of Alexander III they called her “the prodigal wife”, which completely contradicts the gospel story, which clearly states that this is a sinner, not a prodigal woman. .. So the name remained. It is not mine, and does not correspond to the Gospel story.”

Vasily Polenov. Christ and the Sinner (Which of you is without sin?). 1908

Olga Atroshchenko, candidate of art history, curator of museum objects in the department of painting of the second half of the 19th - early 20th centuries of the State Tretyakov Gallery

“We can’t predict”

Vasily Polenov. Gallery of paintings, photos and drawings by the artist. V.D. Polenov with his younger daughters Olga and Natalya, 1902

After a huge break in the religious tradition, when people lost faith, when the prayer life for the majority of the population of our country ended, many people developed a strong religious thirst. In 1988, when the 1000th anniversary of the Baptism of Rus' was celebrated, the topic of Christianity, which had long been taboo for society and was not included in art criticism (many art historians did not analyze works related to Christianity), finally became accessible. Especially for this date, an exhibition was organized at the Polenov Museum, and most of it consisted of reproductions of gospel paintings “From the Life of Christ.”

And I remember that I had to endlessly tell visitors not so much about Polenov’s artistic method or how exactly he interpreted the Gospel stories, but about the events that took place in that distant era.

Polenov portrayed the Gospel events delicately and unobtrusively, and this allowed even an unprepared person to understand what and Who they were about. The world of icons was difficult for many at that time: this required spiritual experience, basic knowledge of Orthodox culture. And here before us were paintings that depict a real person in real conditions, in Palestinian nature - and interest involuntarily arose, questions arose. And then, for those who seriously began to look for answers, the meaning of the Gospel and Christian life was gradually revealed.

Polenov himself hardly suspected what role his works would play years later, because his religious views were complex. But as often happens when a great artist works, he cannot know about the final result of his work. “It is not given to us to predict...” - Tyutchev said about the power of words, the same is true here when it comes to art with a capital “A”.

Where there is no place for miracles

And although Lev Nikolaevich had a difficult attitude towards the artist’s art, he nevertheless appreciated this album and said: “I see a great merit in this, including pedagogical: these paintings would be a good illustration for my gospel».

What made Tolstoy respond to Polenov’s work this way? Why are these paintings a reflection? his gospels, and not the true Holy Book?

Vasily Polenov. “She brought joy to those who mourn.” 1890

Let's look at Polenov's works from the gospel cycle: according to the chronology of events, the first of them is “Mary went to the Highland Country.” Polenov depicts the Virgin Mary as a young woman who walks with a bundle in her hands along a narrow path and, as we assume, to meet Elizabeth. The last picture is “She Announced Joy to the Weeping,” where Mary Magdalene, having seen that the tomb of Christ is open and empty, announces to the weeping: Christ is Risen! But where is Polenov’s Risen Lord? He's gone. In the artist’s cycle there is no miraculous Birth, no miraculous Resurrection, no miracles of healing - no miracles at all.

Vasily Polenov. Palestine. Sermon on the Mount. 1890

The books of European thinkers who captured the minds of the Russian intelligentsia played a huge role in undermining faith. For example, Ernest Renan, who took the position that Christ is just a historical figure, and everything else is a myth that was invented after His death. Or David Friedrich Strauss, who tried to logically prove the fictionality of all Gospel miracles, said that the Gospel is a myth, it is absolutely the same as the myths of Ancient Greece, and there is no historical basis here.

Polenov talked a lot about religion, he was interested in its history, truth was important to him - but he understood truth as a scientific discovery, he needed evidence (not only he thought so, but also many others who were confused by the rapid development of science and replaced faith with an attempt to scientifically explain all the secrets of the world). He argued a lot with himself and with religious philosophers, but always adhered to his original point of view. Of course, based on the views of those thinkers who appealed to his own perception of the gospel events.

Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy had a great influence on Polenov's religious views. It is no coincidence that Vasily Dmitrievich, according to his youngest daughter, did not like Dostoevsky, for whom everything is Christ-centric. Polenov was much closer to Tolstoy and his focus on moral improvement.

Who was Christ for Polenov?

Moral ideal. A real ordinary person who lived on earth, whose death led to the appearance of a grandiose book called the Gospel with its highly moral preaching.

Polenov’s youngest daughter, Natalya Vasilievna, argued that for her father, the earthly life of Jesus Christ was always the standard, His personality was ideal and harmonious. A person, according to Polenov, should strive for this standard and, moreover, he can achieve it.

This is the deep and at the same time daring idea that the artist adhered to. We see this idea in his work: here Christ was born, here He works - and here, finally, is His heroic death.

Vasily Polenov. Among the teachers. 1896

Polenov has a painting “Among the Teachers,” which is kept in the Tretyakov Gallery. Its plot is clear: Mary and Joseph, returning from a holiday in Jerusalem, lose the twelve-year-old child Christ, thinking that He is walking somewhere nearby in the crowd, among people, but they do not find him; They search for three days and, returning to Jerusalem, find him among the teachers. There is an icon of the Midnight of Pentecost, where Christ the Youth is depicted on the throne in the center, and teachers sit around him. Polenov portrays this plot completely differently. First of all, you pay attention to the deep opening where Mary and Joseph are depicted and where a beautiful view opens up, and only then you turn your gaze to the boy who is sitting surrounded by elders.

Vasily Polenov. Dreams. Jesus on Lake Gennesaret. 1894

There is no talk about grace, about the Divine essence of Christ. Therefore, when you look at the Gospel cycle, in one picture He sits on a rug near the open door of a small room where the Talmud is read, in another early in the morning He stands on a mountain, admiring the rising sun, and, as Renan naively writes, this nature, this sun is so acted on Him, resulting in such a beautiful, humane teaching. And the people of the generation to which Vasily Dmitrievich Polenov belonged believed in this: there could be nothing supernatural.

Polenov has a lot of discussions about how to portray Christ. And he comes to the conclusion that Christ in his paintings must be outwardly healthy and attractive - because the person who created such a teaching cannot be flawed in some way, he must be a harmonious, beautiful person.

Therefore, in all his works we see this type of image of Christ as a man, attractive in appearance and rich spiritually.

“Your mission for centuries is not clear to you”

In addition to a series of gospel paintings, Vasily Dmitrievich wrote the book “Jesus from Galilee”: he attempted to compile a set of four canonical Gospels. As Polenov himself wrote, he decided to combine all four Gospels into a single whole, taking the same principle that he followed in his pictorial work: from the birth of Christ to His death (by the way, Tolstoy tried to do the same thing, who decided to write a materialistic gospel) .

Christ. Sketch for the painting “Which of you is without sin?” 1888

But when he showed this work to his close friend, a historian who, apparently, was also involved in the history of religion, Valery Nikolaevich Lyaskovsky, he analyzed it and made a lot of edits: his comments took up about 15 typewritten sheets. In his letter to Polenov, he says: “You probably in your work do not understand the essence of Christ, His divine-human nature and are trying in every possible way to move away from this topic, to avoid it. But you, nevertheless, are the son of the Gospel, who said: “I will not go,” but went himself. For your mission throughout the centuries is not clear to you, but you serve according to the word of Him who said: heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away(Mk 13 :31)".

"Christ and the Sinner"

The painting “Christ and the Sinner” is one of Polenov’s most famous works and, perhaps, the most powerful work from his gospel cycle in terms of psychological portraits of the characters.

Vasily Polenov. Graphic version of the painting “Christ and the Sinner”. H., coal, it.kar. 1885

I would even say that of the two large options, one of which is picturesque and is located in the Russian Museum, and the other is graphic and is located in the Polenov Museum-Reserve, the graphic version is the most developed in terms of psychology, the characters in it are defined more sharply.

In a painting, the color scheme achieved by Polenov makes a greater impression.

The artist worked on this painting for almost 20 years. In 1868, he made the first graphic sketch, and then abandoned his idea for a long time. Then follows a ten-year break, and in 1881-1882. Polenov traveled to Palestine, where he explored the earthly path of Christ, became acquainted with the realities of Eastern life, made sketches, took photographs, collected costumes, studied the features of architecture, life, nature - because he wanted to approach his work on the painting with the greatest historical accuracy, down to the smallest details. Everything he saw there made a strong impression on him, and as a result, the artist shows us his own reconstruction of the Jerusalem Temple, which, as many think, turned out to be quite convincing. He depicted the temple, the stones of which are heated from the scorching eastern sun, so luxurious and, apparently, he was so carried away that the first thing that catches our eyes when looking at the picture is the sun, olive trees and poplars stretching into the distance and, of course, this magnificent temple of King Solomon. And only then do we go lower and see the Savior. The artist Alexander Ivanov, the author of the painting “The Appearance of Christ to the People,” did not have the opportunity to travel to the places where the Savior lived; his landscape was painted in Italy - but nevertheless he showed us spiritual Palestine. And Polenov failed to show us the spiritual, but showed us the real Palestine, which is no worse, but this showed a completely different approach to the topic.

Vasily Polenov. View of Jerusalem from the west. Jaffa Gate and Citadel. 1888

When I became interested in Polenov’s art, it was important for me to understand why, out of such a huge number of Gospel stories that the Gospel offers us, Vasily Dmitrievich chose this particular story for a large-scale canvas? The Gospel of John contains the story of how the scribes and Pharisees brought a woman to Christ with the question: Teacher! this woman was taken in adultery; and Moses commanded us in the law to stone such people: What do you say? To which Christ replied: whoever is without sin among you, be the first to throw a stone at her(In 8 :4-7). These words of Christ did not fit into the minds of his accusers at that time: according to the apocrypha, they were amazed not only by His answer, but also by the fact that He knew everything about them, that He seemed to be reading their sins.

What affected Polenov in this plot, who denied the Divine nature of Christ? The idea of Christian forgiveness.

“Religion is the same creative act”

Shortly before his death, Polenov corresponded with his friend, a young man who was old enough to be his son, Leonid Vasilyevich Kandaurov, with whom he traveled to Palestine in 1899. Some conclusions and conclusions in it sound somewhat naive: “I have been interested in the history of religion for a long time, visited all the countries where it originated: Egypt, Greece, Palestine, and came to the conclusion that religion is the same creative act of man.” In the same correspondence, he discusses how man differs from animals: first of all, in that man is given the gift of creation. Polenov himself did not see life outside of creativity.

Vasily Polenov. Parthenon. Temple of Athena Parthenos. 1881

In a letter to Ilya Semenovich Ostroukhov, a friend of Polenov, the artist’s wife described the last days of Vasily Dmitrievich (the artist died at a very old age): how scary it was, on the one hand, to look at the torment of a loved one, but on the other hand, she was delighted that while physically dying, he continued to think and create. His last wish was to visit the Hermitage and the Louvre, to look at the paintings of his favorite artists. Then he was in a state of oblivion, from which he suddenly started talking about Savva Ivanovich Mamontov, asked about his son Vsevolod and remembered that he often had musical evenings - and he wanted to listen to music.

That is, Vasily Dmitrievich was always in the creative process, and perhaps that is why faith for him was thought of as a type of creativity.

Why did Polenov build churches?

Polenov participated in the creation of several temples. At the request of the peasants, he built a church on his estate. Why did he do this? Because he believed that it was better to build a church than something for entertainment. And also because the temple for him was the same synthesis of arts, a combination of architecture, painting, and singing, which he loved very much and even wrote music for the service, because he had musical abilities. But in general, he did not observe the ritual side of religion. Aesthetics and, to some extent, tradition were important to him.

Temple in Abramtsevo. Photo by Yulia Makoveychuk

The iconostasis was designed by V. D. Polenov and inspired by Polenov’s travels through Palestine

And Vasily Dmitrievich Polenov also welcomed this idea. Together with Vasnetsov, they created an architectural design for the temple; Polenov also developed a design for the iconostasis, and he painted several icons himself. There were many pleasant moments for collaboration in the creation of the temple: it is known that even children collaborated with the artists. And the result was magnificent: this church is a pearl in terms of both architecture and design; completely new trends in art are evident here. From this time on, a new era began in the development of Russian religious painting, the founders of which should still be called V. M. Vasnetsov and M. V. Nesterov. After all, it was for this temple that Vasnetsov painted the Virgin and Child for the first time, and then in a finished, polished form he would present this image in the Vladimir Cathedral in Kyiv.

Photo by Yulia Makoveychuk

But if we look at the Abramtsevo temple through the eyes of Nesterov, a deeply religious man, we will see that his soul, first of all, was touched by the image of St. Sergius of Radonezh created by Vasnetsov. It was this image that gave Nesterov a reason to think and create his own pictorial version of the saint. But Polenov’s Annunciation on the doors of the Royal Doors, and Repin’s Savior Not Made by Hands left him completely indifferent.

About how time put everything in its place

Vasily Polenov. “Maria went to the Highlands.” 1890

Do you understand?

The artist depicted the plot as a common occurrence, but life turned everything upside down and showed that this is an image to which one can pray. It turned out to be unimportant what exactly Polenov thought and wanted to put into his work: now this painting exists as an icon.