From apartment to apartment

Viktor Vasnetsov • Painting, 1876, 53.5×67.2 cm
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About the artwork
Art form: Painting
Subject and objects: Genre scene
Style of art: Realism
Technique: Oil
Materials: Canvas
Date of creation: 1876
Size: 53.5×67.2 cm
Artwork in selections: 40 selections
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Description of the artwork «From apartment to apartment»

Ivan Kramskoy saw the pencil sketch, called Vasnetsov "From apartment to apartment" and said that this story would make a great picture. To fix it recommended that only some of the details: everything is extra clean, two elderly people to bring into the open and blown with all winds area. Vasnetsov has implemented this idea only a few years.

Chilly winter Petersburg, the poor old man with the old woman, in rags, with a bundle, in which was placed all their belongings with them throughout life, with the old coffee pot to boot. Bent, desperate in his eyes – no hope for any change fate. The spire of the Peter and Paul fortress where Dostoevsky had to spend a lot of time under investigation, makes it even more clear distinct reference to the singer of the downtrodden.

The painting resonates with the work of the Wanderers – the same despair and fatigue on the faces of the kids we see in The Troika Perov.

Elderly people driven from former homes, walking aimlessly. Where to find a new place? Enough meager cents to rent a corner? Yes, and whether those pennies? Near them – the pug is probably the only creature that they have in the world besides each other. Now all three of them have become homeless.
Landscape emphasizes the melancholy mood of the picture: low, lead the St. Petersburg sky, dirty icy snow, silhouettes of birds, which appear to be heralds of trouble. Although it is possible for these people to foretell some misfortune, when all their lives – unhappiness?

Vasnetsov exhibited the painting at the fifth exhibition of the Wanderers. Took it enthusiastically, was called his best work. The review critic Vladimir Stasov read: "What poor people, what a sad breed of human! (...) What is the longing and sadness around!". The Wanderers were hoping Vasnetsov will continue to write in this direction, but it turned out otherwise.

Author: Alain Esaulova
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