The Spirit and exile: why the author of "The Demon" went mad and became a prophet
"Swan Princess", three "Demons", "Lilac"... The list of textbook paintings by Mikhail Vrubel, known to the general public, is relatively small. But it is difficult to name another artist of the turn of the 19th–20th centuries who is equally important for Russian culture. And just as frighteningly attractive. March 17 marks the 170th anniversary of his birth; he created his last works 120 years ago. But despite this distance, Vrubel's art seems particularly relevant today: matured at the turn of the century, it has become a visual embodiment of global transformation and a harbinger of future upheavals. But at the same time, like no other, this master was above time. And, ultimately, his work is about the eternal.
Daemon and versions
Vrubel's painting spans two decades: from 1884 to 1904. Before and after he had graphic works, but large oil paintings belong only to this range. It would seem that the most peaceful period of Russian history. And it was a time of rapid development of art. The Peredvizhniki artists and Leo Tolstoy are still creating, the composers of a mighty bunch are writing wonderful operas (the works of one of them, Rimsky-Korsakov, will become extremely important for the formation of Vrubel), Chekhov is creating his main plays... completely new phenomena are being born: poetry of the Silver Age, symbolism, Russian Art Nouveau.
It is with these "decadent" trends that Vrubel's figure is usually associated — and quite rightly. But he turned out to be bigger than his era. He combined Byzantine iconography, academic realism and a breakdown of expressionism; sublime, supramundane religiosity and demonic mysticism. His work is an exquisite feast of color and decorativeness, but it contains the poison of madness. Living in quite prosperous years, Vrubel seems to foresee the catastrophes of the 20th century. At the same time, he has neither social motives, like the Peredvizhniki, nor themes of war, like Vereshchagin, nor love sufferings.
His element is a fairy tale, a legend. His main character is his own wife, singer Nadezhda Zabela-Vrubel, the first performer of the role of the Swan Princess in Rimsky-Korsakov's opera The Tale of Tsar Saltan. And the main character is a Demon, a romantic character in Lermontov's poem. The famous triptych dedicated to him, now divided between the Tretyakov Gallery and the Russian Museum, became Vrubel's greatest achievement and at the same time the curse. It is believed that by creating the last of the three canvases, "The Defeated Demon," the artist lost his mind.
This story itself is an ideal plot for the era of decadence. Working on a huge panel in a small workshop, Vrubel illuminated the canvas with a single lamp. He mixed bronze powder into the oil paint to achieve the effect of a special "mystical" golden glow. But when the finished painting was moved to an exhibition hall with an even overhead light, the magic disappeared. Vrubel began to edit the image right there — contemporaries recall that day by day the Demon changed, becoming either beautiful or terrible. The artist could not achieve what he wanted. It seemed that this fallen angel himself was mocking his creator.
The price that Vrubel had to pay for striving for perfection was mental illness. The painter ends up in a psychiatric hospital and gradually plunges deeper into the abyss of madness. For a long time it was believed that by using bronze, the artist made a mistake — allegedly after a few days this material lost its original properties. But when making a retrospective of Vrubel at the Tretyakov Gallery in 2021, the curators thought to illuminate the "Demon of the Vanquished" in the same way as in the workshop — with a directional beam. And the image "came to life"!
From icon painting to abstractionism
But who is the Vrubel Demon? Why do we see his face not only in the great triptych, in a multitude of sketches and sketches, but also in the image of an angel ("Angel with a censer and a candle", 1887), in the illustration to Pushkin's "The Prophet" (1899) and even at the Mother of God ("Funeral Cry", 1887)? Finally, how can you not see the similarity of these huge bottomless eyes and the elongated oval of the face with the features of Zabela-Vrubel? It seems that the Demon pursues the painter everywhere; appears before him in various guises.
The artist, who began his adult career with murals of the dome of St. Sophia Cathedral in Kiev, and ended up with a "Six—Winged Seraphim" (of course, with the same unforgettable face), paradoxically brought the divine and demonic closer together. How can we not recall his contemporary Alexander Scriabin with his "Divine Poem", the ecumenical idea of the "Mystery", and at the same time with the sonata "Black Mass" and "Satanic Poem"? But in the last years of his life, Scriabin was considered practically insane, and his death was just as mystical and absurd (the composer, who was always paranoid about bacteria and endlessly washed his hands, died of blood poisoning).
The similarity between the two geniuses is not only in fate, but also in art. Both received classical academic education, both seemed to be continuers of the traditions of the past (Scriabin was even called the Russian Chopin). But in the end, they went further than any of their contemporaries, opening the way to the most radical trends of the 20th century. Both Cubism and abstractionism are already visible in Vrubel's late graphics, although their "official invention" was still years away.
Contemporaries keenly felt Vrubel's innovation and treated him ambiguously. There is another revealing story connected with this. His mural "Princess of Dreams" (now in the Tretyakov Gallery) and the extant "Mikula Selyaninovich" were to be exhibited at the Nizhny Novgorod Art and Industrial Exhibition. But this provoked sharp protests from members of the Imperial Academy of Arts, as well as heated debates in society (especially Maxim Gorky, who accused Vrubel of decadence). It came down to Emperor Nicholas II, who supported the president of the Academy, Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich.
Perhaps for the first time in the history of Russian art, a painting caused a scandal at the highest state level not by its plot (such cases had happened before, for example, with Ilya Repin's Ivan the Terrible and his Son Ivan), but by its technique and manner of painting. But Vrubel's critics failed to notice that the conventionality, two—dimensionality, and conscious rejection of perspective in the "Princess of Dreams" are nothing more than a continuation of the iconographic tradition. It will later be adopted by the Russian avant—garde, for example, Natalia Goncharova in the sketches for the failed ballet "Liturgy". And the mosaic decorative elements are rooted in the very youthful experience of Vrubel in St. Sophia Cathedral, when he needed to complete the missing archangels, imitating authentic Byzantine images by painting.
From modernity to eternity
The story of the Nizhny Novgorod panels had a funny postscript. A few years later, Nicholas II saw Vrubel's paintings at an exhibition at the Academy of Fine Arts, organized by Sergei Diaghilev. And he said that he really likes it. Vladimir Alexandrovich tried to argue: "This is decadence!" — but the tsar remained of his opinion, only clarified who the author of the works was. Hearing Vrubel's name, Nikolai asked: "Isn't this the one who was 'executed' in Nizhny Novgorod?"
Though not immediately, Vrubel was widely recognized. And even in Soviet times, while hiding and scolding the "real" avant-garde in every possible way, Vrubel was spoken of with respect as the author of "The Swan Princess" and "The Demon Sitting", the most "folk" works of the master. But, of course, they tried not to recall either his early religious works or his later experiments, when the seriously ill master, who had stopped working with oil, maniacally created amazing, unlike compositions in graphics: a series of drawings of pearls and shells, where a dance of lines and strokes creates an almost abstract image, dragging the eye. into a metaphysical whirlpool.
By connecting the epochs, Vrubel seems to have predicted the impending catastrophes of the twentieth century with his "Demon Defeated" with his expressionist fracture and the feeling of a broken mirror. And his desperate search for truth in the shimmer of a sea pearl looks like an attempt to escape both from himself, who is losing ground under his feet, and from the world, which is rolling into the abyss; literally hide in a shell and grab, like a lifeline, for eternal unshakable beauty. This is especially felt today. And, perhaps, at a new historical break, his recipe will seem relevant to us.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
