Who has not seen such famous paintings as"Bogatyri" and "Alyonushka"? And Ivan the Terrible? A legendary Russian artist probably knows not only adults, but also children, because the latter could see the illustrations made by Vasnetsov, to Russian folk tales in children's books or magazines.
Meanwhile, he could not become an artist, because in thosetimes, the code he lived, there was a tradition according to which sons had to follow in the footsteps of their father and inherit his profession. And his father, by the way, was a priest. Therefore, at the age of 10, a small Victor was sent to study first in a special spiritual school, and then in a theological seminary in Vyatka.
One can say that Vasnetsov's biography as an artistbegan here. In Vyatka province there were many local artists and amateurs. All of them were engaged, who painted toys, furniture and utensils, who carved wood and beautiful embroidery.
There is no doubt that this had a hugeinfluence on the development of the talent of a young man, as well as his worldview. He was so keen on drawing that if he had a few free minutes, he immediately started drawing something. Probably, then he could not even think that soon it would become a matter of his life.
Although Vasnetsov's biography does not includeonly information about him as an artist. It is well known that he was engaged in architecture and design, and also was a monumentalist painter, a theater artist and, as mentioned above, an illustrator of children's books.
He still has not graduated from a theological seminary:leaving the last course, decided to go to Petersburg, to enter the Academy of Arts. For this he writes two genre pictures, "Milkmaid" and "Znitsa", sells them and goes to the Academy for the money received.
Further biography of Vasnetsov unfoldsin the following way. Arriving in St. Petersburg and getting to the cherished Academy, he passes the entrance examinations and waits for notification of the results. But I did not wait. But not because he did not act, but because there was an error, and a notification for some reason he was not delivered. In fact, he did, but learned about it only a year later.
Deciding that he would try againNext year, he goes to the School for the Encouragement of Artists. There, he improves his skills, and simultaneously earns a living by illustrations to various books, magazines and even gives private lessons.
Artist Vasnetsov, whose biography containsmany interesting facts, wrote a large collection of paintings that impress with their realism and simplicity. Many of them he wrote when he studied at the Academy, for example, such as "Tea Party", "The Old Woman Feeds the Chickens", "The Beggars" and others.
After graduation, at the invitation of his friend and artist Repin, he went to Paris. There he worked for a year, and in this country he painted a picture of "Balagany in the environs of Paris".
But, in addition to the stunning paintings, there are quite a fewportraits, which Vasnetsov wrote. The biography is short, stated in this article, has many unsaid moments, such as, for example, the above-mentioned interest of Viktor Mikhailovich architecture and design.
The house in which the artist lived, is decorated in a veryinteresting, intricate style. And the author of this project was, of course, Vasnetsov. On the second floor of this "tower" was a workshop, in which many paintings were born, which later became a legend.
Little is known about the artist's family life. But the surviving portraits allow one to see personally the wife of the creator, one of his daughter Tatyana and the sons of Vladimir and Boris.
According to his great-niece, there are some curious facts that contain Vasnetsov's biography:
The artist died in 1926, and his last words were: "Tell all who will ask how, they say, and that: I only lived in Russia ..."
