History of Russian art revealed in 4 EPIC contemporary paintings (PICS)

In 2009, on the occasion of the Tretyakov Gallery’s 160th anniversary, Russian artistic duo Alexander Vinogradov and Vladimir Dubossarsky made four large-scale polyptychs on the theme of masterpieces of Russian art – ‘Spring’, ‘Summer’, ‘Fall’ and ‘Winter’. We looked closer at them and found all the imagery they slipped in their artworks.

1. ‘Spring’ 

This painting is dedicated to the first season of the year and theme of women and the beauty of the female body. 

From left to right, it features:

• Alexei Savrasov's ‘The Rooks Have Arrived!’ 
• Arkady Plastov's ‘Spring’, in which a naked Soviet woman dresses a child after a bath 
• Alexander Samokhvalov's famous ‘Girl with a kernel’

• Boris Kustodiev's ‘Russian Venus’ with a birch broom
• Karl Bryullov's nude ‘Bathsheba’ 
• Two nude figures from Samokhvalov's ‘After the Bath’
• A little girl from Nikolai Chernyshev's ‘Braiding a Braid’ 
• A pioneer girl in a T-shirt from Tatiana Yablonskaya's ‘Morning’ is pictured against a backdrop of birch trees

• Two nude girls from Alexander Deineka's paintings ‘Bathing Girls’ and ‘Playing Ball’.

2. ‘Summer’

In this canvas, dedicated to the second season of the year, artists fantasized on the theme of mental harmony, relaxation and dreams and reflections. 

From left to right the painting features:

• ‘Kolkhoznitsa on a bicycle’ by Alexander Deineka
• The lovers from the painting ‘Above the City’ by Marc Chagall 
• ‘The Horsewoman’ by Karl Bryullov

• Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin’s ‘Bathing the Red Horse’
• Pavel Florensky and Sergei Bulgakov from Mikhail Nesterov's ‘Philosophers’
• ‘Girl with a Red Spearhead’ by Kazimir Malevich

• Fragments from ‘Haymaking’ and ‘Tractor Drivers' Dinner’ by Arkady Plastov
• Portrait of Leo Tolstoy by Ilya Repin
• Viktor Vasnetsov's ‘Alyonushka’ bowing her head in front of him
• Alexander Samokhvalov's ‘Girl in a T-shirt’
• Portrait of Modest Mussorgsky by Ilya Repin

3. ‘Fall’

This polyptych, dedicated to the third season of the year, shows many famous personalities from history and recognizable characters in Russian art. 

At the same table sit:

• Alexander Pushkin by Kiprensky 
• Peter the Great by Nikolai Ge (Tsarevich Alexei, whom he interrogates on the original canvas, remains behind the scenes)
• Marshal Zhukov by Pavel Korin

• ‘Girl with Peaches’ by Valentin Serov
• Dostoevsky by Vasily Perov
• All-Union headman Mikhail Kalinin, cut from Vasily Efanov's massive canvas ‘Unforgettable (Unforgettable Meeting)’ 
• and, finally, ‘Lenin in Smolny’ by Isaac Brodsky 

Behind them we see:

• the plot from Vasily Pukirev's ‘Unequal Marriage’ 
• the bride from Pavel Fedotov's ‘The Major's Matchmaking’ 
• the pensive Pavel Tretyakov portrait by Ilya Repin
• Viktor Popkov's ‘Builders of Bratsk’
• the Vsevolod Meyerhold portrait painted by Peter Williams
• Sergei Gerasimov's ‘Kolkhoz Watchman’ standing with a rifle 
• and Konstantin Maximov's ‘Sashka the Tractor Driver’.

In the middle of the picture we see:

• David Shterenberg's ‘Aniska’ looking at us in a red sundress 
• And, very far in the background, rides ‘Kolkhoznitsa on a bicycle’ by Alexander Deineka. 

In the right part of the picture we see:

• ‘Hunters in the wilderness’ by Vasily Perov 
• Ivan the Terrible holding his dying son according to Repin's fantasy
• And, in the distance, the beautiful Maria Yermolova, as painted by Valentin Serov

4. ‘Winter’

The painting, dedicated to the fourth, and coldest, season of the year, unites the heroes of Russian history and folklore and other characters in Russian art. 

In the left part of the polyptych, we see:

• Boris Kustodiev’s ‘Maslenitsa’ with a rushing troika sled 
• A Tair Salakhov portrait of his daughter – ‘Aidan’ sitting on a toy horse
• A sad boy and his dog from the painting ‘Low Marks Again’ by Fyodor Reshetnikov
• ‘Ivan-Tsarevich and the Grey Wolf’ by Viktor Vasnetsov. 
• Slightly larger figures of Maxim Gorky and Alexander Nevsky by Pavel Korin 
• And ‘The Swan Princess’ by Mikhail Vrubel. 

In the middle is an artist at an easel from Viktor Popkov's painting ‘My Day. Meeting’ and ‘Bogatyrs’ by Viktor Vasnetsov.

In the right part of the picture, we see:

• Kustodiev’s ‘Bolshevik’ with a red banner 
• A boy running away and an old man sitting in down with his right hand raised from Vasily Surikov’s ‘Boyarynya Morozova’ 
• Stalin and Voroshilov from Alexander Gerasimov's painting
• And Kramskoi's ‘Unknown’ looks out from behind their shoulders