State Tretyakov Gallery

1878, Khvalynsk (Saratov Province) - 1939, Leningrad

Housewarming (Workers’ Petrograd)

1937


This painting was created by the artist for the 1939 exhibition “Industry of Socialism”. The artist himself explained the idea as follows: “I am trying to convey the historical moment when our country was victorious on the fronts of the Civil War and began a transition to peacetime construction. The time of the action is Spring, 1922. A worker’s family has received an apartment in the centre of the city. Its former owner, a factory owner or merchant, fled abroad. The [new] owner is wearing a white shirt and sits behind the desk with a pipe. His wife and child are in an armchair. Then her father…is from the countryside. The man seated at the desk is telling how he was away for five years. Everyone is exclaiming and rejoicing. Further on we see the character type of a rural instructress. Alongside is a wounded soldier from the front who says something to the girl; they are falling in love despite themselves. In the right corner of the painting there is a conversation between a young man from the front and an old man who has lived long and knows why there have been such misfortunes on Russian soil. All around there is the pale White Night.” Despite the positive intent of the artist, the painting turned out to be tense and there is a drama felt in it which happened outside the author’s will and was imposed by the time in which it was created.


«Виртуальный Русский музей» в социальных сетях: