1848 -1926 · Russia, epic, tale and national renewal

Immobile Bogatyrs, legendary princesses and enchanted forests make Viktor Vasnetsov the inventor of an instantly recognizable Russian national imagination.

Viktor Mikhailovich Vasnetsov was born in 1848 in the village of Lopyal, into a family of priests from the Viatka region, and died in Moscow in 1926. After the seminary, he joined Saint Petersburg and studied at the Imperial Academy fine arts. His beginnings are linked to illustration and genre scenes, but folklore, bylines and Russian tales accompanied him from his earliest years. A stay in Paris in 1876 -1877 paradoxically reinforced his desire to give a modern form to national subjects. A stay in Paris in 1876 -1877 paradoxically reinforced his desire to give a modern form to national subjects. A stay in Paris in 1876 -1877 paradoxically reinforced his desire to give a modern form to national subjects. A stay in Paris in 1876 -1877 paradoxically reinforced his desire to give a modern form to national subjects. A stay in Paris in 1876 -1877 paradoxically reinforced his desire to give a modern form to national subjects. The Knight at the Crossroads installed a solitary hero in front of a disastrous inscription; landscape, stone and silence become the actors of choice. Alionouchka transforms a story orphan into the embodiment of Russian sadness, absorbed by the pond and the forest. Ivan Tsarevich riding the gray wolf combines speed, wonder and plant precision. Vasnetsov devotes nearly two decades to the Bogatyrs, completed in 1898: Ilia Muromets, Dobrynia Nikititch and Alyosha Popovitch scan the horizon like monumental guardians of the Russian land. His activity goes beyond the easel painting. At St. Vladimir's Cathedral in Kiev, he renews monumental religious painting; at Abramtsevo, he participates in theater, architecture and decorative arts. His costumes and sets contribute to the neo-Russian style. Far from naively illustrating the folklore, Vasnetsov constructs a world where landscape, legend, religion and collective memory form the same national-romantic language. The "Viktor Vasnetsov" selection notably compares The Bogatyrs and Alionouchka. His reading favors figures.

Vasnetsov does not paint the tale as an ancient narrative: he gives it a landscape, a weight and a presence capable of inhabiting the present.