"Princess of Dreams": Why did the Imperial Academy reject Vrubel's painting?

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

This magnificent panel is called the most famous in Moscow. Panel, which was approved by the emperor himself, but rejected by the Academy of Arts. What did the Emperor like "Princess of Dreams" and why did she receive a public response?

Artist biography

Artist Mikhail Vrubel was born in Omsk. He studied at the Faculty of Law at St. Petersburg University, and then studied at the Academy of Arts. He was an all-round talented person: an artist, a graphic artist, a designer of arts and crafts, an illustrator, and even an architect. It is said that Vrubel's decision to enter the Academy of Arts after university was influenced by his interest in the philosophy and aesthetics of Kant. On the other hand, there is a more or less conventional explanation of how Vrubel became a professional artist. As a student, he was drawn into the artistic environment by his uncle (his stepmother's brother, Vrubel's mother died when Mikhail was three years old). This was the famous teacher Nikolai Wessel, who was familiar with many representatives of the artistic intelligentsia, especially from the musical and theatrical spheres (including Mussorgsky). Of course, this left an imprint on Vrubel's artistic taste - his paintings and plots often have theatrical overtones. At the age of 24, Vrubel entered the Imperial Academy of Arts. Vrubel's teacher at the Academy was Pavel Chistyakov, an outstanding teacher whose students were Repin, Surikov, Polenov, Vasnetsov, Serov, etc. Dreams "or" The Swan Princess ")

. Many of Vrubel's works are monumental. It's not even about the size of his paintings, although ordinary visitors are usually amazed by the huge "Princess of Dreams" and other large canvases from the Tretyakov Gallery. Monumentality lies in the special plasticity of the paintings and Vrubel's special brushstroke. In his work, Vrubel was extremely unusual: he could work on one picture for months, he began but did not finish his works, gave them as a gift, destroyed or underestimated. Sometimes he painted new works on old canvas. For example, the famous "Pan" was painted over the portrait of his wife, and "The Fortune Teller" - over the unfinished portrait of N. Mamontov.

At that time, an art circle was formed around the famous Russian entrepreneur and philanthropist Savva Mamontov, and Vrubel became its full member. He had a very warm relationship with Mamontov, after two months of meeting Vrubel even moved into his house, becoming a full member of his family. Thanks to Mamontov, Vrubel began to receive valuable orders. In 1891 he was asked to illustrate Lermontov's collected works. He willingly accepted the order, especially since he began to think about the image of the Demon long before this proposal. As you know, it was the image of the demon that became the hallmark of Vrubel.

Princess of Dreams

In 1896 Savva Mamontov ordered the panels “Mikula Selyaninovich” and “Princess of Dreams” from Vrubel for the All-Russian industrial and art exhibition in Nizhny Novgorod. Vrubel was then practically unknown to the general public. Mamontov liked the prepared sketches and Vrubel completed both canvases.

"Princess Dreams" was created based on the plot of the play by Edmond Rostand in Russian translation by T. L. Schepkin-Kupernik. The premiere of the performance on the Russian stage took place in January 1896 in St. Petersburg. This romantic story about a sublime desire for love and perfect beauty, the contemplation of which is achieved at the cost of death, was an overwhelming success with the public. On the subject of the same name, they even created a waltz "Princess of Dreams", perfume and chocolate with the same name. Although he never saw her, the troubadour was struck by tales of her beauty and generosity. He goes on a journey across the seas to meet his beloved for the first time and tell her about his feelings. The path was not close and the troubadour fell seriously ill. Strength leaves him, but he whispers a song about Princess Melisinda, seeing her image next to him. He was taken to the princess already unconscious. A beautiful girl floats in the air, her blonde hair fluttering in the wind. She bent over the poet and listens to him, giving strength. When the beautiful princess hugged the unfortunate man, he suddenly woke up, saw his beloved and … fell asleep in eternal sleep. The princess wished to give up worldly life and became a nun. The dimensions of the canvas are truly monumental - the width reaches 14 meters, and the height is 7.5 meters. The canvas was painted using pastels and charcoal. The palette is replete with golden, gray pearl and olive colors. All these indistinct, soft and airy halftones create the impression of the fabulousness of what is happening.

Debut - disappointment - success

When Vrubel prepared sketches for the works "Mikula Selyaninovich" and "Princess of Dreams", Witte showed them to the emperor. Nikolai watched for a long time, praised and approved the sketches. When the canvases were presented at the exhibition, then, as N. A. Prakhov said, “it became clear that both Vrubel's panels, with their originality and freshness of writing and paints, literally“killed”the works of other artists placed below in gilded frames.” … A commission headed by the vice-president of the Academy arrived. She examined the panel and decided: “To remove it as non-artistic.” Unfortunately, at the time of its debut, the canvas did not have much recognition; during the artist's life, critics did not find originality and spiritual strength in it. Connoisseurs of art considered the canvas of Vrubel's hand to be too decorative. The work was too non-trivial and daring, which was not welcomed. Although the picture was removed from the exhibition, Savva Mamontov decided to immortalize the picture by creating a majolica copy of it. He planned the construction of a cultural center that would include an opening day, a dance hall, a winter garden and even an opera house.

He attracted famous architects and artists of the early 20th century to this project. Although Mamontov's dream was not fully realized, now the Metropol is recognized as one of the most significant historical and architectural monuments of our time and is included in the list of federal architectural monuments. An avid promoter of his fellow artists, Mamontov wanted to use the facades of a building in central Moscow for works of art in a new direction. During the development of the hotel project, Mamontov had the idea to repeat the "Princess of Dreams" in majolica and thus forever put it on public display. Since then, Vrubel's creation, depicting a dying young man-knight and a princess bending over him, is available to every passer-by. The picturesque panel shown at the Nizhny Novgorod exhibition is now on display in the Vrubel Hall in the Tretyakov Gallery.