"Chronically ill" painting by Mikhail Nesterov will be back in the hall of the Russian Museum
ARTinvestment.RU   18 октября 2019

The restorers completed the work to "cure" nearly four-meter painting in 1907

Year the appearance of the picture are important for understanding its hidden meaning. Nesterov works under the impression of the events of 1905. Very fresh memories of bloody Sunday — on more than a hundred killed by the authorities of the participants of the peaceful demonstration. The country was in economic crisis, the population grew poorer. Authorities, meanwhile, tried to keep the situation by fraud in the Duma elections and push back their loyal members.

Nesterov worked on the canvas in the atmosphere of social conflict, when the air hung a feeling of imminent social explosion. And the plot — the appearance of Christ to the Russian people, both believers and atheists, — was a quiet shout, "Stop!", the desire to reconcile a divided society, hopeless attempt by the power of art to slow the onset of the disaster.

the Artist was interrupted several times by work on the painting. Then they returned in a hurry. Perhaps that is why in the process of creating an artist was marred by numerous violations of technology. Immediately after a solo exhibition of 1907, the painting entered the collection of the Museum of the Imperial Academy of arts. After the revolution of 1917 she was transferred to the Russian Museum, but in the late 1920-х removed in the store on a wave of struggle against religion. The painting returned to the exhibition after perestroika, in the late 1980-х. And then the experts were convinced that she "chronically ill" (in the words of chief curator of the timing of Olga Babīna) — had fallen slack. But now everything will be fine. For half a year, the giant canvas was cleaned, primer and paint fixed, installed new subframe. The painting will soon return to the permanent exhibition. Just in time. How-то time "Holy Russia" will take part in the exhibition exchanges — her condition now allows you to send a picture in travel.

Vladimir Bogdanov, AI

Sources: sobaka.ru, rusmuseum.ru