Read the biography of Vasily Grigorievich Perov and watch all his paintings

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Vasily Perov was a great Russian artist of the 19th century, whose work opened up new horizons for Russian art . His paintings are deep and complex, and demonstrate the whole truth of the hard life of the people. Vasily was also a great teacher who brought up more than a dozen really great painters. Watch all his paintings in a slide show and enjoy his biography.

List of Perov’s painting in the same order as the slide show

Vasily Grigoryevich Perov was born between December 21 and 23, 1833 (January 2 or 4, 1834) and is the illegitimate son of Baron Georgy (Grigory) Karlovich Kridener , and A. I. Ivanova. 

Even though his parents got married shortly after his birth, Vasily did not have the right to his father’s surname and title. And his nickname “Perov” which is his surname, was given to him by his literacy teacher for diligence and skillful writing.

In his childhood Vasily was ill with smallpox, which caused him to have poor eyesight for the rest of his life. 

He became interested in painting after watching the work of an artist and went to study at the Arzamas art school of A. V. Stupin.
But because he was so good he was allow to paint with oil paints before the other students, then sadly because of a dispute with another student, he didn’t finish school.

He went back home and began creating the composition ” Crucifixion ” written throughout Lent and completed on Holy Week then placed in a church located near the village of Nikolskoye. 

He also painted a number of portraits and genre paintings: “A Beggar Begging”, ” Village Troika “, “Folk Festival in the Semik”.

In 1853, Vasily Perov entered the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture and graduated from college under the guidance of S.K. Zaryanko .

Perov presented the “Portrait of Nikolai Grigoryevich Kridener, the artist’s brother” to the Imperial Academy of Arts, and was awarded a small silver medal in 1856.

This work was still closely connected with the traditions of art of the early 19th century, but already in subsequent works Perov acted as an innovator. 

In 1857, the painting “Arrival of a police officer for investigation” brought the artist a large silver medal, and attracted the attention of the public and critics.

In 1860, Perov was again awarded a small gold medal for the painting “First rank. The son of a sexton, promoted to collegiate registrars”, which established the artist as the heir to the satirical genre of the 1840s. 

Now he could participate in the competition for a large gold medal, and painted “Sermon in the village” and “Rural religious procession at Easter”. He received a large gold medal in 1867 and the right to travel abroad as a boarder for the first painting.

In 1862, Perov married Elena Edmondovna Sheins and they went abroad while he was himself a boarder at the Academy of Arts.

In 1863-1864 Perov lived and worked in Paris, but he wanted to go back home and having received permission from the Academy for an early return which included the continuation of boarding in Russia, he returned to Moscow.

Vasily Perov settled in the house of his wife’s uncle, F.F. Rezanov in Moscow and never left the city.

While still abroad, Perov conceived a large painting with a plot from monastic life, with these paintings, a new stage in the artist’s work began: from a satirical direction, he moved on to more dramatic stories – about “humiliated and offended.

In 1869, Vasily Perov and Myasoedov ​​created the Association of Traveling Art Exhibitions (TPKhV). Vasily who was a board member for 7 years organized a Moscow group of Wanderers. 

In 1870 he was awarded the title of professor by the Academy of Arts thanks to the paintings “Wanderer” and “Birdcatcher”, and received the first prize of the OPH for the painting “The Birdman”.

In the 1970s, everyday life stories occupied a special place in Perov’s work.  Then in 1871, Vasily was appointed teacher of the Moscow School of Painting and Art.

In 1871-1872 Perov, commissioned by P. M. Tretyakov, executed a number of portraits of Russian writers and scientists. Perov achieved such “truthfulness” in some portraits, which in Russian art was noted only by I. E. Repin and V. A. Serov .

Perov married Elizaveta Egorovna Druganova in 1872.

In 1873, his paintings “Fisherman” and “Hunters at rest” were presented at the World Exhibition in Vienna.

In 1877, Perov left the members of the TPHV and participated in the exposition of the World Exhibition in Paris a year later.

In the last years of his life, V. G. Perov collaborated with the journal ” Priroda i Okhota ” by L. P. Sabaneev  and a number of his stories were published in the Art Journal  which was published in 1881-1887.

His health was undermined by typhus and pneumonia in 1881 and Vasily Perov died of consumption , at the age of 49, in a small Golitsyn hospital near Moscow.

Perov was buried at the monastery cemetery in the Danilov Monastery where a mournful tombstone in the form of a cross on Golgotha ​​was erected on his grave.

Later his ashes were reburied at the monastery cemetery in the Donskoy Monastery, and on the new grave of the artist, a monument was erected by the sculptor Alexei Evgenievich Yeletsky.

I hope you enjoyed this article

Read : Discover the painting “Troika” by Vasily Perov

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