The Three Vasilis ~ My favourite Russian painters

I really, really love classic Russian academic art.  It digs into my guts,  and though entirely representational,  it plays with my emotional interior as much as any impressionist ever could.  To imagine a thing that never existed,  with people conjured up from the imagination (with the help of marginally paid models), while also inspiring deep feeling and contemplation is the real gift of these guys.  You can't photograph what has never existed,  no matter what the (so-called) modern art folk say.

Now,  if I were going to pick a singl favourite,  it would certainly be the stunning master Ilya Repin (1844 - 1930).  His paintings live inside me,  and his technique is unparalleled, while at the same time existing mainly to create the story on his canvas.  The next three are the ones I present here. Together they're a juggernaut of imagination, with differing artistic temperaments, but aesthetically connected (in my fevered mind, anyway) by more than simply their first names.  Historical themes are their bread and butter,  along with the orientalist paintings that ruled their era.

If you enjoy their work,  please consider researching their histories;  fascinating fellows, all.

Vasily Vasilyevich Vereshchagin (Васи́лий Васи́льевич Вереща́гин) 1842 - 1904

 Vasily Dmitrievich Polenov (Васи́лий Дми́триевич Поле́нов) 1844 - 1947

Vasily Ivanovich Surikov (Васи́лий Ива́нович Су́риков) 1848 - 1916