Russian fine art of the 1830s-1840s shows a marked interest in representing reality. The reverential attitude to nature displayed in the works of A.G. Venetsianov, P.A. Fedotov's direct observation of life, and the moral quests of the brilliant ascetic of A.A. Ivanov perhaps unintentionally prepared the new way. But the discoveries of those remarkable artists who were destined to leave this world in 1850s do not break the hierarchy of genres adopted by the St. Petersburg Imperial Academy of Arts.
Historical painting still dominates art. Genre painting was regarded as the lowest and the least prestigious of art forms, but this situation did not satisfy the public's new tastes. The change of generations, more open culture, the emergence of patrons from the Third Estate, the influence of Raznochintsi (the most prominent and active Russian intellectuals of that period), all inevitably lead to new aesthetic demands and a different artistic style.
Stories and images from literature, the Bible and mythology are replaced by real events and people. Artists seek to analyse life, studying social problems and human nature. This acute interest in reality is also associated with the desire to add psychological elements to the representation of the simplest situations in life. However, the talents of the young genre painters varied. Some of them were never able to part with the academic methods (K.D. Flavitsky, "Princess Tarakanova"), while others continued interior painting filling it with social and topical content (N.G. Shilder, "Temptation"). They were
all, though, united by their desire to depict life. The stylistic principles of the democratic trend in art had become sufficiently clear by the 1860s and they were partially declared in the 1863 "Rebellion of the 14" at the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts. During the Gold Medal Competition, they refused to paint the set work on the theme taken from Scandinavian
mythology. They insisted on artistic freedom and the right to choose their own subject. The academy rejected their claims, and so they withdrew from the competition and set up the "Artel".
Shortly after this event, the same group appeared among the students of the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. In 1870 the Moscow and St. Petersburg artists founded the Society of Travelling Art Exhibitions, a democratic association with its own programme opposed to official academic art. These artists were later called the Peredvizhniki (Wanderers, Travellers or Itinerants). The genre paintings of the 1860s are highly subjective and socially aware. They are filled with the pathos of denunciation. In choosing acute contemporary themes, the artists dramatise the
perception of reality, thereby arousing compassion for the victims of social injustice. When creating this new form of realistic painting, the young innovators believed that the main goal of their art was to educate everyone who saw it.
The Peredvizhniki were not active only in genre painting alone. The 1860s-1870s brought changes to the typology of the portrait, forming a new concept of the individual. The pictures of this period provide artists' interpretations of real people and abstract representations of martyrs suffering for an idea, those "suffering the grief of others" (V.G. Perov, "Portrait of F.M. Dostoyevsky", 1872). It is these portraits which embody the period's moral ideal. It is no coincidence that P.M. Tretyakov commissioned the artists to fill a portrait gallery with "people dear to the nation, its best sons". When fulfilling the collector's orders, the Peredvizhniki created a number of images free from minor details, while their intense intonation resembled monuments (I.N. Kramskoy, "Portrait of the Writer Leo Tolstoy", 1873).
Landscape painting in the middle of the 19th century gradually freed itself from the academic three plans in term's of the painting's composition, as well as from artificial and decorative, exotic landscapes. Lyricism permeates the landscape genre, reflecting interest in the modest national ideas (A.K. Savrasov, "The Rooks Have Returned", 1871). The landscape experiments of the Peredvizhniki are rich and varied. The epic magnificence of the Russian countryside is recreated by I.I. Shishkin ("Rye", 1878). The romantically inspired landscapes of F.A. Vasiliev, who was destined to die young, are far
removed from everyday life ("The Wet Meadow", 1872). The problems of light and shade are originally dealt with in decorative works by A.I. Kuinji ( "Night on the Dnieper", 1882), while V.D. Polenov masters the Plein air system ("Courtyard in Moscow", 1878).
Historical painting felt the pressure of the traditional rules and regulations of the Academy of Arts more than any other genre. However, here one could also see the move towards the genre treatment of historical themes. In the 1850s-1860s artists to a certain degree lost interest in exalted historical subjects. Archaeological and ethnographic discoveries provided the artists with rich material to depict the genre scenes in the historical context (V.G. Shwarz, "The Tsarina's Spring Pilgrimage
during the Reign of Tsar Alexey Mikhailovich", 1868).
This historical genre treatment of the theme gave way to profound conceptualisation of the world's historical fate and of those peoples who provided the genre with a new stimulus. An undoubted innovation was to depict the masses as the driving force of history (V.I. Surikov, "Morning of the Streltsy Execution", 1881). The masters of the historical genre paid special attention to the human personality, whose character and fate reflected that of the era (V.I. Surikov, "Boyarynya Morozova", 1887). The interest in Russian history led to the emergence of national Romanticism in painting. V.M. Vasnetsov was one of the first artists to use images of Russian folk epic poems and fairy tales, while he recreated the spirit and
the colour of ancient times in his paintings ("Warrior Knights", 1881-1898; "Alyonushka", 1881).
Realism and democracy, public spirited mentality and the positivist notions of the world set apart the innovatory art of the Peredvizhniki . Their work became the most important step in the development of the Russian culture in the 19th century and the works of these artists took the lion's share of P.M. Tretyakov's collection.
