Today my post is about the Slavic artist Konstantin Vasiliev. Unfortunately, his fate was tragic (he died from an accident at the age of 34), and recognition came to Konstantin Vasiliev after his death: in the 1980s they began to write about him as an artist who revealed "the depth and strength of the feelings of his people".
The young artist could not find his own special style for a long time. Since childhood, he loved fairy tales and folk epics. In 1969, Konstantin Vasiliev painted the work "Northern Eagle". A friend told Konstantin that he saw a large eagle in the forest and described its piercing gaze. When Vasiliev removed the coverlet from the canvas, silence reigned in the room. Friends expected to see any bird, but ... they did not expect a man with an ax. The viewer was literally drilled by the eagle gaze of a courageous man, the ruler of the taiga, inspired by nature …
The last painting of the artist was the work "Man with an Owl". With its roots, it seems to have grown into the earth, and its head connects with heaven. In his hand he holds a burning scroll with the pseudonym of the artist "Konstantin Velikoross" inscribed on it and the date that became the year of his death: 1976. Above the oak sprout (a symbol of enlightenment), a light burns, a symbol of the unquenchable burning of the soul. Above his gray-haired head, the old man holds a whip, and an owl sits on his mitten, whose all-seeing eye completes the movement upwards, towards the sky and space. Having completed "The Man with the Owl", Vasiliev said: "Now I understand what needs to be written and how to write." A few days later his life was cut short...
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