Vasilyevsky Island of Alexei Karev. 145th Anniversary of the Artist’s Birth

The exhibition is held in Room 80 on the first floor in the Benois Wing.

A native of Saratov Region, Alexei Karev (1879–1942) is known as a St Petersburg artist, mainly as a landscape painter who expressively depicted the image of our city. In St Petersburg, Karev lived on Vasilievsky Island that he admired for its vastness and abundance of light. The artist lived near the Academy of Arts where he was a teacher. From his window, there was a wonderful view of St Andrew’s Cathedral and the Andreyevsky Market. Alexei Karev’s landscapes are remarkable for their expressive conciseness and richness of emotion, which generally characteristic for the Leningrad landscape school of the 1920s–1930s. In 1934, the artist created The Neva painting commissioned by the Leningrad City Council of Workers’ Deputies. It is on display in the neighbouring room as part of the permanent exhibition. The large canvas, dynamism of the fragmentary composition, and extreme minimalism of the pictorial means create a majestic image of the Neva that is inseparable from the image of St Petersburg, or Leningrad, with its strict harmony and dignified simplicity. The Neva landscape was the last significant work of the artist.

Alexei Karev’s life was tragically cut short. In the winter of 1942, the artist died of starvation and was buried in a mass grave on Dekabristov Island. The previous exhibition of Alexei Karev was held at the Russian Museum in 1981.

Age restriction: 0+