Russian Bed Time Stories
Russian Legends, Folk Tales and Fairy Tales
Groninger Museum
through April 6, 2008
Title: Horseman St. George, 1914-15
Artist: Wassily Kandinsky (Russian 1866-1944)
Medium: Oil on Cardboard
Dimensions: 61.4 x 91 cm
Permanent Collection: State Tretjakov Museum, Moscow
Image Courtesy: Groninger Museum
Snow White. Hansel and Gretel. Little Mermaid. Who doesn't recall the bed time stories of their childhood. Many
of these stories were differentiated by culture. Others were shared over countries; many inspired artists such as
Wassily Kandinsky, Nicholas Roerich, Mikhail Vrubel and Vittorio Roerade.
Though story telling goes back before the written work, they flourished in
the 19th Century as a theme of visual expression especially within the Russian tradition.
It led to renewed interest in Russian folk tales and legends for Russian artists.
Wassily Kandinsky, who some credit with the foundation of Abstract Art, was an artist drawn
to Russian legends. Kandinsky was drawn to the color blue once writing,
"Blue is the truly celestial color". He formed Der Blaue Reiter or the Blue Rider
whose goal was to promote both spiritual and abstaraction in art. The horseman as subject matter was
very popular with Kandinsky.
Title: Varangian / Visitors/ Guests from Overseas,
Artist: Nikolai Roerikh called Nicholas Roerich (Russian 1874-1947)
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 85 x 112.5 cm
Permanent Collection: State Tretjakov Museum, Moscow
Image Courtesy: Groninger Museum
Nicholas Roerich was both a spiritual teacher and a painter. His work Varangian or Visitors/Guests
from Overseas captured the arrival of the Vikings to the Ukraine in the 9th and 10th Centuries.
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Title: The Swan Princess/i>, 1900
Artist: Mikhail Vrubel (Russian 1856-1910)
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 142.5 x 93.5 cm
Permanent Collection: State Tretjakov Museum, Moscow
Image Courtesy: Groninger Museum
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Peter Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake is one of the most beloved ballets in the world. It was part
of the inspiration for Mikhail Vrubel's oil The Swan Princess.
Vrubel's wife, Nadezhda Zabela-Vrubel, a famous Russian Opera Singer, is the Swan Princess depicted
in Vrubel's painting. Vrubel is considered the greatest Russian Symbolist painter.
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Title: Golden Egg, 2007
Artist: Vittorio Roerade (The Hague b. 1962)
Medium: Acrylic, Oil, Resin, Various Threads, Various Glitters on Canvas
Dimensions: 180 x 160 cm
© Vittorio Roerade
Image Courtesy: Groninger Museum
Contemporary Dutch artists Vittorio Roerade also finds inspiration in Russian folk tales. He is
both a painter and a teacher.
The Golden Egg helps Maryushka in her quest to find Fenist the Bright Falcon. Not the same story as the
Goose that laid the Golden Egg.
Holland's Groninger Museum currently hosts an exhibit exploring Russian artists and their illustrations
of Russian Legends, Folk Tales and Fairy Tales.
Russian Legends, Folk Tales and Fairy Tales
Groninger Museum:
December 15, 2007 – April 6, 2008
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