War in the Vasily Vereshchagin’s philosophical worldview

Abstract

The paper is devoted to the analysis of views on the war of the largest Russian battle painter Vasily Vereshchagin (1842–1904). Based on the analysis of paintings, as well as Vereshchagin's literary and journalistic works, it was shown that the painter possessed an original worldview, which can rightfully be called philosophical. In the creative work of the painter paradoxically combined humanistic, pacifist and militarist-patriotic motives. The ideological fold of his paintings was formed under the influence of what he saw on numerous voyages. The painter was inclined to call his independent point of view “realism”. Vereshchagin paintings are characterized by the depersonalization of military subjects heroes, placing them on the paintings in deliberately uncomfortable poses for the painter. In this tendency, one can discern the influence of Leo Tolstoy, who emphasized the importance of the unconscious forces driving people in the war. Tolstoy's motifs also are recognized in the ironic image of well-known historical figures. The author concludes that Vereshchagin refers to war as a natural disaster that will always accompany the development of society. But in the painter’s field of view is not only war, but more – the position of man in the war. Pictures subjects show that in the face of mortal danger a person, depending on his internal turn, can show his best qualities. But the war itself, as the movement of the crowds, realize armed violence, in the Vereshchagin’s opinion, doesn’t lead to anything good.