We conclude the educational quest for the 160th anniversary of the Novgorod Museum-Reserve with the story of the creation of the famous painting

Did you know that there are two versions of the famous Kukryniksy painting "The Flight of the Fascists from Novgorod", and we asked you to answer where the original is and where the copy is? The question turned out to be quite difficult and, unfortunately, no one gave the correct answer. This is a good reason to tell the story of the creation of the two paintings.

In early March 1944, three artists from the Kukryniksy creative union left Moscow by car for Novgorod and then to Leningrad. Each took with them an etude case and a small album to make sketches for future paintings.

In the book “Three of Us,” the artists told how the idea for the famous painting “The Flight of the Fascists from Novgorod” arose: “We drive around the Kremlin. Deserted. Ruins. Bent iron. Remains of German equipment. Upon entering the Kremlin, a terrible sight opens up, at first even incomprehensible. Some gigantic, frozen black people are lying in various poses in the snow. Some with their arms raised, others with their legs raised up. It turns out that these are the figures of the “Millennium of Russia” monument dismantled by the fascists, which they did not have time to take to Germany. All the figures are numbered. Amazed by this sight, we took out our sketchbooks and sat down to paint sketches from different sides. Then we had the idea to try to paint a picture against this tragic background. Later, these sketches helped us a lot in our work on the painting “The Flight of the Fascists from Novgorod,” in which we showed the occupiers fleeing cowardly like rats against the backdrop of a wounded but unshakably standing cathedral.”

Art historians believe that, in terms of the completeness of the concept and the brightness of the execution, Kukryniksy created one of the most significant paintings dedicated to the Great Patriotic War.

The artists worked on the painting from 1944 to 1946. Since 1949, the canvas has been in the collection of the State Russian Museum in St. Petersburg.

But later Kukryniksy returned to the plot, and in 1978, on the eve of the 35th anniversary of the liberation of Novgorod from the Nazi invaders, they completed and donated to the Novgorod Museum-Reserve an original copy of the painting of the same name from the collection of the State Russian Museum. You can see this work by Kukryniksy in the Novgorod Museum at the exhibition for the 80th anniversary of the Victory, “The Memory of Grief is Harsh, the Memory of Glory Lives.” On the resource of the online newspaper “Novgorod,” we post images of the two paintings so that you can find the differences yourself.

It should be added that the creative association under the pseudonym "Kukryniksy" was formed in 1924, it included three artists - Mikhail Kupriyanov (1903-1991), Porfiry Krylov (1902-1990) and Nikolai Sokolov (1903-2000). The name is made up of the first syllables of the surnames KU priyanov and KRY lov, as well as the first three letters of the first name and the first letter of the surname NIK olai Skolov . Kukryniksy were not only caricaturists, but also remarkable artists. The theme of the Great Patriotic War occupied a special place in their work. From the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, they participated in the creation of satirical posters and leaflets and repeatedly went to the front. They were called the artists of Victory. For their work, Kukryniksy were awarded the Stalin Prize five times, as well as the Lenin and State Prizes.

We thank everyone who took part in our historical quest, dedicated to the 160th anniversary of the Novgorod Museum-Reserve.

Svetlana Antonova

Photo from open sources