Why did Pavel Tretyakov collect paintings? His main life principle that gives the answer to this question.

Pavel Tretyakov (1832-1898) was a man of action, persistence and thoroughness. Having set himself a certain goal, he almost always achieved it. He was also very far-sighted. For example, he made a will, in which he urged to transfer 150 thousand rubles for the arrangement of a public art gallery, where all lovers of painting could come and admire the paintings of contemporary artists. For the art gallery should be built a suitable-sized building, located in a convenient location, the rooms in it should be bright and clean, but without the slightest signs of luxury. And also in such an enterprise should not be allowed any officials, and the business should be exclusively private. Tretyakov took care of all the living conditions, heating, creating the necessary microclimate for the best preservation of paintings, appointed those responsible for the storage of exhibits. In general, a standard, well thought-out will, but there was one thing - Pavel Tretyakov was barely 28 years old.

Ilya Repin. Portrait of Pavel Tretyakov

Pavel Tretyakov came from a merchant family. His grandfather was a lard merchant and his father, Mikhail Tretyakov, a cloth merchant. He was an educated and literate man, however, when asked about his education he proudly answered: "I graduated from the Golutvinsky Konstantinovsky Institute" In fact, of course, such an institute did not exist, and his teacher was a deacon Konstantin, living in the Golutvinsky Lane of Moscow.

Mikhail Tretyakov gave his children a good home education, and he had enough money to invite the best teachers. He followed their progress, and paid special attention to morality, even published at his own expense a book "Flowers of Morality, collected from the best writers for the edification of young people by Mikhail Tretyakov".

Alexei Savrasov. Rooks have come.

And Tretyakov's sons often went to church, and the very clerk Konstantin urged them not to succumb to the devil's temptations in the form of ballet, all kinds of balls and, God forbid, meetings with cocottes. Jokes are jokes, but how many rich heirs had wasted their father's fortune, amusing themselves with merry maidens and giving ballerinas expensive gifts. So the sexton knew what to say.

Artwork for Paul from his youth began very early - waking up at dawn, he went to the shop and performed the duties of the most ordinary salesman, as if he was not the son of a rich merchant, but a poor peasant youth who was lucky to get a job in the city. However, Mikhail Tretyakov himself was a decent man, he even forgave debts to all his debtors, who due to objective circumstances could not pay them. And the fact that he kept his sons in a black body - that's what education is for, he knew too well what laziness, inability to count every penny, ignorance of real life and the price of money can lead to. He died early, at the age of 49, leaving his sons a decent fortune and a well-established business.

In 1851, they bought a spacious building in Tolmachy - later it will be organized Tretyakov Gallery, and a year later, at the age of 20 years Paul went to St. Petersburg, to establish business contacts and negotiate with suppliers. But he soon forgot about business - in St. Petersburg there was a theater, where the brilliant Vera Samoilova played, the Hermitage, the Academy of Arts. What compared to all this boring trade? Money is needed to live, and it is not worth living for the sake of money and business. All my father's and Dyakov's admonitions passed me by.

Vasily Perov. Three.

But only a connoisseur of art Tretyakov did not consider himself, to distinguish the original from the fake was difficult for him, and to contact with intermediaries, resellers was very unprofitable. Tretyakov himself knew about it firsthand. Therefore, he came to a simple solution - to order paintings directly from the artists themselves, and since in Europe do not travel, it is better to do it at their own, home-grown painters. This simple and logical decision had a great influence on the development of Russian painting and contributed to the creation of one of the best art collections.

Vasily Khudyakov. Skirmish with Finnish Smugglers

In 1856 Tretyakov acquires from the artist Vasily Khudyakov painting "Skirmish with Finnish smugglers" - quite an interesting canvas combining battle and genre painting.

Nikolai Schilder. Temptation.

The first painting directly commissioned by Tretyakov was "Temptation" by Nikolai Shilder. The plot there is quite simple, but for the XIX century quite provocative and interesting. A young and beautiful girl, who still has a sick mother, procuress offers to sleep with a wealthy gentleman for an expensive bracelet.

Vasily Surikov. The Morning of the Strelets' Execution.

Tretyakov was not very interested in boring salon portraits or artwork by classical academicians, another thing is good genre paintings describing the real life of Russia in the XIX century. One of them is "Morning of the Streletsky execution" by Vasily Surikov. It was them and he ordered from artists and more and more often. Gradually he developed an almost perfect taste, they said about him: "A man with absolute vision". In art Tretyakov understood perfectly, although sometimes he did not take paintings that, although they were wonderfully painted, such as "Unknown" Kramskoi, but did not meet his rigid moral principles and family values.

Ivan Kramskoy. Unknown.

In total, over the years of collecting, Tretyakov spent about one and a half million rubles on paintings - a crazy amount, in today's money over a billion. When he died, there were 3500 paintings in Tretyakov's possession.

Ivan Shishkin. Morning in a Pine Forest.

And here the questions arise - how could the illiterate son of a merchant gather the best collection of paintings in Russia, where did he form his "absolute vision", and in general, what moved him to this grandiose idea? No one, except Tretyakov himself, will not give clear answers now, perhaps it is necessary to be just such a man who sincerely cared about the enlightenment of the people and most importantly - managed to realize all his ideas in life.

Konstantin Flavitsky. Princess Tarakanova.

But with all this Tretyakov was a calculating collector, and often desperately bargained for every thousand rubles, even though he was a millionaire. For example, the painting Princess Tarakanova wanted to buy for 3 thousand rubles, the artist asked for five. In the end agreed for 4300, provided that he can receive additional income from lithographs and engravings printed from the picture. Yes, and he paid them already to the brother of Konstantin Flavitsky, as Konstantin himself has already died. On the other hand, Vereshchagin's artwork was purchased for 90 thousand rubles.

Tretyakov had different relations with artists - with some he was friends with, such as Vasily Perov, with some he kept his distance, gradually getting together, as with Ilya Repin, and with Vereshchagin, who was not easy to live with, he kept aloof, despite the fact that he paid a huge sum for his artwork.

Vasily Vereshchagin. Defeated. (Memorial Service).

But one should not think that all the acquired paintings Tretyakov liked very much, some he bought reluctantly, and did not appreciate them very much, but still they were in his collection. Why he acquired such paintings can be read in the article at the link.

And Tretyakov himself, despite his huge fortune, was a modest man. He got up at six in the morning, coffee and went to his gallery - before the beginning of the working day at least half an hour walking around his paintings, perhaps it gave him a charge of vigor, consciousness of his own importance and good mood for the day. Then he worked, at 12 noon he had lunch, and at six in the evening he went home for dinner. All his life he wore a drape coat and a double-breasted jacket, in general he led a spartan way of life, he was not attracted to luxury at all.

Well, the main thing, why Tretyakov became a collector of paintings - he all his life followed a simple principle: "to gain in order that the gained from society returned also to society". How many good things would be if everyone, including our oligarchs, followed this principle. It is a pity that Tretyakov was only a rare exception.

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