Perspective on Russian Art

Russia has a unique place in western history because it is simultaneously entangled with world affairs and one of the most isolated countries in the world. It has been involved with almost every major war, borders significant countries, is a prominent economic powerhouse, and contributed some of the world’s most iconic works of art. On the other hand, it is the largest country in the world, spans through desolate territories, constantly endures regime changes, and suffers from some of the most unpredictable weather in the world.

One difficulty in tracing Russian history is that it synthesizes ethnically diverse peoples who accommodated into a single identifiable culture. Early Russia was influenced by the Pagan beliefs of the East Slavs, the nomadic people of modern Iran, and Scandinavian Vikings. By the 9th century, the Eastern Roman Empire established missionaries and slowly replaced the old fashioned pagan beliefs with Orthodoxy. By the time Peter the Great reformed Russia in the mid seventeenth century, Russia was ideologically and culturally consistent with the rest of Europe until communist ideology took over in the early 20th century.

Despite its complexity, Russia provided masterworks of literature. Although there are a handful of masterpieces written in the early Russian language, the most iconic works were drafted as a result of the modernization brought about by Peter the Great (1721-1725). He encouraged scientists, scholars, writers, and artists to expand their techniques freely and without inhibition; the result was a series of intellectual debates about versification, symbolism, tone, and setting of Russian literature.

The Golden Age of the 19th century coincided with Romanticism flourishing across Russia. Perhaps the first great author to come from this era was Alexander Pushkin (1799-1837). Although he only lived for about three and a half decades, he wrote some of the most influential literary masterpieces of all time: Eugene Onegin (1833) and Boris Godunov (1831). Readers of this book will recognize both of these works as the subject of operas by Tchaikovsky and Mussorgsky, respectively.

Soon to follow were masterworks by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821-1881) and Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910). The oeuvre of these two giants are considered by critics to be among the greatest literary works of all time. In particular, Notes from Underground (1864) was one of the first existential novels, and offers a profound examination man. Not soon after were the short stories and plays of Anton Chekhov (1860-1904) during the later half of the century.

The Golden Age of Russian literature was exemplified by a growth of intellectualism within Russia, a profound exploration of the written word, and an introspective development of existential questions. Overall, the works are profuse with visceral emotion and ultimately deal with the state of man in relation to the world.