Memory of Russia: Marking the 75th anniversary of the Great Victory, the State Russian Museum launched the exhibition of a picture by Alexander Samokhvalov "Meeting of Friends"

On August 20, 2020, an exhibition of Alexander Samokhvalov's picture "Meeting of Friends" (1945), marking the 75th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War, was opened in the Garden Hall of the Mikhailovsky Palace (the State Russian Museum). Even though the artist's heritage is not studied well enough, this painting became a real discovery for researchers of his oeuvre.

The picture, which is in a private collection now, had survived lots of dramatic events. The painting "Meeting of Friends" was created in 1945 and presented at the All-Union Exhibition. The official criticism was not very favourable. For a long time, it was in the collection of the All-Russian Cooperative Association "Artist". Then, the fate of the painting remained unknown for a long time. Later, researchers discovered that it belonged to the sanatorium in the city of Kovrino (Vladimir Region) as a work of an unknown artist.

The picture was prepared for the exhibition thanks to the new owners and the efforts of the restoration workshops of the Ilya Repin Saint-Petersburg State Academy for Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. Extensive research work performed by the State Russian Museum specialists allowed establishing the author of this work. The attribution was made by comparing the sketches from the collections of art museums in Novokuznetsk and Yaroslavl with the original.

The exhibition spotlights the creation, restoration and attribution of the painting "Meeting of Friends" for the first time. It allows appreciating the talent of the classic of Soviet painting. The routine plot of the picture reveals the emotional atmosphere of the victorious 1945.