State Museum of Oriental Art; State Russian Museum
It's hard to imagine what these places described in the Bible look like. Most showed heaven through the luminous image of God and angels sitting on the clouds. But many artists' imaginations were stirred by the Last Judgment and the abyss of Hell.
Russian artists were not able to surpass the extraordinary imagery of the Last Judgment by Hieronymus Bosch and Michelangelo, or the map of Dante's Hell by Sandro Botticelli. But Russian icon painters, and later realist and Avant-garde artists, also depicted the themes of heavenly Paradise and the underground fiery abyss of eternal damnation.
Many Russian artists painted variations on the theme of Biblical subjects. And what magnificent paintings they created for Orthodox churches! The subject of Heaven and Hell especially touched Wassily Kandinsky and Nikolai Roerich.
Unknown Novgorod Master, “Descent into Hell”, late 14th century.
Andrei Rublev’s workshop, “The Descent into Hell”, 1425-1427.
Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius
Dionysius’s workshop, “The Descent into Hell”, circa 1502 - 1503.
Kirill Ulanov (Cornelius), “The Descent into Hell”, 1713 (icon from the Krivozersky Monastery on the banks of the Volga River).
Ivan Belsky, “Assumption of Our Lady into Heaven”, 1779.
Feodor Bruni, “The Last Judgment” (mural in St. Isaac's Cathedral in St. Petersburg), 1840s.
Feodor Bruni, “The Creator Blessing His Creation”, 1840s (mural in St. Isaac's Cathedral, St. Petersburg).
Mikhail Nesterov, “Adam and Eve”, 1898.
Mikhail Nesterov, “The Descent of Christ into Hell”, 1895.
Sketch for the iconostasis of the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood in St. Petersburg.
Mikhail Nesterov, “Ascension of the Lord”, 1895. Sketch.
Viktor Vasnetsov, “The Mother of God”, 1901.
Sketch of a mosaic for the Russian Orthodox Church in Darmstadt, Germany.
Viktor Vasnetsov, “The Last Judgment”, 1904.
Vladimir-Suzdal Museum-Reserve
Wassily Kandinsky, “Angel of the Last Judgment”, 1911.
Wassily Kandinsky, “The Last Judgment”, 1912.
Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin, “The Expulsion from Paradise”, 1911.
Vladimir Baranov-Rossine, “Adam and Eve”, 1912.
Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, Madrid
Nicholas Roerich, “The Descent into Hell”, 1933.
State Museum of Oriental Art
Nicholas Roerich, “Madonna Laboris”, 1933.
Pavel Chelishchev, “Phenomena”, 1938 (first part of the unfinished triptych "Hell, Purgatory, Paradise").
Marc Chagall, “Paradise”, 1960.
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