On November 13, 2020 in the Blue Hall of the Research Museum at the Russian Academy of Arts a monographic exhibition “Eternal Youth of the Heart. Paintings and drawings by Peter Nilus from the funds of the Voronezh Regional Art Museum named after IN Kramskoy “dedicated to the 150th anniversary of the birth of Ivan Alekseevich Bunin.

Petr Alexandrovich Nilus (1869–1943) – a close friend of I. A. Bunin, painter and graphic artist, writer, student of K.K. Kostandi and I.E. Repin, a member of the Association of Traveling Art Exhibitions and the Association of South Russian Artists.

He left his homeland in 1919. Abroad, he worked mainly in the genre of portrait, urban landscape and still life. The paintings of Peter Alexandrovich of this period are full of the richness of color and light of impressionistic painting.

The revolution closely linked the fates of Peter Nilus and Ivan Bunin. So much so that they themselves noticed the interpenetration of ideas into each other’s work. Nilus began to write fiction, and Bunin’s colorful texts acquired special grace and form. It was a friendship of two very different, but surprisingly creative and deep-minded people. The creative ideals of Nilus and Bunin are unusually in tune, as if the master of the brush picks up the motive started by the master of the word.

The exhibition will present 40 works by P.A.Nilus out of 73 that make up the Voronezh collection of the artist’s works, the largest among Russian museum collections. All the works presented were created by the master during the emigration period (1919-1943), which emphasizes their special value.

The exhibition will run until January 17, 2021.

* Photos from the archive of the Scientific Research Museum of the Russian Academy of Arts.