In the studio

Alarm Bell marks the artist’s entry into the realm of monumental painting. Near St. Sophia Cathedral in Veliky Novgorod — a city where every brick holds the spirit of history, of Rus’, of tragedy and of glory — the first sketch for this canvas was born. That sketch became the seed of a grand historical work — a painting about Russian revolt and the cost of internal division.

On the canvas — a crowd before the ancient cathedral, which remembers princely weddings, executions, and prayers before battle. People fight for their truth: some with an icon, some with a sword, some with empty hands. It is a metaphor for Russia in its endless inner struggle — and in the belief that such struggle is not in vain.

The artist worked on the painting for more than four years: sketches, dozens of studies, research into chronicles and costumes. The final work — a monumental canvas over five meters long — was executed with rare pictorial rigor and force. The studio space barely contained it, and for the diploma defense the painting had to be dismantled and carried in like a banner — symbolic both literally and figuratively.

During its creation, a full-length documentary film was made, revealing the inner side of the process: doubts, despair, discoveries — the truth unseen by the viewer. It is a visual diary of the artist creating his first great work. The film went on to win awards at several international festivals.

The Square at St. Sophia. The Revolt is not about a single episode, but a distillation of all Russian history — its pain, its pride, its cycles. It is a warning. It is a question to oneself: how am I different from those who rush into the fray for their truth, and what have we inherited from them — besides blood and stubbornness?

The artist presented this work last at his course’s final defense — as a culmination of the entire review, in recognition of its level. At the Academy, this is the unspoken way of honoring those considered the strongest artists of their graduating class.

This sketch became the central stage in the work on the painting. Unlike the first, impulsive draft, it was developed over more than half a year, absorbing dozens of studies, compositional searches, and research into costumes, weapons, architecture, and characters. Here a clear, tense scene emerges, where the crowd in the square transforms into a symbol — the image of Russia in its eternal fracture, in its struggle for truth.

What distinguishes this version from the final painting is above all the treatment of the sky: in the sketch it is calmer, balancing the drama of the action and leaving space for contemplation. In the finished canvas, the sky takes on greater turbulence and heightens the tension of the scene.

This sketch became the foundation of the large painting: within it one can already hear the rhythm of the future canvas, sense the monumental scale, and anticipate the tragedy and power of the final version. It unites the energy of the first impulse with the thoughtfulness of a mature conception.