In this series of paintings, Boris Vasilievich Chesnokov, who spent many years working as an artist and designer in the Tomsk and Usinsk mines in Mezhdurechensk, focused on the themes of the miners’ courage and

the dangers they face in their work. His canvases depict geologists, mining engineers and surveyors, timbermen, shift foremen — the strong, determined workers who contribute to the region’s proud mining heritage. The artist has also written about their difficult working conditions in his poems.

Mining is one of the oldest professions on earth. And one of the most dangerous. The miner has to face many risks: cave-ins, underground fires and methane discharges. But, in spite of all these dangers, the miner goes back underground again and again, to extract the ‘black gold’ and provide heat and light to millions of people.

Boris Chesnokov gave the name Requiem to one of his coal mining paintings. Everyone in Mezhdurechensk can relate to the profound grief experienced by the two people depicted in this work. In the background we see a view of the city, and in the foreground a young widow and her son, who have come to lay flowers at the foot of the Miners’ memorial. The artist himself explains the idea behind the painting as follows: “I wanted to show the wife of a dead miner, and a young boy who has lost his father- and how their grief will always be marked on their faces.” What stands out in the painting is the way the emotion is expressed.

The Miners’ memorial, in Mezhdurechensk, which can be seen in the painting, was unveiled on August 22, 2001. The monument depicts the vertical walls of earth in the form of a pair of outstretched wings. The statue of a grieving woman symbolizes all the mothers, daughters and wives who have lost the men they loved. And a

little further down, at the foot of the memorial ensemble, we see a miner surrounded by strata of coal… This is seen as a very important place. You can always see cut flowers lying here. On the last Sunday of August Mezhdurechensk celebrates Miners’ Day.