The Iskitim Museum of Arts and History houses a painting “Each Summer in July” by Ivan Petrovich Popov.

In April 1976, a year and a half after Vasily Shukshin had died, he was posthumously awarded the Lenin Prize “for his creative achievements in cinematography in recent years.” Around the same time, residents of the Altai Krai suggested organizing an annual literary festival in Shukshin’s home village of Srostki. The festival aimed to bring together fans of the renowned film director, writer, and actor and to commemorate his contribution to Russian culture. The idea was suggested by the Head of the Srostki District Library — Darya Ilyinichna Faleyeva, the Head of the Biysk Department of Culture — Anatoly Gavrilovich Andronov, and the Associate Professor at the Biysk Pedagogical Institute — Lidiya Ivanovna Muravinskaya. The first festival was attended by Vasily Shukshin’s close relatives — his mother Mariya Sergeyevna and his sister Natalya Makarovna.

It was this event that Ivan Petrovich Popov depicted in his painting. In the foreground, he showed Vasily Shukshin himself, wearing a light-colored shirt and a leather jacket, holding a cigarette as he often did, and looking at the viewer. Behind him, people of all ages walk in an endless stream towards a small house at the foot of Mount Piket in the village of Srostki.

Vasily Shukshin reminisced, “The devil knows what a strange person I am. Sometimes, I miss my native land so much that I cannot sit still. Nothing seems as good as the Altai to me. A ray of shining in this darkness is my home village of Srostki. Nostalgia… And was there anything worth missing? The hardships, cold, and hunger of the war years, having no father, having to work so much… And yet! Nothing is sweeter than the homeland, nothing is more beautiful or more sacred…” The love for their small motherland, the Altai, was shared by his second cousin, Ivan Popov. It became the main theme in the work of both artists. They were not just relatives but true friends and soulmates. Their letters from various years demonstrate the genuine respect and unconditional support that the two great artists shared throughout their lives.