In 1959, Maria, Alexander Goldenweiser’s relative, painted “Nikolina Gora. The Moscow River in Early Spring”.
Maria Andreevna Chegodayeva, Doctor of Arts, full member of the Russian Academy of Arts, member of the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Arts, was born on January 19, 1931 in the family of famous art historians, Professor Andrey Dmitrievich Chegodaev and Natalia Mikhailovna Gershenzon-Chegodayeva. “Fate sent me an amazing, happy ‘legacy’! My great-uncle is Alexander Borisovich Goldenweiser. My own grandfather is Mikhail Osipovich Gershenzon. His wife is Maria Borisovna, Alexander Borisovich’s sister; her love story with Mikhail Osipovich took place in the house of the Goldenweisers, against the background of their family life, ” Maria Andreevna recalled in her memoirs “The Gershenzon-Goldenweisers”. The close friendship that once connected young people grew into strong family ties, which were based on mutual respect and sincere love for each other, for art and science. The atmosphere of creativity and education, in which the children were brought up, had a beneficial effect on the choice of their life path and activities.
Maria Chegodayeva continued the dynasty of art historians: after finishing the Moscow Secondary Art School, she entered the Surikov Moscow State Art Institute. She studied at the Faculty of Painting, in the theatrical workshop led by Mikhail Ivanovich Kurilko. For some time after graduating from the institute, Maria Andreevna worked as a theater and book graphic artist. During those years, while visiting Alexander Goldenweiser at his dacha, she painted a wonderful landscape — “Nikolina Gora. The Moscow River in Early Spring”.
The lyrical landscape depicts one of the most picturesque corners of the Moscow region. The main space of the picture is occupied by the boundless sky, in which the artist managed to convey the slight movement of clouds and the barely noticeable transitions. The colors selected by the painter accurately convey the state of nature in early spring and show the mood of a person, who notices the changes that have begun in nature and associates them with the beginning of a new life.
The painting “Nikolina Gora. The Moscow River in Early Spring”, like other paintings by Maria Chegodayeva, is in the collection of Alexander Goldenweiser.
