The decorative panel “My City” in a wooden tinted frame presented in the exhibition was created by the Kaliningrad artist Nelly Petrovna Smirnyagina in 1996. The work depicts a ceremonial and festive Kaliningrad. The city is portrayed on a large-scale canvas as a kind of theatrical stage framed by painted curtains.
Brightly dressed citizens with open umbrellas walk down to the river from the building of the Königsberg Exchange. In Soviet times it used to house the sailors’ сultural сenter and now it is the Museum of Fine Arts. The Pregolya River shimmers with white, blue and red colors in various combinations, a ship under the State and St. Andrew’s flags sails along its waves. The masts are decorated with signal flags.
On the other side of the river one can clearly see architectural symbols of the city, which Kaliningrad inherited from Königsberg: the Cathedral, the Kaliningrad Regional Museum of History and Art, which was Stadthalle Concert Hall before the war. The artist dedicated the work to the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Kaliningrad region, celebrated in 1996.
The artist’s signature can be seen in the lower right corner. Nelly Smirnyagina, a native of Moscow, was a graduate of the V. I. Mukhina Leningrad Higher Art and Industry School. She became famous as a painter, as well as a graphic and crafts artist.
In 1993, Nelly Smirnyagina was awarded the title “Honored Artist of the Russian Federation”. Among her numerous awards is the Pushkin Gold Medal. Nelly Smirnyagina’s name was included in the encyclopedia “Outstanding Leaders of the World” published by the American Biographical Institute in 2000, as well as in the international encyclopedia “Outstanding People of the 21st Century”.
The painting is full of
hidden symbolism. By reading the signs, one can learn about the life of the
city. For example, the sailing ship “St. George” symbolizes the status of
Kaliningrad as a port city and a maritime educational center. The KSTU Marine
Institute, the Baltic State Academy of Fishing Fleet, the largest training
sailing ships Kruzenstern and Sedov are based here.
