Maximilian Voloshin (1877–1932) was a man of many talents: poet, artist, thinker, translator, and literary and art critic. His work reflects the spiritual quest of the Russian intelligentsia in the early 20th century. The exhibition features the first collection of Voloshin’s poems, entitled Poems. 1900–1910, which was published by the Grif publishing house in Moscow in February 1910.

The poet, who had a keen sense of the beauty and greatness of nature, possessed the gift of artistic creativity. His watercolour landscapes depict the Crimean coast in various places at different times of the year, as well as the outskirts of Koktebel, where he owned a house. 

Life in the house proceeded at a pace all of its own. “Come in, my guest, and at my door shake off the worldly dust, the mouldering mind, ” Voloshin wrote in his poem “The Poet”s House” in 1926. The friendly and thoughtful owner created an atmosphere of free creativity. In the evenings, the residents of the house would gather on the roof to listen to poems, discuss what they had read, and give a concert or performance. Scientific papers were also presented there, and exhibitions were held. A total of 410 people stayed at the house during the summer of 1926, and around 500 stayed there in 1927. During the day, they would swim in the sea, collect carnelian stones and stroll along the slopes of the mountains. The artists would write sketches in the open air. Voloshin, however, preferred to work in his study.

Endowed with an excellent memory, he could create several landscapes on different sheets at the same time. His 1927 watercolour painting Against the Sun. View of Koktebel presented at the exhibition, depicts a mountainous coast surrounding the sea bay. A mountain range and sky filled with heap clouds feature in the background, while the foreground depicts hills covered with deep folds, stony paths and trees. The watercolour conveys a hot June day, when the greenery and tree crowns are almost burnt out and there is a sultry haze in the air, blurring the boundary between the sky and the mountains. The sea is motionless and calm.