The collection of the Iskitim Museum of Arts and History features a painting titled “Shukshin in Srostki” by Ivan Petrovich Popov.
Ivan Popov painted two portraits of his cousin from life. A watercolor portrait — “A Portrait of Vasily Shukshin Painted from Life” — was painted in Srostki, and an oil portrait — “Portrait of Vasily Shukshin” — was created in the studio. “Shukshin in Srostki” is another portrait, painted from memory after the death of Vasily Shukshin. Perhaps, this image was inspired by Shukshin’s trip to his home area in 1972. It was the last spring that he spent in Siberia. The writer is depicted in his native village, against the background of his favorite Mount Biket (Piket).
Vasily Shukshin wrote, “The place where I was born… I live with the conviction that someday I shall return there, for good. Perhaps, I think, it’s that I need to have this conviction to feel sufficient ‘extra durability’ to carry on; there’s always somewhere to go if you can’t go on. It’s one thing to go on living and struggling when there’s somewhere to go home to, but quite another when there is nowhere to fall back on. I think that the Russian is often saved by his awareness that there is somewhere to fall back on, somewhere he can get his breath back and refuel his courage. And it seems to me that here, in the place you came from and grew up in, there is some tremendous power, some life-giving force, which you have to touch in order to recover the vital circulation of fresh blood that seemed exhausted.”
In his autobiographical book, “Diary of an Artist”,
Ivan Popov described one of the meetings with his second cousin,
