Vasnetsov House-Museum

Victor Vasnetsov (1848–1926) is a Russian-revivalist painter and architect who is famous for his historical paintings with mystical and fairytale subjects. In 1894 Vasnetsov designed his own house in Moscow, which is now a small museum. Fronted by a colourful gate, it is a charming home, still filled with the original wooden furniture, tiled stove and many of the artist’s paintings. The attic studio, where he once painted, is now hung with paintings depicting Baba Yaga and other characters from Russian fairytales. Early on, Vasnetsov was scorned for his fantastical style, as it was such a startling contrast to the realism of the Peredvezhniki. Even Pavel Tretyakov, the most prominent patron of the arts at the time, refused to buy his paintings. However, by the turn of the century, he found a source of support in Savva Mamontov, whose financing drove the Russian revivalist movement.