For the Russian painter, who has worked in Paris, Chaim Soutine is going to be a legend. But it is not a legend, but the fact that in 2016 his painting "Бычья туша" / "Bull's Coal" was sold for $ 28.165 million, "Camerdiner" for $ 16.9 million, "The Little Confectioner" for $ 18 million and Nevesta for $ 15.6 million.
Soutine, Steeple of Saint-Pierre at Céret
Against the backdrop of these fabulous sums, Chaim Soutine's real story sounds terribly - he painted naked because he didn't spend money on clothes - with his miserable means of buying paint and brushes, often sleeping hungry and dying after surgery on his famished stomach. Today many collectors around the world consider Soutine's to be equal to Van Gogh, Munk and Picasso. In the past, the artist does not associate with any of the fashionable avant-garde movements - he has his own handwriting drawing, even he was like avant-garde. This is how his contemporaries describe him: "All his paintings were painted by him naked, he was drawing the food before he ate it, he did't touch it before drawing her, even if he was very hungry, with the women behaving ridiculously, looking impersonal, and always around him there was a mess. " The stranger is one of those Russian artists who, in the years of the October Revolution, leave Russia and went to Paris. There they began to call themselves "French" artists, although Soutine always emphasized that he was a Russian. Soutine is almost unknown in his country and is famous throughout the world. Currently his paintings are in the galleries of the whole of Western Europe and America.
The Mad Woman, Chaim Soutine
The canvas of the artist appears in the auctions and a crazy bid is held for them. As it turned out, Soutine had a peculiarity to paint naked. But he didn't because he was an exhibitionist, on the contrary - he was a shy man. He didn't want to wear his clothes because he had no money for clothing. In fact, his miserable funds often didn't go to food. The story of his life, beyond creativity, is marked in a word - deprivation. Soutine goes to Paris to be young, hoping to make him famous and to be famous. Instead, he has been miserable for many years. His nails were made by Parisian prostitutes and rookies. He also often painted animal carcasses he was looking at in a slaughterhouse against his home. He painted and painted his work for small cents. He is in Paris with Ameido Modelliani, with whom they become close friends. Modeliani considered Soutine to be a genius and without any professional envy, literally took him under his wing - he cared for him, introduced him to important people, taught him in elementary manners in society, and even painted a portrait. At one point, Soutine became a bright figure among the artists of the so-called. Paris School.
Chaim Soutine- Maternity (1942)
After ten years of deprivation and mental anguish, his stellar moment finally rises - in 1923, the American patron saint and collector Albert Barnes arrived in Paris and bought 60 works of the artist, against 2000 francs. Thanks to him, Soutine is also known in America. Wealth and glory, however, did not alter either the bits, nor the character of Soutine . He was always so confused in society that he never knew how to get to that success that would bring him money. Probably all this has been imprinted in his paintings, because some art critics express themselves for them with: "It is painful to look at them!" From Soutine 's sails, there really is grief and hopelessness. Because of the constant starvation, the artist suffered from stomach pains. They find him an ulcer. In 1943 it operated, but it turned out late! .. Soutine dies in the tough situation of war when When Paris was occupied by the Germans. Pablo Picasso, Jean Cocteau and Max Jacob send the artist to his eternal home.