The history of the painting “Minsk on 3 July 1944” starts on the very day to which it is dedicated. On 3 July 1944, the artist witnessed the surviving residents of Minsk greet the units of the 3rd Belorussian Front as they were entering the city. Volkau, who joined in the celebrations, was perfectly familiar with the joy of liberation that he later reflected in the painting, the emotional uplift that people in Minsk experienced that day. In March 1945, the artist was commissioned to create a monumental work commemorating this event. Initially, it was planned that the canvas would adorn the foyer of the Government House of the BSSR’s meeting room. This determined the scale of the future work – about 5 m in width and 3 m in height.
The project took Volkau a very long time and a lot of thorough work, as it was completed only in 1955. The finished canvas never ended up (as originally intended) in the Government House of the BSSR, and after the Second Ten-Day Festival of Belarusian Art in Moscow, on the initiative of Alena Aladava, then director of the State Art Museum of the BSSR, it was transferred to the museum’s collection. Subsequently, this work was exhibited many times at all-Union and republican exhibitions, and it has been one of the key exhibits in the museum’s permanent display of 20th century Belarusian art since 2006. The painting’s enduring popularity ensured that it was repeatedly reproduced in printed publications and school textbooks, becoming a true symbol of celebrating the liberation of Belarus.
The collection of the National Art Museum of the Republic of Belarus houses 5 compositional sketches, 18 studies of individual characters and scenes, more than 80 preparatory drawings and sketches. Among those who posed for the painting were the artist’s relatives (including his wife and son Anatol), friends, neighbours, soldiers posted at the Belarusian Military District. The artist’s urban sketches allowed him to create an accurate depiction of the war-torn area of Svabody Square. The exhibition presents the most interesting works from this extensive collection of preparatory materials.
Valiantsin Volkau (20.04.1881–9.11.1964) was born in Yelets (Oryol Governorate), into a family of artists. He started exhibiting his work in 1903. In 1915, he graduated from the Higher Art School at the Imperial Academy of Arts. The artist lived in Belarus since 1923, in Minsk since 1929. Volkau taught at the Vitsebsk Art College (1923–1929), Minsk Art School (1947–1949), and the Belarusian State Theatre and Art Institute (1953–1964). People’s Artist of the Belorussian SSR (1955).
The display wil be open until 4 August 2025.
Exhibition curator: Franc Korzun, researcher at the exhibition department of the National Art Museum of the Republic of Belarus.
