Artist Pavel Ryzhenco was born on July 11, 1970, in Kaluga.
The bright image of the Russian land and its much-suffering history became a source of inspiration for one of the most talented masters of Russian historical painting.
The years of study at the Moscow Secondary Art School affiliated with the Surikov Institute (1982-1988) opened up a new world to the young man. A world of the halls of the Tretyakov Gallery and the streets of Zamoskvorechye. A world of the smell of oil paints, reverent silence, and at the same time, the diversity of a large modern city.
Military service further strengthened his conviction in the rightness of his chosen path—the path of the painter. Therefore, the first half of the 1990s was spent at the Russian Academy of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, where Pavel’s mentor and teacher was People’s Artist Professor I.S. Glazunov. These were years of searching, reflection, and comprehension of the history of his country and his people. By the time he wrote his diploma work “Kalka,” he had realized his artistic mission—to awaken the genetic memory and pride in their Fatherland among his contemporaries.
Over the years of teaching at the Russian Academy of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture (1997-2007), and working at the M.B. Grekov Studio of Military Artists (2007-2014), Pavel Ryzhenco developed not only as an outstanding historical painter, but also as a master of diorama art.
Reflecting on the historical past of his homeland led the artist to search for spiritual foundations, and the religious theme entered his work organically.
In his life, which ended so unexpectedly on July 16, 2014, at the peak of his creative powers, Pavel Ryzhenco created a gallery of images of epic scale (“Peresvet’s Victory”, “Battle of Kulikovo”, “Battle on the Neva”, “The Tsar’s Silence”, the triptych “Royal Golgotha”, the triptych “Russian Century”, and many others). The comprehensive panorama of history is reflected in dioramas such as “The Baptism of Rus”, “The Stand on the Ugra River”, and “The Beginning of the War on June 22, 1941.”
In 2011, for his outstanding achievements in the fine arts and the development of spiritual-patriotic themes, Pavel Ryzhenco was awarded the honorary title of Honored Artist of the Russian Federation.
The imaginative expressiveness of Pavel Ryzhenco’s historical canvases lends his work special importance in the context of contemporary Russian history. His reflections on canvas about the lessons of the past and future of our homeland, adherence to the traditions of the Russian school of historical painting, make Pavel Ryzhenco a worthy successor to the great masters of Russian fine art—V. Surikov, I. Repin, V. Vereshchagin, V. Vasnetsov, M. Nesterov.
