Konstantin Vasilyev

Konstantín Alexeyevich Vasilyev (Russian: Константи́н Алексе́евич Васи́льев; September 3, 1942 – October 29, 1976) was a Russian symbolist painter, who left more than 400 paintings and drawings. His range of works included portraits, landscapes, realistic compositions, Russian epics, Slavic and Teutonic mythology, and battle paintings. Vasilyev popularized legendary characters of the Russian folk art, songs and fairy tales: Ilya Muromets, Mikula Selyaninovich, Svyatogor, Dunay Ivanovich [ru], Dobrynya Nikitich, Volga Svyatoslavich and others. His Scandinavian and Germanic saga cycle includes depictions of Odin, Freyja and valkyries. Several paintings are devoted to the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet people. These include "Marshal Zhukov", "Invasion", "The Parade of 1941" and "Nostalgia."

Konstantin Vasilyev died on October 29, 1976 in a railway accident near Kazan. His family and friends never believed in the official version of his death and suspected that the painter was murdered. Vasilyev was buried in the village of Vasilyevo, where he lived since 1949. Recognition came posthumously. A documentary "Vasilyev from Vasilyevo" was released in 1978. The Konstantin Vasilyev Museum opened in Moscow in 1998. Another film about the painter under the title "A man with an eagle-owl. Konstantin Vasilyev" was made in 2002. In 2012 Konstantin Vasilyev Museum in Moscow was renamed the Konstantin Vasilyev Centre of the Slavic Culture. Next year, in 2013, the Konstantin Vasilyev Art Gallery was opened in Kazan.

Vasilyev's oeuvres steadily gained in popularity through the late Soviet and early post-Soviet periods, until they have reached a virtually iconic status among Russian nationalists, neo-pagans and fantasy geeks.

The minor planet 3930 Vasilev, discovered by Soviet astronomer Lyudmila Zhuravlyova in 1982 is named after him.