Tarkovsky and art

Artworks of outstanding director and screenwriter Andrey Tarkovsky are a phenomenon of world cinema industry. As an art school graduate, Tarkovsky was well-versed in visual art, which had a huge impact on the formation of his cinematic language. Tarkovsky not only skillfully quoted masterpieces of world art, but also exquisitely wove them into his movie plots, making them an integral part of narrative. 

Integration of a picturesque range into the structure of cinematic storytelling is a characteristic feature of Andrey Tarkovsky films; in 1966, he made a film about Russian iconographer Andrey Rublev. The film "Andrey Rublev" subsequently was considered his best work, it is an illustration of spiritual search and artist crisis, which can happen to any artist in any era. Most part of the film viewer sees black-and-white footages, but in the epilogue it acquires color and Andrey Rublev’s works of art appear on the screen: "Lord’s entry into Jerusalem", "Transfiguration of Jesus", "Nativity of Jesus" and "Trinity". 

Tarkovsky’s innovation lies in his ability to create contrary to all rules and conventions. Eternal symbols and biblical characters in the paintings helped him expand the space-time boundaries of his works. In the film "Ivan’s Childhood", twelve-year-old Ivan, who lost all his loved ones during the war, looked at the painting "The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse" by Albrecht Durer, one of the greatest artists of the Northern Renaissance. 

We will learn about what other paintings are the key to unraveling the meanings of not only individual episodes, but also the work of Andrei Tarkovsky as a whole, during our next meeting. 

The lecture will be held as part of the events to mark the 300th anniversary of St Petersburg University, the oldest university in Russia. 

The meeting will be held online in Russian with simultaneous translation into Spanish.

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