Vasily Vereshchagin

Lore & Background

Vereshchagin painted *The Apotheosis of War* in 1871 while residing in Munich, Germany. There he created 13 works based on his earlier travels with the Imperial Russian Army through Central Asia. The painting depicts a pile of human skulls on barren earth, with carrion birds picking over them. A range of mountains divides the steppes from the sky, and the city of Samarkand is visible on the far right, its walls breached—a reference to the Siege of Samarkand in the summer of 1868, when the Russian garrison repulsed a Bukharid attack. On the frame, Vereshchagin inscribed his dedication to all great conquerors. When exhibited, the painting provoked a confused, startled reaction from German field marshal Helmuth von Moltke the Elder, who ordered German soldiers barred from seeing it. The Minister of War of the Austrian Empire issued a similar ban. Vereshchagin was unconcerned by the viewership bans but worried about accusations within Russia that he was slandering the army. In response, he burned three of his lesser-known paintings. He continued painting battles and their aftermaths until his death during the Russo-Japanese War.

Reader's Guide

Vereshchagin's *The Apotheosis of War* is a key work from his Turkestan Series. It was painted in 1871 and is now displayed in the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow. The painting shows a pile of skulls outside a Central Asian city, with carrion birds circling and landing. The ground is a sallow, earthy yellow with grass, complementing the dirty ivory color of the partially-bleached skulls. The shadow cast by the mound and the black orifices of empty jaws and eye-sockets add depth and emphasize the scale of death. The city of Samarkand appears in the far right, its walls breached, referencing the 1868 siege. Vereshchagin dedicated the painting to all great conquerors. The work was considered profoundly anti-war and was seen by some as portraying the Russian army in a bad light. As a result, the Russian government prevented it from being shown at Vereshchagin's exhibitions in Russia. When exhibited in Germany, field marshal Helmuth von Moltke the Elder had a confused, startled reaction and ordered German soldiers barred from seeing it. The Austrian Minister of War issued a similar ban. Vereshchagin responded to accusations of slandering the army by burning three of his lesser-known paintings.

Did You Know?

• Vereshchagin dedicated *The Apotheosis of War* 'to all great conquerors, past, present and to come.'
• The painting shows the city of Samarkand in the far right, with its walls visibly breached, referencing the Siege of Samarkand in the summer of 1868.
• German field marshal Helmuth von Moltke the Elder had a confused, startled reaction to the painting and ordered German soldiers barred from seeing it.
• The Russian government prevented *The Apotheosis of War* and *Left Behind* from being shown at Vereshchagin's exhibitions in Russia.
• Vereshchagin burned three of his lesser-known paintings in response to accusations that he was slandering the Russian army.

Composition and Visual Language

The Apotheosis of War presents a haunting tableau rendered in oil on canvas: a vast mound of human skulls resting on barren Central Asian earth, the grim aftermath of conflict. Vereshchagin populated this scene with a flock of carrion birds—some already perched and pecking at the remains, others still descending from the sky or roosting in nearby trees—creating a sense of ongoing desecration. The palette is deliberately muted and earthy: a sallow yellow ground scattered with sparse grass contrasts against the dirty ivory of partially bleached bone. The artist exploited the deep shadows cast by the mound and the countless black voids of empty eye sockets and open jaws to generate a powerful sense of depth, amplifying the sheer scale of death represented. A distant mountain range slices horizontally across the composition, separating the vast steppe below from an empty expanse of sky above. At the far right edge, the walled city of Samarkand appears with its fortifications visibly breached, anchoring the scene to the specific historical event of the 1868 siege in which Russian defenders repelled a Bukharid assault.

Historical Context and the Turkestan Campaign

Vereshchagin completed The Apotheosis of War in 1871 while living in Munich, Germany, where he produced a total of thirteen paintings drawing on his earlier experiences accompanying the Imperial Russian Army through Central Asia. During those campaigns, Russian forces clashed with various local factions and ultimately conquered the territory that would become Russian Turkestan. As a classically trained war artist, Vereshchagin had long focused his practice on depicting the violent confrontations between Russian troops and the forces of the Khanates of Khiva and Kokand. The Turkestan Series, of which Apotheosis is a key member, crystallized these wartime observations into a cohesive body of work. The painting's specific reference to the breached walls of Samarkand connects it directly to the summer of 1868, when a Russian garrison successfully repelled a Bukharid assault on the city. By the time he was working in Munich, Vereshchagin was no longer in the field but was instead translating the raw trauma of those military encounters into a sustained artistic statement, processing the human cost of imperial expansion through the lens of classical technique and unflinching realism.

Institutional Backlash and Censorship

When Vereshchagin exhibited his work across various venues during the 1870s and 1880s, his more conventional pieces were generally well received. However, two paintings from his Central Asian campaign—The Apotheosis of War and a companion piece titled Left Behind—ignited fierce controversy. Critics and officials deemed them profoundly anti-war, arguing they cast the Russian military in an unfavorable light. The Russian government responded by blocking both canvases from appearing at the artist's exhibitions within the country. The backlash extended beyond Russia's borders. In Germany, the painting provoked a startled and confused reaction from Field Marshal Helmuth von Moltke the Elder, who subsequently ordered that German soldiers be prohibited from viewing it. The Austrian Empire's Minister of War issued a parallel ban. These institutional suppressions reflected a broader discomfort with art that refused to glorify conquest and instead confronted the viewer with the raw, unheroic aftermath of military violence. The fact that multiple military authorities across different nations felt compelled to restrict access to a single painting underscores how deeply the work challenged prevailing attitudes toward war and imperial expansion.

Personal Defiance and Lasting Commitment

Despite the mounting institutional opposition, Vereshchagin displayed a remarkable personal resilience. He was largely unconcerned by the viewership bans imposed on his work in both Russia and Germany, treating them as an almost irrelevant footnote to his artistic mission. What genuinely troubled him, however, was the growing wave of accusations within Russia that he was slandering the Russian army. In a dramatic act of self-censorship, he burned three of his lesser-known paintings—a gesture that seemed to signal he would not allow his body of work to be diluted or misread. Yet even amid this storm of controversy, he never abandoned his subject matter. He continued to paint battles and their devastating aftermaths throughout the remainder of his career, working until his death during the Russo-Japanese War. On the frame of The Apotheosis of War, he inscribed a dedication to "all great conquerors, past, present and to come," a line that reads as both a bitter irony and a universal indictment. Today the painting hangs in the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow, where its unflinching message continues to confront viewers more than a century after it was first unveiled.

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