Defenders of the Brest Fortress

The events of the first days of the Great Patriotic War did not immediately become known within the country; the first mentions of the events of the heroic defense of the Brest Fortress became known in 1942 from captured German sources. By the early 1950s, the heroes of Brest were still little known and their feat did not receive coverage either in literature or in art, and among those who did not allow oblivion to the feat of the first days of the war, alongside the names of Soviet writers Sergei Smirnov and Konstantin Simonov . right is the name of the artist Peter Krivonogov , who in 1950 began to create his canvases ^[3] .

During the war years, Peter Alexandrovich Krivonogov, who started a war as a soldier, and who graduated from a major, performed many sketches and graphic portraits of soldiers, being on the front line . Subsequently, when creating full-scale works, this helped him to recreate the decisive battles of the war years with a bright, authentic and uniform emotional sense. He collected the material for his canvas very carefully, long and carefully. At the time of writing, the heroes feat was not yet mentioned either in literature or in art . The artist spent a lot of time on the battlefield; among the ruins of a ruined fortress he made hundreds of sketches and sketches ^[4] .

The artist had a difficult task - to recreate the heroic feat of the defenders of the Brest Fortress on the canvas ^[5] . On the finished canvas, the artist depicts the moment of the battle at the Terespol Gate . Defenders of the fortress after a month of heavy defensive battles go to the counter. A handful of wounded and tormented fighters remained from the defenders of the fortress. Clothing of fighters is stained with blood, white bandages cover wounds, the battlefield is strewn with the bodies of fallen comrades. Ahead of the canvas attacking the commander with a stern and restrained face leads the fighters forward. In the foreground of the picture, with irrepressible inner power, the warrior with a wounded arm is about to throw a grenade. Slightly in the distance, the soldier with a bandaged head prepared to attack. Over the fortress is still flying a red flag. In the smoke and flame of battle, it is difficult to distinguish the living from the dead. Everyone goes to battle, regardless of wounds. All are fighting, all are fighting for Brest, for their Motherland ^[4] .

The unfading poetry of the heroic feat of ordinary Soviet people dressed in military uniforms, the poetry of faith in victory, which does not fade in the face of death ...

- Writer Konstantin Simonov ^[4]

The clarity and persuasiveness of the compositional decision, the severity and accuracy of the drawing, the thoughtfulness of the color - everything in the picture creates a sublime symphony of courage, a hymn to the heroism and resilience of the Soviet person.

- Russian painting. Encyclopedia ^[6]

In 1961, the picture served as a model for a postage stamp (artist: P. Chernyshev) ^[7] .

• Natalia Sinelnikova. 10 pictures about the war. - Moscow: Klever-Media-Group, 2015. - ISBN 978-5-91982-667-5 .