Голова боярыни Морозовой. Этюд для картины «Боярыня Морозова» (1887, ГТГ)

1887

“Boyarynya Morozova” at the 15th Peredvizhniki exhibition

In 1887 “Boyarynya Morozova” is shown at the 15th Peredvizhniki exhibition. Surikov painted the laughing merchant on the left from a former church deacon, Varsanofy Zakourtsev, and the wanderer with a staff on the right from a settler he met on the road to Sukhobuzimskoye.

1887

His first portraits, beginning with his mother

In 1887 Surikov begins to work in the genre of portraiture, one of the first being a portrait of his mother. He never took portrait commissions, but often started out from a portrait image in his own creative work.

8 August 1887

A total solar eclipse in Krasnoyarsk

On 8 August 1887 Surikov, spending the summer in Krasnoyarsk, watches a total solar eclipse and paints two studies, one of the totality and one of the waning eclipse; the second, titled “View of Krasnoyarsk”, is in the Tver Picture Gallery.

8 April 1888

The death of his wife, Elizaveta Augustovna

On 8 April 1888 Surikov’s wife, Elizaveta Augustovna, dies of a congenital heart defect; to support his elder brother, Alexander comes to him from Krasnoyarsk.