A painter’s dream: the Polenov Estate on the Oka

Surrounded by forests, fields and farmlands, the countryside estate of Russian painter Vasily Polenov (1844-1927) stands in a picturesque location on the high bank of the Oka River, some 130 km from Moscow.

"I am dreaming of a house on the bank of the Oka, how we will furnish it, live there, organize a museum, picture gallery and a library,” Polenov wrote in 1887. “Nearby there will also be a joinery, Admiralty, fishtackle and a terrace. And my Studio above it. Great plans - maybe they will come true."

The painter’s plans did come true in the early 1890s, when his family moved to the new three-floor wooden house. The house and a park surrounding it are now parts of the Polenov Memorial History, Art and Natural Museum Reserve, one of the largest in Russia.

In 1939, the painter's inheritors had to donate the entire collection of the museum to the state in order to prevent the house from being turned into an inn. Photo: the hall in the Polenov family estate

Polenov’s talent had a great impact on Russian and Soviet landscape painting. A graduate of the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts, Polenov managed to express in his paintings the silent poetry of Russian nature related to daily human life.

Some of Polenov’s paintings are displayed in his estate, although most of them are hosted by Moscow’s Tretyakov Gallery and St. Petersburg’s Russian Museum. On the picture: a view from Polenov’s gallery in his house.

Polenov’s studio is a tiny white two-storey building with a red roof, dubbed an abbey by the painter as it reminded him of a Catholic monastery.

The estate is surrounded with a wonderful park.

Many trees in the park were planted by Polenov and his family members.