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The Apotheosis of War
Vasily Vereshchagin · Realism & Academic
- Artist
- Vasily Vasilyevich Vereshchagin (1842–1904)
- Date
- 1871
- Dimensions
- 127 x 197 cm
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Location
- State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, Russia
The Apotheosis of War shows a huge pyramid of human skulls piled up in a scorched desert plain in Central Asia, with crows circling above it and the ruins of a city in the background.
A closer look
Under a blazing sun, the bleached skulls form a silent monument in the middle of a dead landscape: withered trees, ruined walls, an empty sky. The crows that pick at the skulls are the only living things. The scene was inspired by the conquests of the 14th-century ruler Timur (Tamerlane), who was said to build pyramids of the skulls of his enemies, but Vereshchagin also had in mind the wars he had witnessed as a soldier in Turkestan. The painting's frame bears the inscription: 'Dedicated to all great conquerors, past, present and to come'.