Viktor Petrovich Dronnikov (1940-2008) was a Russian poet, native of the Oryol region, friend of the artist Andrei Kurnakov. When reading his poetry, you often see the subtle lyrical landscapes of Andrei Ilyich before your eyes.

The artist depicted the poet outdoor on a bright sunny day on the river bank. He stands with his back against an old birch tree, which is covered with golden leaves. Autumnally bright blue sky shines through the foliage, casts bluish shadows on a white shirt, reflects in the smooth surface of the water.

The grass is still green in the foreground, a patchy carpet of flowers and fallen leaves in the depths are painted with strokes of paint that create relief (impasto). If we look closely, we will see that some of the leaves on the birch branches are real, the artist glued them to the canvas. This technique is called collage. Andrei Ilyich used this technique with flare, giving the landscape volume, brightness and mood.

But it is not the landscape, no matter how beautiful it is, that interests the artist. For him, the character in the portrait is important, the person matters. The poet stands firmly on his native land, his feet are buried in the green grass. There is no doubt that we are facing a poet. This is evidenced by a large, beautifully broken beret on a gray head, and an open book in his hands. The master reads poetry:

Farewell, everything that is intimate…
There is less light over the meadows.
Summer swept through the village
Carrying freshly cut hay
Summer rolled by…
Birds twitted over the fields.
Only yesterday I dreamed joyful
Now I don’t know what I dreamed about.
It ended… What is left for me?
Pink coldness of groves.
So, keep the remaining trifle
As a great Divine grace.
Oh, autumn aspen,
Don’t you shiver.
We are all on the roll in life.
Someone waves a blue kerchief
At the end of summer… at sunset.

How masterfully the artist paints a face, working with a wide brush, as if sculpting it. And the eyes? Andrei Ilyich paints not eyes, but a look - calm, attentive, thoughtful, he seems to search our hearts. Viktor Petrovich will see us off with a soft look, no matter which point of observation we choose.

‘Viktor Dronnikov’s poetry is complex and rich in meaning in its own way. It clearly contains the feeling of life as active and basically a wonderful path from the birth of a person to his death, ” wrote the remarkable Oryol writer Ivan Ryzhov. It is this ‘presence of the feeling of life”that the artist Andrei Ilyich Kurnakov so appreciated in his friend.