The canvas will be on sale for the auction on November 19th, 2005, its starting price - half a million dollars, and before it will pass a stage of active promotion. It is assumed, that one of money-bags will express its wish to purchase the giant to present it to his friend.
The canvas will be on sale for the auction on November 19th, 2005, its starting price - half a million dollars, and before it will pass a stage of active promotion. It is assumed, that one of money-bags will express its wish to purchase the giant to present it to his friend. Well, why not Mikhail Fridman or Vyacheslav Kantor will make an expensive present to a senator Vladimir Slutsker? Or to a businessman Yury Glotser – or to a businessman Mikhail Bezelyansky? Once Mr. Bezelyansky allocated a cross-street banner in Kutuzovsky prospect with words "Buy new detective story "Glotser-Potser", now it’s his turn to be asleep at the switch - let phantoms from the painting chase him at nights.
Though the event had been planned as somewhat grand, none of the heroes of the piece of art – nor Valentina Matvienko, nor Sergey Stepashin, nor Aleksandr Pochinock, nor German Gref, nor Grigory Yavlinsky, nor Dmitriy Kozak – did not come. The organizers lowered their gaze upon lacquered floor of the cafeteria explaining that all those people had received the invitations, but were afraid then to pay visit to the Kremlin once again, as "the times now are…,well, you know…"
Among “heavyweights” the only visitors of the event were the Head of "Vimm-Bill-Dann" David Yakobashvili, the collector Viktor Bondarenko and the Head of Yuniastrum-bank Gagik Zakaryan. Of course, there was also a member of the Alpha-bank Board Aleksandr Gafin, but, as the saying goes, due to performance of his duty exceptionally. It is so frequent to him to serve his duty at “shady” presentations, and high society, having caught site of the banker at some kind of 150-th anniversary of a stuffed dodo somewhere in a museum of local lore near Moscow, express their sympathy, saying: "His way of winning livelihood was not easy indeed".
Second rate clerks treated themselves with fish, caviar and balyk - the cafeteria served all deficit food products of the seventeenths (the design of the canteen has not been changed since those times), and misters capitalists were sitting at the benches discussing the attitude of the artists to the characters. Pochinock, for example, had obviously, made some dirty trick with them or, perhaps, owed a drink or a party – well, the brush had not had mercy on him. Mikhail Fradkov became look like Muller acted by the actor Bronevoy. The artists had not missed the reflection of the attitude, expressed by the society to Gleb Pavlovsky. But as for anathema, the creators are truly afraid of it - Aleksy was obviously flattered. Eyes of the patriarch have acquired a special spiritual, inspired look.
The most discussable topic was how much money could people stump up to be depicted closer to the main hero, or, perhaps, farther, from him. By the way, the walls of the session hall were decorated with two portraits of Russian tsars, gazing upon those gathered together: “Have a look, there are still some spare space on the wall! Well, who is ready to cough up and how many to make his portrait look from the wall?” "I wont’t pay a single rouble?" “I`m sick and tired of watching these mugs in my daily life. Why the hell I shall gaze upon them from above!" - rapped a businessman, who asked not to remain anonymous.
The collector Viktor Bondarenko came to meet with the picture due to his love to the modern art. While speaking with his partners in business, he said, that arts exercises contribute to reflect upon life. As for his share, the collector himself told he had just grasped the idea of the painting. However, he denied to reveal the secret and told, that this picture evoked the thoughts on eternal things: "Where are those people which were depicted at Repin's work, and where these ones will be in several years?!". Ladies and gentlemen then took a look at disgraced Boris Berezovsky and Mikhail Khadarkovsky. In reply to the question how does he like the picture and whether he wishes to be perpetuated in the company, the president of Yuniastrum-bank Gagik Zakaryan said: "Let's hope, that "Barge-haulers on the Volga" or “Menshickov in Beryozovo” will not have become a next remake.
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