Nefedova Antonina - recercher of the State Darwin Museum (SDM), Keeper of the Fund of fine sources

The basis of the collection of SDM was laid (besides the natural science exhibits themselves) through a collection of works of art willed by its founder, A.F. Coates. He managed to enlist a circle of like-minded people, and he draw in artist that worked in the museum permanently. One of them Vasily Alekseevich Vatagin (1884-1969) and Mikhail Dmitrievich Ezuchevsky (1879-1928). They knew each other at a young age, together they attended the private studio of watercolor artist N.A. Martynov. The SDM was founded at the beginning of the twentieth century. It was landmark time for Russian culture. It can be said that this time in Russia there were serious changes in the perception of the East. One of the main reasons for this is the awareness of themselves as Asians, if not directly (the Scythians by A. Blok), but at least as the residents of the border between Europe and Asia - the Eurasians. Many figures of Russian culture (including N. Gumilev, P. Kuznetsov) went on trips to the East. V.A. Vatagin visited India and experienced a similar deep interest in its culture. India at the turn of the XIX-XX centuries for Russian art became a spiritual center, the primary culture, that powerfully attracted the minds and the hearts. It is enough to recall the powerful reference to India of the Spirit of the famous poem The Lost Tram by N. Gumilev. A religious experience took place from this trip, so when Vatagin during his journey fell seriously ill, he took it as a punishment for his apostasy from the Christian worldview.