Andrei Jegorov 1878–1954 Street in Pärnu. 1941

On the occasion of Andrei Jegorov’s 100th birthday, a newspaper wrote: “Andrei Jegorov came from a poor tenant farmer’s family in Aruküla. Having lost his hearing already in childhood, he was sent to a special school in St. Petersburg and later, due to his interest in art, to the School of the Society for the Encouragement of the Arts. In 1901, Jegorov succeeded in continuing his art studies at the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts, graduating in 1909. For some time, he was a student of I. Repin at the Academy, and the artist himself considered this period very important in his creative development. The works of Repin’s students were marked by greater painterly freedom, boldness, and joy of life.

Jegorov’s own work is likewise characterized by a life-affirming quality. He had a keen sense of nature and an eye for color nuances. The artist painted mainly landscapes and city views, but also portraits and flowers. Among his early surviving works are views of Tallinn’s Old Town, which he continued to paint until the end of his life. He loved depicting the Town Hall, old streets, and courtyard corners. Many of the buildings and places captured in his paintings have since been destroyed or significantly altered, and since the artist valued authenticity, these works also carry the meaning of historical documents.

Alongside Tallinn motifs, Jegorov painted many views of other Estonian towns. Spending summers in Kuressaare, he also captured the characteristic squares and streets of that city.

Bright color tones in his depictions of rural people and horses bring liveliness and a sense of immediacy to his paintings. The joy of summer colors alternates in Jegorov’s work with sunny winter days. He often varied a motif with tall trees, whose bare branches create beautiful patterns against the clear sky, and whose trunks cast long blue shadows on the cold snow.”