“The Demon Defeated” is a painting by Mikhail Aleksandrovich Vrubel – the last masterpiece from the artist’s “demonic” series. It depicts a fallen winged god-fighter. The painter captured the moment when the defeated angel falls on the rocks and turns into a Demon. The broken naked figure of the angel rests on his own wings with beautiful blue-gold feathers.

Painting “The Demon Defeated” by Mikhail Aleksandrovich Vrubel – the master’s curse

These magical wings are spread out under the body of their former owner and serve him as either an uncomfortable bed or a shroud. The figure seems inanimate – a fragile, sexless creature as if already dead – his skin is a bluish “corpse” shade, his body is frozen in an unnatural pose. He resembles a shot and already plucked bird – the victim of a heavenly hunter. But the Demon’s gaze is directed into space and burns with anger. And his face still retains a stern, warlike expression: his lips are tightly pressed, his brows are furrowed, and there are deep folds on his forehead. His arms are crossed above his head – either in a protective gesture, or still holding a weapon that no longer exists.

There is nothing else alive in the picture. In the background, the symbolic scarlet sunset is burning out, casting pink reflections on the deathly white mountains, and black shadows of the coming night are already creeping out of the corners of the canvas. The character’s body seems squeezed into the tight frame of a rectangular canvas, in the space between heaven and earth. This is the figure of a slave dying at the hands of his owner, but still not reconciled to his captivity. The masterpiece is painted in the author’s favorite, “crystalline” manner. Chopped palette knife strokes make it look like stained glass or sculpture. This technique gives the work incredible expressiveness and emotionality.

Title of the painting: “The Demon Defeated”.
Author: Mikhail Alexandrovich Vrubel (1856-1910).
Year of painting: 1901-1902.
Size: 139 x 387 cm.
Style: Symbolism.
Genre: Mythological.
Technique: Oil.
Material: Canvas.
Location: State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow.

Mikhail Vrubel — the great Russian master of painting

“Demoniad” is the most famous series of the master. In the painting “The Demon Defeated” the tragedy of personality, the drama of the collapse of expectations and loneliness are conveyed with incredible expression. The suffering, but still protesting Demon is a figure symbolizing the painful severity of parting with hope, the overthrown, but not discarded pride.

This painting became Mikhail Vrubel’s curse. He could not finish the masterpiece. Even when the canvas caused a sensation at the St. Petersburg exhibition, the author continued to come to him daily with paints and brushes. The result could not satisfy the artist – he changed the shape of the Demon’s nose, then drew the crazy blue eye differently.

The painting “The Demon Defeated” by Mikhail Alexandrovich Vrubel became the master’s curse. The desire to finish the canvas grew into an obsession. The master was hospitalized in a psychiatric hospital, where he spent a year and a half with a short break. Is the appearance of a fantastic masterpiece due to Vrubel’s mental disorder? Or did the Demon, like Yesenin’s Black Man, drive the artist crazy? Who knows…