Awakening & Flourishing

A series of historic incidents occurred in Russia in the 19th century namely the victory against Napoleon's invasion in 1825, the Incident of Decembrist in 1825 and the reform on serfage in 1861 not only stimulated the awakening of the Russian nation but facilitated the flourishing of the Russian art.The Tsar administration, in the 2^nd half of the 19^th century, adopted some more liberal policies than it used to and was directly involved in the collection of artistic works and the building of museums. Hence the capitalism was further developed and the economic prosperity prompted the birth of regular artistic consuming groups and a group of noted artistic sponsors provided artists with sincere and generous material support. The attempts to run general and special artistic education according to the Western practice cultivated a great batch of artistic lovers and artistic talents. The booming of publishing press and the popularization of theatres, libraries and museums provided the artists with stages and the media to communicate with the public.The intelligentsia born into poor families began to dominate the ideological circle, which resulted in the emergence of various philosophical thoughts and schools and advocacies with a view to awakening the public and facilitate the development of Russia. And the Russian nation seemed to be awakening from sleeping over a night.The national awakening and the drastically changing social life were inevitably reflected in arts and came up with new demands on arts.