Who is visiting the French dacha of fashion historian Alexander Vasiliev?

Correspondents of the magazine “7 Days” visited the French dacha in Auvergne with a fashion historian Alexandra Vasilyeva. The report has already been published in the magazine, but it did not include many interesting photographs. We decided to display them on our website.

Alexander is ready to talk about his dacha for hours: “What do I like most about Auvergne? First, amazing scenery. He is very pleasing to the eye. Not a single industrial building is visible, not a single pipe, not a single high-voltage line, no signs of civilization. Exactly the same picture was observed, probably, in the Middle Ages by the same crusaders, whose path passed through the Auvergne. I am sure that this landscape as a whole has not changed much over the past thousand years. Secondly, the air here is incredibly clean. By the way, the neighboring field is for sale, which was previously used for grazing cows. And I’m thinking, shouldn’t I also buy this field, shouldn’t I extend my garden?”

“In our village there is even a real threshing floor. Hay is stored here for the winter for livestock, of which there are many. If you look out the window, you will always see cows. Nicely?”

“Almost all the houses in the Auvergne are from the century before last. But in France you can find many old castles that are still inhabited. People live in them, despite the fact that the castles were built in the Middle Ages: in the XIV, in the XV centuries. Moreover, furniture and tapestries have even been preserved somewhere. But in Russia, all the estates of the nobles either belong to museums, or sanatoriums, or are in an abandoned state.

“There used to be a small laundry next to my property, peasant women used to do laundry in a stream, and now it has turned into a swamp. Recently, this small building nearby, which I call “Granny Little Red Riding Hood’s house”, was put up for sale. Almost all houses that are for sale are in need of major repairs. In many, the roof needs to be changed, and it is still unknown what is inside, is the floor intact?

Today, the fashion historian owns three houses. One of them has a large kitchen with an old buffet and a living room.

“In Russia, eras are associated with the names of famous writers and poets,” says Vasiliev. – For example, Pushkin, Lermontov, Tolstoy. This is natural, because our literature is tightly intertwined with our history. And in France, history is divided into two periods: before the French Revolution and after.

“Sometimes a poet with his wife and daughter stays in my house. He asks not to be named. So he claims that here is an ideal place for a creative person. There is complete silence all around.”

“The French are proud if they have a Gooden brand stove in their house,” says Alexander. — I think my stove belongs to the end of the 19th century. Honestly, I have never used it, although it is in working condition. We’ll have to light it up somehow!”

Another unique item: a Venetian mirror that belonged to the famous designer Elsa Schiaparelli.

Alexander even managed to buy an armchair from the Pushkin era: “I bought it in Toulouse, it seduced me by the fact that it was upholstered in green morocco from that time. The upholstery was never changed, and I had to come to grips with the restoration. I tinted the upholstery with watercolor paint for a long time. Then a special mastic for the skin. What did not do to reanimate the morocco. By the way, on the Moika in the museum-apartment of Pushkin there is almost the same model.

“I have been collecting 19th-century portraits for a long time. The images of all these people that are hung on the walls in my houses are alive. After all, they all once really lived, existed. And I began to notice that they look at me differently. Their perspective seems to be changing. Sometimes he is reproachful or with a smirk. Sometimes with approval. Sometimes with pain, with pity, with displeasure. They really don’t like it when I outweigh them. After all, when I buy new portraits, some have to be removed. And they get terribly upset. I see how their facial expressions change, as if they begin to complain: “Why did you take me down, and where are you going to hang me now? I have already taken root here, I got to know everyone, we have conversations at night, we discussed the old owners, the apartments, the houses where we lived. And you take and separate us. I have already made friends with my neighbor, we have a lot of topics for chatting.

“When I arrive at a new house and I need to settle in, I first try to hang the ugliest people with the toughest character on the walls. I hang them temporarily so that they scare away all evil spirits.

“Most often I buy portraits in France. Sometimes in Italy. Something in Spain, England, Belgium, Turkey, Hungary. In the 20th century, 19th century portraits were very cheap. And today prices have shot up, interest in portrait art has grown a lot. If earlier a painting could be bought for 100-200 euros, now think about 1000-2000. And if we are talking about a famous artist who has a quote on the market, then his work can cost 10 thousand, and 100 thousand, and even a million. Only such paintings cannot be found at the flea market. And this is a rare case when someone once in his life is so lucky that he will meet at a small auction or at a flea market the thing of some very famous artist, whose signature the experts did not immediately discern, and this happens due to dirt or layering of varnish “.

“I remember the times 30 years ago, the 80s. I was still unknown to anyone. And in order to make ends meet, sometimes (I don’t hide it at all, but I’m even proud of it) I found some interesting portrait or landscape at the flea market. I knew exactly whose brush this work belongs to. The education of an art historian helped. And then put it up for auction. Earned, as it seemed to me then, solid money. Now, thank God, I do not resort to this, the situation has changed. But I keep buying portraits. There are more than 750 portraits in my collection in Lithuania alone. It’s a lot. Some layman may say: “Why hang pictures of strangers on the walls?” But I am a fashion historian. And I consider portraits from the point of view of the fashion of a certain era. Some trucker has 12 photographs of ladies with a large bust hanging in the cab, but this doesn’t scare anyone.

“In our village there is such a wonderful hangar, where all the surrounding residents bring unnecessary things completely free of charge: old furniture, dishes that have served their time, toys that grown children will not need.”

“Here all this can be bought for next to nothing. I don’t usually leave here without shopping!”

“My gardener Monsieur Mine lives next door and looks after the house in my absence. He never married, never flew an airplane, and generally never traveled anywhere outside of France. But he has a huge herd of cows, and he can lecture you for many hours about their life.

“Every dog ​​knows me here, as they say. And everyone needs to say hello and say goodbye!