Man who attacked Russian art masterpiece says he was driven by ideological reasons
A man who attacked and damaged a masterpiece of Russian painting with a metal pole said on Tuesday he had acted for ideological reasons to rescue the reputation of a tsar, recanting an earlier confession that the vandalism was fuelled by vodka.
His explanation is likely to add to liberal concern about the influence of religious conservatives and politicians who have turned Russia’s history into an ideological battleground to boost patriotism, sometimes inspiring violent attacks on films and works of art that don’t fit their narrative.
Igor Podporin, a 37-year-old from the city of Voronezh, has confessed to attacking one of the country’s most treasured 19th century art works, which depicts Tsar Ivan the Terrible cradling his dying son.
In an initial confession, he explained his actions last Friday by saying he became overwhelmed after drinking vodka in the cafe of the State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow’s most important art museum, where the painting was displayed.
But in a Moscow court appearance on Tuesday, Podporin denied he had drunk vodka before the attack, and said he had acted because he objected to the painting.
“The painting is a lie,” Podporin told the court, Russian news agencies reported. “He [Tsar Ivan the Terrible] is ranked among the community of saints.”
The damaged painting, Ivan The Terrible And His Son Ivan On November 16, 1581, was completed by Ilya Repin in 1885 and portrays a grief-stricken tsar holding his own son in his arms after dealing him a mortal blow.
Repin is perhaps the greatest painter of the 19th century flowering of Russian culture. His image of the tsar is widely accepted as one of his masterpieces.
But some Russian historians dispute the idea that Ivan murdered his son, and President Vladimir Putin said last year it was unclear if the tsar was guilty or not.
Last year, Christian Orthodox militants attempted to torch a cinema showing the film Matilda, which depicted sex scenes between the last tsar, Nicholas II, and his lover, a ballerina. Police arrested the head of an Orthodox group who had pledged to burn down any cinema that showed the film.