Toivo Rannel is an artist and poet, a native of the Finnish region of Savo, and a real Siberian. Apparently, therefore, his paintings are so picturesque and his poems sound so thoughtfully
Two lands fed him, gave strength and inspiration for creativity, which now pleases people.
Biography
Ryannel Toivo Vasilievich was born in the Leningrad Region in 1921. His parents were from Finland, they came to the village of Tozerovo in search of a better life. Hardworking peasants strengthened themselves on the new land and took root, but not for long - in the thirties, the Rannels were dispossessed and sent to Siberia.
Toivo was then nine years old, and he well remembered the horror that was happening in his family - they were given two hours to pack up and leave for a foreign land for eternal settlement. In Siberia, they lived in the Uderei district, north of the Angara. But not the whole family survived: the younger brother died of tuberculosis, and the older was shot for a poem about Stalin.
Boy Toivo helped his parents with what he could: early in the morning he went to the river to catch his father's fish for breakfast. Or went to the forest to collect roots and nuts - since the Siberian land is generous with such gifts.
Rannel graduated from high school in Yuzhno-Yeniseysk. He managed to survive in that meat grinder and even enter the Omsk art school, which he successfully graduated from. As soon as the young man realized that he had a talent for drawing, he fell in love with Siberia with all his heart. And he began to paint landscapes, in which he put all his senses and admiring this harsh beauty.
But before that there was a test of war and hard work. When the war began in 1941, he went home to support his parents. After not working long at school, the future artist got a job as a worker in the geological party. With paints and brushes in his backpack, he walked many kilometers through the taiga, making hundreds of sketches.
Artist career
Later, his canvases will be called epic, and he simply invested in each work a piece of his soul and his attitude to Siberia, which had become his native one. His paintings "The Birth of the Yenisei", "The Heart of the Sayan Mountains", "Mountain Cedars" and others became the artistic chronicle of the life of the Siberians who conquered the harsh land.
In one interview, Toyvo Vasilievich told how for the first time with a school tour he got into the Tretyakov Gallery and saw paintings by great masters. They made a stunning impression on him and he thought that he would never be able to convey what he sees in his native Siberia. The support of the school teacher helped to overcome this shock.
And now his canvases are placed in different galleries, starting with regional ones and ending with the most famous state ones, as well as in private collections around the world. Now this is a classic of Russian painting.
Ryannel's paintings participated in exhibitions throughout the Soviet Union, and his contribution to art was appreciated in 1948: Toivo Vasilyevich was admitted to the Union of Artists of the USSR.
