The Grand Duchess was the youngest sister of ill-fated Tsar Nicholas II of Russia. Her entire life was marred by relentless adversity that plunged her from unimaginable wealth to poverty. Petite, fragile, self-effacing, she had a heart full of compassion and was deeply religious. Miraculously, she managed to survive the intrigue and decline of the last imperial reign, communist persecution and the long years of exile in Denmark and Canada, where she died in Toronto on November 24, 1960 at the age of 78.

Grand Duchess Olga in Cooksville, Ontario, Canada. She continued to paint until the end of her life in 1960. Photograph from The Byington Collection, Peter Kurth, "The Lost Tsar: The World of Nicholas and Alexandra."

Judged today, the Grand Duchess's life personifies an ancient Greek tragedy in which its heroes are led to their downfall by superior forces they cannot control despite their own actions of courage and determination. As her official biographer who stood by her side during the last years of her life, I always wondered how that serene and delicate lady managed not only to survive the sad exigencies of her fate, but also how she found time and energy to dedicate herself to painting, be it in the splendor of her palaces, the crammed hospital where she worked as a volunteer nurse during World War I, the crowded refugee camps or in the long years of exile. She hardly missed a day. Her output - mostly medium-size watercolors and a few oils - is truly astounding, and it is estimated that she produced over 2,000 paintings.
 

Grand Duchess Olga and Colonel Nicholas  Kulikovsky (d. 1958), her second husband, in their farmhouse in Knudsminde, Denmark, in the late 1930s.  They are seated in front of some of the Grand Duchess's paintings. Photograph from "The Last Grand Duchess" by      Ian Vorres.

This small yet expressive display of the late Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna's work, to be appreciated, must be seen primarily in its historic context and not just on its purely artistic merit.

Portrait of Countess Leila Blucher-Altona, 1938 watercolor on paper Ronald and Grace Moe Collection	Spring Flowers in Forest watercolor on paper Mr. and Mrs. Daniel S. Cox Collection	Flowers watercolor on paper Ronald and Grace Moe Collection	Photo of Exhibition case	Photo of Exhibition Case

Her paintings, vivid and sensitive, are immersed in the subdued light of her beloved Russia. Besides her numerous landscapes and flower pictures that reveal her inherent love for nature, she often also dwells on scenes from simple daily life in Russia, Denmark and Canada, all executed with a sensitive eye for composition, expression and detail. Her work exudes peace, serenity and a spirit of love that mirror her own character, in total contrast to the suffering she experienced through most of her life.
 
 

Garden Tea Table with Samovar and Flowers	Canadian Forest oil on canvas Private Collection

"Art needs courage," Thucydides once said, "and the Grand Duchess proved she had plenty. Her work is in fact the inexhaustible source that provided her with the strength and perseverance to weather the relentless tribulations that faced her."

"History has made our lives difficult," the late President John F. Kennedy once declared in an address to the American people. In Grand Duchess Olga's case, history conjured in making her life more unbearable than for most mortals. "If I ever start crying, I will never stop," she once told me. It is to her everlasting credit that she kept smiling to the bitter end. And it is her art that helped her do it.

Ian Vorres

Ian Vorres is the President of the Vorres Museum Foundation, Athens, Greece and the former Mayor of Paiania, Athens, Greece.

Artworks by Grand Duchess Olga are in the collections of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh, His Majesty King Harald of Norway, the Ballerup Museum, Denmark, and private collections in the United States, Canada and Europe, among others.

For further information about Grand Duchess Olga, please read The Last Grand Duchess by Ian Vorres, published by Charles Scribners and Sons, New York, 1964 and Nicholas and Alexandra by Robert K. Massie, published by Atheneum, New York, 1967. An updated version of The Last Grand Duchess will be published in fall 2001.

Recent articles about the Grand Duchess have appeared in the "European Royalty Journal", Issue XVI (April 2000), Issue XVII (June 2000) and Issue XVIII (August 2000).

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Asman Imaging Laboratory
Mr. and Mrs. Daniel S. Cox
Facilities Management Office, Arts and Industries Building
Office of Exhibitions, Arts and Industries Building
Ronald and Grace Moe
Ian Vorres

Exhibition Curator: Amy Ballard, Architectural History and Historic Preservation Division, Smithsonian Institution

Exhibition Design: Rick Stamm, Architectural History and Historic Preservation Division, Smithsonian Institution