Blok and Mendeleev. Love story

Fascinated by the poems of Alexander Blok, I learned that little Sasha Blok, the grandson of the chemist Beketov, and Lyubochka Mendeleeva, Mendeleev’s daughter, grew up together, then grew up, and having met in adulthood, felt an interest in each other and got married. The marriage was not very successful. complicated, but that's another story. And just recently I read that Dmitry Ivanovich Mendeleev had two families: his first wife with the amazing name Feozva bore him three children: Maria, Vladimir and Olga. Maria died in infancy, but Volodya grew up and pleased his father with his academic success.

Volodya Mendeleev (1865 - 1898) and his mother Feozva (Fiza) Nikitichna, born. Leshcheva.

The boy walks in the garden and reads books, takes up photography with his father; he dreams of the sea and is preparing to enter the Naval School. His father encourages him to study seriously; he knows that from the Naval School they go not only into the navy, but also into science, and you need to get used to serious scientific literature from a young age.
http://www.library.spbu.ru/bbk/bookcoll/priormat/p15.php.

Volodya connected his life with the sea. he graduated from the Naval School and served as an officer in the navy. In 1890, he was assigned to the frigate "Memory of Azov", on which Tsarevich Nikolai Alexandrovich (future Emperor Nicholas II) was supposed to go to Greece, Egypt, and India. Ceylon, Hong Kong and at the end of the trip to Japan. The highest visit ended in a scandal: one of the police, motivated by samurai complexes, wounded the Tsarevich with a sword. During the investigation of this incident, Vladimir worked as a photographer in the investigation team, because... his father taught him the principles of photography. At this time, Vladimir, living in Nagasaki, entered into a temporary marriage with a Japanese woman. This was a common procedure for European sailors. In 1893, Vladimir and his wife Taki Hideshima had a daughter, Ofuji, whom Vladimir never saw because "Memory of Azov" returned to Russia. Vladimir retired in Russia. became an inspector of maritime education and married the daughter of the painter K. Lemokh, Varvara. In 1898 he contracted influenza and died. DI. Mendeleev always remembered the “Japanese granddaughter”; he received a letter from Taki, and after the death of his beloved son, Mendeleev sent money to Japan. By the way, he was also on the deck of the frigate “Memory of Azov” among the persons accompanying Tsarevich Nicholas.

Vladimir Mendeleev (1865 - 1898). Vladimir's Japanese wife with daughter Ofuji.

Vladimir died suddenly on December 19, 1898. “My clever, loving, gentle, good-natured first-born son, on whom I counted part of my behests, died, since I knew lofty and truthful, modest and at the same time deep thoughts for the benefit of the homeland, unknown to others, with which he was imbued." - wrote D.I. Mendeleev.
in 1899, he prepared for publication Vladimir’s unfinished work “Project for raising the level of the Azov Sea by damming the Kerch Strait.”

Olga Mendeleeva (1868 - 1950), Trirogova.

Vladimir's younger sister, Olga Dmitrievna Mendeleeva, in her marriage to Trirogova (1868 - 1950), bred hunting dogs before the revolution, and after the revolution she worked with service dogs. She wrote a book about her family, which was published in 1947. These are the children of D.I. Mendeleev from his first marriage. But at the age of 43, Dmitry Ivanovich fell passionately in love with a young girl of eighteen, Anna Popova from Uryupinsk (daughter of a Cossack). There were four children in this marriage: Lyubov (born 1881), Ivan (born 1883), twins Maria and Vasily (born 1886).
Lyubov Dmitrievna graduated from the Higher Women's Courses, studied in drama clubs, and had extraordinary acting abilities. In 1907 - 1908 she played in the troupe of V.E. Meyerhold and at the V.F. Theater Komissarzhevskaya. In 1903, Lyubov married the poet Alexander Blok. She was the heroine of his poems dedicated to the Beautiful Lady. Lyubov Dmitrievna died in 1939: she was walking across the room and fell, already dead.
Ivan Dmitrievich (1883-1936) was perhaps the most creatively gifted person. He helped his aging father a lot, for example, he performed complex calculations for his economic works. Thanks to Ivan, a posthumous edition of the scientist’s work “Addition to the Knowledge of Russia” was published. From 1924 until his death, Ivan worked in the Main Chamber of Weights and Measures, thus continuing his father’s work. Here he conducted research on the theory of scales and the design of thermostats. He was one of the first in the USSR to study the properties of heavy water. From a young age, Ivan was no stranger to philosophical problems.. There was complete mutual understanding and trust between father and son. Ivan Dmitrievich died in 1936.

Anna Mendeleeva - second wife of Lyubov Mendeleeva (1881 - 1939)
DI. Mendeleev.

Ivan Mendeleev (1883-1936) Vasily Mendeleev (1886 - 1922).

Little is known about Dmitry Ivanovich’s youngest son, Vasily (1886 - 1922): he entered the Marine Engineering School in Kronstadt, but did not graduate. He was also a creative person, he worked as a designer at St. Petersburg shipyards, developing projects for submarines and minelayers. It is known that Vasily Mendeleev developed a model of a super-heavy tank. However, against the will of his mother, Vasily married a simple girl Fena. Over time, he quit his job, and he and Fenya went to her relatives in Kuban, where he died of typhus in 1922. His twin sister Maria graduated from the Higher Women's Agricultural Courses and worked for a long time as a teacher in various technical schools. She was considered a major specialist in breeding pointing dogs, and after the war she was in charge of her father’s museum at Leningrad University. She had a daughter, Ekaterina Kamenskaya, in 1983 she was still alive. She searched for her calling for a long time. tried to become an artist, actress, then entered the history department of Leningrad University and became a specialist in the history and culture of the peoples of Polynesia. At one time she worked in the Kunstkamera. At the beginning of the 21st century, her son Alexander, the great-grandson of Dmitry Ivanovich Mendeleev, was still alive. He could be about 73 years old now.

Granddaughter of D.I. Mendeleev - Ekaterina She is with her son Alexander.
Kamenskaya.
http://scandaly.ru/2013/10/25/himiya-sudbyi/
Unfortunately, the fate of Ekaterina Mendeleeva-Kamenskaya is very sad. At first everything was fine: studies, husbands, son. Mom works at the D.I. Mendeleev Museum. This is Catherine’s home. She took all D.I.’s valuables there. Mendeleev. They have become museum treasures. And in her old age she found herself without a livelihood, and her grandfather’s things belonged to the state. It didn’t even remember about the scientist’s granddaughter. The fate of Sasha, Mendeleev’s great-grandson, is even sadder: he was in prison for fighting, then he couldn’t get a job, he drank. Further fate is unknown.

Lyubov Dmitrievna Mendeleeva-Blok: Beautiful Lady of Russian poetry.

It is difficult to discern through the thickness of the past century the image of the girl who caused an unprecedented flow of chants in Russian poetry. Judging by the photographs, she cannot be called beautiful - a rough, slightly high-cheekboned face, not very expressive, small, sleepy eyes. But once she was full of youthful charm and freshness - ruddy, golden-haired, black-browed. In her youth she loved to dress in pink, then she preferred white fur. An earthly, simple girl. The daughter of a brilliant scientist, the wife of one of the greatest Russian poets, the only true love of another...

She was born on April 17, 1882 - 120 years ago. Her father is Dmitry Ivanovich Mendeleev, a talented scientist.

Dmitry Ivanovich Mendeleev, father of Lyubov Dmitrievna

His fate, unfortunately, is typical for many talented people. He was not admitted to the Academy of Sciences; he was expelled from St. Petersburg University and placed in the Main Chamber of Weights and Measures, which he organized. He amazed everyone who came across him with the brilliance of his scientific genius, state mentality, immensity of interests, indomitable energy and quirks of a complex and rather difficult nature. After retirement from the university, he spent most of his time on his estate in Boblovo.

House in Boblovo

There, in a house built according to his own design, he lived with his second family - his wife Anna Ivanovna and children Lyuba, Vanya and twins Marusya and Vasya. According to the memoirs of Lyubov Dmitrievna, her childhood was happy, noisy, joyful. Children were loved very much, although they were not particularly spoiled.

Next door, on the Shakhmatovo estate, an old friend of Dmitry Ivanovich, rector of St. Petersburg University, botanist professor Andrei Nikolaevich Beketov, settled with his family. He himself, his wife Elizaveta Grigorievna, and their four daughters were very gifted people, loved literature, were familiar with many great people of that time - Gogol, Dostoevsky, Leo Tolstoy, Shchedrin - and were themselves actively involved in translations and literary creativity.

Beketov Andrey Nikolaevich (1825-1902), Russian botanist

Shakhmatovo

In January 1879, Alexandra Andreevna, Beketov’s third daughter, after a whirlwind romance, married a young lawyer Alexander Lvovich Blok.

Alexander Lvovich and Alexandra Andreevna. 1879

Immediately after the wedding, the young couple left for Warsaw, where Blok had just received an appointment. The marriage was unsuccessful - the young husband had a terrible character, he beat and humiliated his wife. When the Bloks arrived in St. Petersburg in the fall of 1880 - Alexander Lvovich was going to defend his dissertation - the Beketovs barely recognized their daughter in the tortured, intimidated woman. On top of everything else, she was eight months pregnant... Her husband returned to Warsaw alone - her parents did not let her go. When Blok, having learned about the birth of his son Alexander, came to pick up his wife, he was kicked out of the Beketovs’ house with a scandal. With great difficulty, with stormy explanations and even fights, Alexandra and her son were left in their father’s house.

Alexandra Andreevna with her son 1883

She could not get a divorce for several years - until Alexander Lvovich himself decided to marry again. But four years later, his second wife ran away from him along with his little daughter.

In 1889, Alexandra Andreevna married a second time - to Lieutenant of the Life Guards Grenadier Regiment Franz Feliksovich Kublitsky-Piottukh. The marriage was also not successful. Alexandra Andreevna had no more children.

A. Blok with his mother and stepfather. Petersburg. 1895.

A.A. Blok with the dog Dianka on the steps of the porch of the Chessovsky house.

From left to right: A.A. Kublitskaya-Piottukh (the poet’s mother), A.N. Beketov, N.N. Beketov, E.G. Beketova, M.A. Beketova.

Shakhmatovo. 1894

Alexander Blok with his grandfather A.N. Beketov, grandfather’s brother A.N. Beketov, aunt M.A. Beketova,

Mother A.A. Kublitskaya-Piottukh, stepfather F.F. Kublitsky-Piottukh.

Sasha Blok lived in an atmosphere of complete adoration - especially from his mother. She encouraged his passion for poetry in every possible way. It was she who introduced her son to the works of Vladimir Solovyov, whose ideas about earthly and heavenly love, about Eternal Femininity greatly influenced the worldview of Alexander Blok. Family ties with the famous philosopher also played a role in this: Blok’s mother’s cousin was married to Vladimir Solovyov’s brother Mikhail.

Vladimir Sergeevich Solovyov, I.N. Kramskoy

This was already evident in his first hobby: in the summer of 1897, at the German resort of Bad Nauheim, where he accompanied his mother, he met Ksenia Mikhailovna Sadovskaya, the wife of a state councilor and mother of three children - he was 16, she was 37. He makes dates with her , takes her away in a closed carriage, writes enthusiastic letters to her, dedicates poems, calls her “My Deity”, addresses her - “You” - with a capital letter.

Alexander Blok, high school student.

Ksenia Sadovskaya

This is how he will continue to address his lovers. In St. Petersburg, a connection arises between them, and Blok gradually grows cold towards her. Poetry and the prose of life turned out to be incompatible for the romantic poet.

With this understanding, Blok begins a new romance, which has grown into the main love of his life - he meets Lyubov Dmitrievna.

Lyubov Dmitrievna Mendeleeva

Lyubov Dmitrievna Mendeleeva

In fact, they had known each other for a long time: when their fathers served together at the university, four-year-old Sasha and three-year-old Lyuba were taken for a walk together in the university garden. But since then they have not met - until in the spring of 1898 Blok accidentally met at an exhibition with Anna Ivanovna Mendeleeva, who invited him to visit Boblovo

At the beginning of June, seventeen-year-old Alexander Blok arrived in Boblovo - on a white horse, in an elegant suit, a soft hat and smart boots. They called Lyuba - she came in a pink blouse with a tightly starched stand-up collar and a small black tie, unapproachably strict. She was sixteen years old. She immediately made an impression on Blok, but she, on the contrary, did not like him: she called him “a poser with the habits of a veil.” In the conversation, however, it turned out that they had a lot in common: for example, they both dreamed of the stage. A lively theatrical life began in Boblovo: at Blok’s suggestion, excerpts from Shakespeare’s Hamlet were staged. He played Hamlet and Claudius, she played Ophelia.

Alexander Blok as Hamlet, 18 years old.

Lyubov Dmitrievna Mendeleeva as Ophelia, A. A. Blok as King Claudius in the home performance of Hamlet. Boblovo. 1898

During rehearsals, Lyuba literally bewitched Blok with her inaccessibility, grandeur and severity. After the performance they went for a walk - the first time they were alone. It was this walk that both later recalled as the beginning of their romance.

Mikhailov Igor Yurievich

Upon returning to St. Petersburg, we met less often. Lyubov Dmitrievna began to gradually move away from Blok, becoming more and more severe and unapproachable. She considered it humiliating for herself to fall in love with this “low veil” - and gradually this love passed away.

The following fall, Blok already considers the acquaintance to be over and stops visiting the Mendeleevs. Lyubov Dmitrievna was indifferent to this.

Blok by that time was fascinated by various mystical teachings. One day, being in a state close to a mystical trance, he saw Lyubov Dmitrievna on the street, walking from Andreevskaya Square to the Courses building. He walked behind, trying to remain unnoticed. Then he will describe this walk in an encrypted poem “Five Hidden Bends” - about the five streets of Vasilievsky Island along which Lyubov Dmitrievna walked.

Reproduction of the painting by P. A. Ignatiev “A. A. Blok"

Ilya Sergeevich Glazunov

Then another chance meeting - on the balcony of the Maly Theater during the performance of King Lear. He was finally convinced that she was his destiny.

For any mystic, coincidences are not just an accident - they are a manifestation of the higher mind, the divine will. That winter, Blok wandered around St. Petersburg in search of Her - his great love, which he would later call the Mysterious Maiden, Eternal Wife, Beautiful Lady... And Lyubov Dmitrievna, who accidentally met, naturally and mysteriously merged in his mind with the sublime image that he was looking for, overflowing with the ideas of Vladimir Solovyov.

Lyubov Dmitrievna Mendeleeva (17 years old)

As Ophelia in a house play

Boblovo, 1898

Young Blok, in his love, became a faithful follower of Solovyov’s teachings. The real image of his beloved girl was idealized by him and merged with Solovyov’s idea of ​​Eternal Femininity. This was manifested in his poems, later collected in the collection “Poems about a Beautiful Lady.” Such a fusion of the earthly and the divine in love for a woman was not Blok’s invention - before him there were the troubadours, Dante, Petrarch, the German romantics Novalis and Brentano, and Solovyov himself, who addressed his poems not only to the mythological Sophia the Wisdom, but also to the real Sophia Petrovna Khitrovo. But only Blok managed to really connect with his beloved - and understand from his own experience what tragedy this could lead to.

Lyubov Dmitrievna was a mentally healthy, sober and balanced person. She forever remained alien to any mysticism and abstract reasoning. In her character, she was the absolute opposite of the restless Blok. She resisted as best she could when Blok tried to instill in her his concepts of the “unspeakable,” repeating: “Please, no mysticism!”

Blok found himself in an unfortunate position: the one whom he had made the heroine of his religion and mythology was refusing the role intended for her. Lyubov Dmitrievna even wanted to break off all relations with him because of this. Didn't break it. He wanted to commit suicide. Not finished. She gradually becomes stern, arrogant and inaccessible again. Blok was going crazy. There were long walks through the night in St. Petersburg, alternated with periods of indifference and quarrels. This continued until November 1902.

Rychkov Alexey Viktorovich

On the night of November 7–8, the female students held a charity ball in the hall of the Noble Assembly. Lyubov Dmitrievna came with two friends, wearing a Parisian blue dress. As soon as Blok appeared in the hall, he without hesitation went to the place where she was sitting - although she was on the second floor and could not be seen from the hall. They both realized that this was fate. After the ball, he proposed to her. And she accepted it.

Hall of the Noble Assembly in St. Petersburg. 1913, Kustodiev Boris Mikhailovich

They hid their feelings for a long time. Only at the very end of December did Blok tell his mother about everything. On January 2, he made an official proposal to the Mendeleev family. Dmitry Ivanovich was very pleased that his daughter decided to link her fate with Beketov’s grandson. However, they decided to postpone the wedding.

By this time, Blok had already begun to gain fame as a talented poet. His second cousin, Sergei Solovyov, had a hand in this. Alexandra Andreevna sent her son’s poems in letters to the Solovyovs - and Sergei distributed them among his friends, members of the “Argonauts” circle.

Sergei Mikhailovich Sokolov

Blok’s poems made a particular impression on his old friend Sergei, the son of the famous mathematics professor Boris Bugaev, who became known under the pseudonym Andrei Bely.

Leon Bakst. Andrey Bely

On January 3, Blok, having learned from the Solovyovs that Bely was going to write to him, sent his letter - on the same day as Bely himself. Of course, both took this as a “sign.” Correspondence is developing rapidly, and soon all three - Bely, Blok and Sergei Solovyov - call each other brothers and swear eternal loyalty to each other and the ideas of Vladimir Solovyov.

On January 16, a tragedy occurred: Mikhail Solovyov died of pneumonia. As soon as he closed his eyes, his wife went into the next room and shot herself.

Soloviev Mikhail Sergeevich

Olga Mikhailovna Solovyova (nee Kovalenskaya; 1855-1903)

For Blok, who was very close to the Solovievs, this was a major milestone: “I lost the Solovievs and gained Bugaev.”

On March 11, a selection of Blok’s poems is published in the magazine “New Way” - only three poems, but they were noticed. Then a publication appeared in the “Literary and Artistic Collection”, and in April, in the almanac “Northern Flowers” ​​- a cycle entitled “Poems about a Beautiful Lady”.

Many of Mendeleev’s circle were indignant that the daughter of such a great scientist was going to marry a “decadent.” Dmitry Ivanovich himself did not understand the poems of his future son-in-law, but respected him: “Talent is immediately visible, but it is not clear what he wants to say.” Disagreements also arose between Lyuba and Alexandra Andreevna - this was due to the nervousness of Blok’s mother and her jealousy of her son.

Blok Alexandra Andreevna (after her second husband Kublitskaya-Piottukh)

But nevertheless, on May 25, Blok and Lyubov Dmitrievna got engaged in the university church, and on August 17, a wedding took place in Boblovo. The bride's best man was Sergei Soloviev. Lyubov Dmitrievna wore a snow-white cambric dress with a long train. In the evening the young people left for St. Petersburg. On January 10, 1904, at the invitation of Bely, they came to Moscow.

They stayed there for two weeks, but left a lasting memory of themselves. On the very first day, the Bloks visit Bely. He is disappointed: after reading Blok’s poems, he expected to see a sickly, short monk with burning eyes. And in front of him appeared a tall, slightly shy, fashionably dressed socialite handsome man, with a thin waist, healthy complexion and golden curls, accompanied by an elegant, slightly prim, bushy-haired young lady in a fur hat and a huge muff. Nevertheless, by the end of the visit, Bely was fascinated by both Blok and his wife - she captivated him with her earthly beauty, golden braids, femininity, spontaneity and ringing laughter.

Alexander Blok and his wife Lyubov Dmitrievna Mendeleeva

In two weeks, Bloks charmed the entire poetic society of Moscow. Everyone recognized Blok as a great poet, Lyubov Dmitrievna charmed everyone with her beauty, modesty, simplicity and grace. Bely gave her roses, Soloviev - lilies. The symbolist consciousness of the “Argonauts” saw in Blok its prophet, and in his wife the embodiment of that very Eternal Femininity. Their wedding was perceived as a sacred mystery, foreshadowing what was promised by Vl. Solovyov's world cleansing.

Sometimes this fuss crossed all boundaries of measure and tact. The blocks very quickly got tired of the constant annoying intrusions into their personal lives and almost fled to St. Petersburg.

The seemingly ideal union of poet and muse was, however, far from being so happy. From early youth, a gap formed in Blok’s consciousness between carnal, physical and spiritual, unearthly love. He could not defeat him until the end of his life. After his marriage, Blok immediately began to explain to his young wife that they did not need physical intimacy, which would only interfere with their spiritual relationship. He believed that carnal relationships could not last, and that if this happened, they would inevitably part. In the fall of 1904, they nevertheless became truly husband and wife - but their physical relationship was sporadic and by the spring of 1906 it ceased altogether.

In Shakhmatovo. Lyuba in a hammock. Photo by D.I. Mendeleev

And in the spring of 1904, Sergei Solovyov and Andrei Bely came to Shakhmatovo to visit the Bloks who were staying there. They constantly have philosophical conversations with Blok, and they simply pursue Lyubov Dmitrievna with their exalted worship. Her every action was attributed great significance, all her words were interpreted, her outfits, gestures, and hairstyle were discussed in the light of high philosophical categories.

Lyubov Dmitrievna Mendeleeva

At first, Lyubov Dmitrievna willingly accepted this game, but then it began to burden both her and those around her. Blok could hardly stand it either. He will practically end his relationship with Solovyov in a year. He will have a completely different relationship with Bely for many years.

Andrei Bely with his friend, Sergei Mikhailovich Solovyov Jr. (grandson of the famous historian); Sergei Solovyov holds a photograph of his uncle, philosopher and poet Vladimir Solovyov, and Andrei Bely holds a photograph of Lyubochka Mendeleeva-Blok, with whom he was in love.

In 1905, the worship of Lyubov Dmitrievna as an unearthly being, the embodiment of the Beautiful Lady and Eternal Femininity, was replaced by Andrei Bely, who was generally prone to affect and exaltation, by a strong love passion - his only true love.

Lyubov Dmitrievna Mendeleeva

The relationship between him and Blok was confused, everyone was to blame for the confusion - Blok, who constantly evaded explanations, and Lyubov Dmitrievna, who did not know how to make firm decisions, and most of all Bely himself, who in three years had brought himself to a pathological state and infected others with his hysteria .

Andrey Bely. Silhouette by E.S. Kruglikova.

In the summer of 1905, Sergei Solovyov left Shakhmatov with a scandal - he quarreled with Alexandra Andreevna. Blok took his mother’s side, Bely took Sergei’s side. He also left, but before leaving he managed to declare his love to Lyubov Dmitrievna with a note. She told her mother-in-law and husband about everything. In the fall, Blok and Bely exchange meaningful letters, accusing each other of betraying the ideals of friendship and immediately repenting of their sins. Lyubov Dmitrievna writes to him that she is staying with Blok. Bely tells her that he is breaking up with her because he realized that there was “neither religion nor mysticism” in his love.

Portrait of Andrei Bely by Leon Bakst

However, he cannot calm down, and on December 1 he arrives in St. Petersburg. In Palkin's restaurant, a meeting between Bloks and Bely takes place, ending in another reconciliation. Soon Bely leaves back to Moscow, but returns from there angry: Blok published the play “Balaganchik,” in which he ridiculed the Moscow “Argonauts,” the established love triangle, and himself. New letters, new explanations and quarrels... Bely was particularly indignant at the figure of Columbine - in the form of a stupid cardboard doll, Blok portrayed his Beautiful Lady, Lyubov Dmitrievna...

Lyubov Dmitrievna herself at that time felt unneeded by her husband, “abandoned to the mercy of everyone who would persistently look after her,” as she herself wrote. And then Bely appears, who more and more insistently calls her to leave Blok and live with him. She hesitated for a long time - and finally agreed. She even went to see him once, but Bely made some awkwardness, and she immediately got dressed and disappeared. Bely talks to Blok - and he moves away, leaving the decision to his wife. She breaks up with him again, makes up again, breaks up again... Bely writes letters to Blok in which he begs him to let Lyubov Dmitrievna go to him. Blok does not even open the letters. In August 1906, the Bloks came to see Bely in Moscow - a difficult conversation took place in the Prague restaurant, which ended with Bely’s angry flight.

Ilya Sergeevich Glazunov

He still thinks that he is loved, and that only circumstances and decency stand in his way. Bely's friend, poet and critic Ellis (Lev Kobylinsky), encouraged him to challenge Blok to a duel - Lyubov Dmitrievna nipped the challenge in the bud. When the Blocks from Shakhmatovo move to St. Petersburg, Bely follows them. After several difficult meetings, the three decide that they should not date for a year - so that they can then try to build a new relationship. On the same day, Bely leaves for Moscow, and then to Munich.

During his absence, Bely's friends, at his request, persuade Lyubov Dmitrievna to respond to his feelings. She completely got rid of this hobby. In the fall of 1907, they met several times - and in November they parted completely. The next time they met only in August 1916, and then at Blok’s funeral.

In November 1907, Blok fell in love with Natalya Volokhova, an actress in Vera Komissarzhevskaya’s troupe, a spectacular, lean brunette. She was 28 (Blok was 26). Blok will dedicate the “Snow Mask” and “Faina” cycles to her.

Volokhova, Natalya Nikolaevna

The romance was stormy, there was even talk about Blok’s divorce and marriage to Volokhova. Lyubov Dmitrievna took all this hard: the wounds had not yet healed after her humiliating parting with Bely, when Blok brought his new lover to their house. One day Lyubov Dmitrievna came to Volokhova and offered to take upon herself all the worries about Blok and his future fate. She refused, thus recognizing her temporary place in Blok’s life. Lyubov Dmitrievna even becomes friends with her - this friendship survived the romance, which lasted only a year, and even Blok himself.

Volokhova, Natalya Nikolaevna

Now Lyubov Dmitrievna is trying to assert herself in life. She dreams of becoming a tragic actress, which irritates Blok, who did not see any talent in her. Having found a new business for herself - theater - she simultaneously found her new position in the world. Gradually, she took the path of permissiveness and self-affirmation, which was so boasted in the decadent intellectual environment and which Blok largely followed. He found an outlet for his carnal desires in casual relationships - by his own calculations, he had more than 300 women, many of whom were cheap prostitutes. Lyubov Dmitrievna goes into “drifts” - empty, non-binding novels and casual relationships. She meets Georgy Ivanovich Chulkov, Blok’s friend and drinking companion.

Georgy Ivanovich Chulkov (1879-1939) poet, prose writer, literary critic.

A typical decadent talker, he nevertheless easily achieves what Bely sought in vain - for which Bely hated him mortally. Lyubov Dmitrievna herself characterizes this novel as “an easy love game.” Blok treated this ironically and did not enter into explanations with his wife.

Portrait of Dmitry Ivanovich Mendeleev, Ilya Efimovich Repin

Lyubov Dmitrievna was greatly depressed by this, and her romance gradually faded away. At the end of spring, she - alone - leaves for Shakhmatovo, from where she sends tender letters to Blok - as if nothing had happened. He answers her no less tenderly.

In winter, Lyubov Dmitrievna joins Meyerhold’s troupe, which he recruits for tours in the Caucasus. She performed under the pseudonym Basargina. She did not have the talent of an actress, but she worked very hard on herself.

Lyubov Dmitrievna Mendeleeva-Blok

Students and employees of V. E. Meyerhold's studio. 1915 In the second row, second from the right - Lyubov Mendeleeva.

While she was on tour, Blok broke up with Volokhova. And Lyubov Dmitrievna begins a new romance - in Mogilev she meets the aspiring actor Dagobert, a year younger than her. She immediately informs Blok about this hobby. In general, they constantly correspond, expressing to each other everything that is on their souls. But then Blok notices some omissions in her letters...

Everything is clarified in August, upon her return: she was expecting a child. Lyubov Dmitrievna, terribly afraid of motherhood, wanted to get rid of the child, but realized it too late. By that time, she had long broken up with Dagobert, and the Blocks decide that for everyone this will be their common child.

In the photo from right to left: A. Blok, I. D. Mendeleev (standing), F. F. Kublitsky-Piottukh, A. A. Kublitsky-Piottukh,

A.A. Kublitskaya-Piottukh (the poet’s mother), S.A. Kublitskaya-Piottukh, L.D. Mendeleva-Blok, M.A. Beketova.

The son, born in early February 1909, was named Dmitry in honor of Mendeleev. He lived only eight days. Blok experiences his death much more strongly than his wife... After his funeral, he will write the famous poem “On the Death of a Baby”

Both were devastated and crushed. They decide to go to Italy. Next year they travel around Europe again. Lyubov Dmitrievna is trying to establish family life again - but it didn’t last long. She constantly quarrels with Blok's mother - Blok is even thinking about moving into a separate apartment.

Real name famous poet Andrei Bely - Boris Bugaev. He was born on October 14 (26), 1880 in the family of the famous professor and mathematician Nikolai Vasilyevich Bugaev. Famous composers, writers, scientists and bohemians were frequent guests at the professor's house in the very center of Moscow, on Arbat. The boy grew up in an atmosphere of beauty and harmony, was fond of poetry, and wrote poetry. While a university student, he published his first collection of poetry, Northern Symphony. Boris devoted a lot of time to poetry, made acquaintances with famous writers, and soon people learned about him in literary circles. The pseudonym Andrei Bely, which he chose, symbolized spirituality, purity and tranquility.

At the beginning of 1904 Andrey Bely met Alexander Blok , who became his close friend. Blok at that time was already a famous poet, married to Lyubov Mendeleeva. The talented poet was not an exemplary husband; he preferred to spend time in the arms of easily accessible women. Offended Lyuba often complained to her husband’s friend Andrei Bely about her humiliating position, talked about unfulfilled dreams and imperceptibly fell in love with those deep, rare blue eyes with thick eyelashes. One of Andrei Bely’s contemporaries wrote: “This was an amazing creature... The boy’s eternal play, squinting eyes, dancing gait, stormy waterfall of words... eternal lies and constant betrayal.”

He was a great success with women. A man with a refined soul, sensual, understanding the experiences of a woman, Andrey could not remain indifferent to the feelings of Lyuba Mendeleeva . And when she confessed her love for him, he reciprocated. Later, as lovers, as if justifying her insane passion, Blok’s wife recalled: “I was abandoned to the mercy of anyone who would court me.” Lyuba and Andrei often quarreled, separated and again sought each other, but they could not break the ties that bound them. She could not leave her husband, and Andrei did not insist on this, observing, as if from the outside, the suffering of his friend and lover.

In 1906 Alexander Blok wrote the famous play "Balaganchik" about his strange place in this love triangle. After two years of passionate love relationships, Lyubov Mendeleeva, in despair, decided to part with her lover for a while. For almost a year, Andrei and Lyubov were separated, which Andrei endured with difficulty and even thought about suicide, and his beloved was torn between feelings and common sense. Finally, she made a decision and announced to Bely that she would stay with her husband and try to forget him, erase him from her life forever. Abandoned, disappointed in his feelings, hoping to forget the woman he loves, Andrei Bely goes abroad.

Lyubov Mendeleeva returned to her husband , who was glad to see her back. Blok, tired of numerous novels, was sick and disappointed. Before returning to her husband, she managed to start a small affair with the actor Davidovsky, with whom she was expecting a child. Blok was very attentive to his wife and promised to love the baby. When the child died, a few days after birth, they experienced the pain of loss together and became even closer.

While abroad, Andrei Bely wrote two collections of poems that were dedicated to his friend Blok and his wife. In 1910, Having returned to Russia, the poet married Asa Turgeneva and made a series of trips with her to Egypt, Tunisia, Palestine, then they moved to Europe. In 1916, Andrei Bely returned to his homeland. This was a completely different person. A man with a broken destiny, exhausted by suffering, but never able to forget his beloved. His wife Asya left him for someone else. He was completely alone. But even after Blok’s death (1921), Bely did not try to get closer to Mendeleeva.

Later, Bely had a woman who lived with him in the last years of his life. Quiet, caring Claudia Nikolaevna Vasilyeva was his last friend. On January 8, 1934, Andrei Bely died in her arms. His beloved Lyubov Dmitrievna Mendeleeva survived him by five years.

It is difficult to discern through the thickness of the past century the image of the girl who caused an unprecedented flow of chants in Russian poetry. Judging by the photographs, she cannot be called beautiful - a rough, slightly high-cheekboned face, not very expressive, small, sleepy eyes. But once she was full of youthful charm and freshness - ruddy, golden-haired, black-browed. In her youth she loved to dress in pink, then she preferred white fur. An earthly, simple girl. The daughter of a brilliant scientist, the wife of one of the greatest Russian poets, the only true love of another...

She was born on April 17, 1882 - 120 years ago. Her father is Dmitry Ivanovich Mendeleev, a talented scientist. His fate, unfortunately, is typical for many talented people. He was not admitted to the Academy of Sciences; he was expelled from St. Petersburg University and placed in the Main Chamber of Weights and Measures, which he organized. He amazed everyone who came across him with the brilliance of his scientific genius, state mentality, immensity of interests, indomitable energy and quirks of a complex and rather difficult nature.

After retirement from the university, he spent most of his time on his estate in Boblovo. There, in a house built according to his own design, he lived with his second family - his wife Anna Ivanovna and children Lyuba, Vanya and twins Marusya and Vasya. According to the memoirs of Lyubov Dmitrievna, her childhood was happy, noisy, joyful. Children were loved very much, although they were not particularly spoiled.
Next door, on the Shakhmatovo estate, an old friend of Dmitry Ivanovich, rector of St. Petersburg University, botanist professor Andrei Nikolaevich Beketov, settled with his family. And he himself, and his wife Elizaveta Grigorievna, and their four daughters were very gifted people, loved literature, were familiar with many great people of that time - Gogol, Dostoevsky, Leo Tolstoy, Shchedrin - and were themselves actively involved in translations and literary creativity.
In January 1879, Alexandra Andreevna, Beketov’s third daughter, after a whirlwind romance, married a young lawyer Alexander Lvovich Blok.

Immediately after the wedding, the young couple left for Warsaw, where Blok had just received an appointment. The marriage was unsuccessful - the young husband had a terrible character, he beat and humiliated his wife. When the Bloks arrived in St. Petersburg in the fall of 1880 - Alexander Lvovich was going to defend his dissertation - the Beketovs barely recognized their daughter in the tortured, intimidated woman. On top of everything else, she was eight months pregnant... Her husband returned to Warsaw alone - her parents did not let her go. When Blok, having learned about the birth of his son Alexander, came to pick up his wife, he was kicked out of the Beketovs’ house with a scandal. With great difficulty, with stormy explanations and even fights, Alexandra and her son were left in their father’s house. She could not get a divorce for several years - until Alexander Lvovich himself decided to marry again. But four years later, his second wife ran away from him along with his little daughter.
In 1889, Alexandra Andreevna married a second time - to Lieutenant of the Life Guards Grenadier Regiment Franz Feliksovich Kublitsky-Piottukh. The marriage was also not successful. Alexandra Andreevna had no more children.
Sasha Blok lived in an atmosphere of complete adoration - especially from his mother. She encouraged his passion for poetry in every possible way. It was she who introduced her son to the works of Vladimir Solovyov, whose ideas about earthly and heavenly love, about Eternal Femininity greatly influenced the worldview of Alexander Blok. Family ties with the famous philosopher also played a role in this: Blok’s mother’s cousin was married to Vladimir Solovyov’s brother Mikhail.
This was already evident in his first hobby: in the summer of 1897, at the German resort of Bad Nauheim, where he accompanied his mother, he met Ksenia Mikhailovna Sadovskaya, the wife of a state councilor and mother of three children - he was 16, she was 37. He makes dates with her. , takes her away in a closed carriage, writes enthusiastic letters to her, dedicates poems, calls her “My Deity”, addresses her - “You” - with a capital letter. This is how he will continue to address his lovers. In St. Petersburg, a connection arises between them, and Blok gradually grows cold towards her. Poetry and the prose of life turned out to be incompatible for the romantic poet.
With this understanding, Blok begins a new romance, which has grown into the main love of his life - he meets Lyubov Dmitrievna Blok.
In fact, they had known each other for a long time: when their fathers served together at the university, four-year-old Sasha and three-year-old Lyuba were taken for a walk together in the university garden. But since then they have not met - until in the spring of 1898 Blok accidentally met at an exhibition with Anna Ivanovna Mendeleeva, who invited him to visit Boblovo.
At the beginning of June, seventeen-year-old Alexander Blok arrived in Boblovo - on a white horse, in an elegant suit, a soft hat and smart boots. They called Lyuba - she came in a pink blouse with a tightly starched stand-up collar and a small black tie, unapproachably strict. She was sixteen years old. She immediately made an impression on Blok, but she, on the contrary, did not like him: she called him “a poser with the habits of a veil.” In the conversation, however, it turned out that they had a lot in common: for example, they both dreamed of the stage. A lively theatrical life began in Boblovo: at Blok’s suggestion, excerpts from Shakespeare’s Hamlet were staged. He played Hamlet and Claudius, she played Ophelia. During rehearsals, Lyuba literally bewitched Blok with her inaccessibility, grandeur and severity. After the performance they went for a walk - the first time they were alone. It was this walk that both later recalled as the beginning of their romance.
Upon returning to St. Petersburg, we met less often. Lyubov Dmitrievna began to gradually move away from Blok, becoming more and more severe and unapproachable. She considered it humiliating for herself to fall in love with this “low veil” - and gradually this love passed away.
The following fall, Blok already considers the acquaintance to be over and stops visiting the Mendeleevs. Lyubov Dmitrievna was indifferent to this.
In 1900, she entered the Faculty of History and Philology of the Higher Women's Courses, made new friends, disappeared at student concerts and balls, and became interested in psychology and philosophy. She remembered Blok with vexation.

Blok by that time was fascinated by various mystical teachings. One day, being in a state close to a mystical trance, he saw Lyubov Dmitrievna on the street, walking from Andreevskaya Square to the Courses building. He walked behind, trying to remain unnoticed. Then he will describe this walk in an encrypted poem “Five Hidden Bends” - about the five streets of Vasilievsky Island along which Lyubov Dmitrievna walked. Then another chance meeting - on the balcony of the Maly Theater during the performance of King Lear. He was finally convinced that she was his destiny.
For any mystic, coincidences are not just an accident - they are a manifestation of a higher mind, a divine will. That winter, Blok wandered around St. Petersburg in search of Her - his great love, which he would later call the Mysterious Maiden, the Eternal Wife, the Beautiful Lady... And Lyubov Dmitrievna, who accidentally met, naturally and mysteriously merged in his mind with the sublime image that he was looking for, overflowing with the ideas of Vladimir Solovyov.
Young Blok, in his love, became a faithful follower of Solovyov’s teachings. The real image of his beloved girl was idealized by him and merged with Solovyov’s idea of ​​Eternal Femininity. This was manifested in his poems, later collected in the collection “Poems about a Beautiful Lady.” Such a fusion of the earthly and the divine in love for a woman was not Blok’s invention - before him there were the troubadours, Dante, Petrarch, the German romantics Novalis and Brentano, and Solovyov himself, who addressed his poems not only to the mythological Sophia the Wisdom, but also to the real Sophia Petrovna Khitrovo. But only Blok managed to really connect with his beloved - and understand from his own experience what tragedy this could lead to.
Lyubov Dmitrievna was a mentally healthy, sober and balanced person. She forever remained alien to any mysticism and abstract reasoning. In her character, she was the absolute opposite of the restless Blok. She resisted as best she could when Blok tried to instill in her his concepts of the “unspeakable,” repeating: “Please, no mysticism!” Blok found himself in an unfortunate position: the one whom he had made the heroine of his religion and mythology was refusing the role intended for her. Lyubov Dmitrievna even wanted to break off all relations with him because of this. Didn't break it. He wanted to commit suicide. Not finished. She gradually becomes stern, arrogant and inaccessible again. Blok was going crazy. There were long walks through the night in St. Petersburg, alternated with periods of indifference and quarrels. This continued until November 1902.
On the night of November 7–8, the female students held a charity ball in the hall of the Noble Assembly. Lyubov Dmitrievna came with two friends, wearing a Parisian blue dress. As soon as Blok appeared in the hall, he without hesitation went to the place where she was sitting - although she was on the second floor and could not be seen from the hall. They both realized that this was fate. After the ball, he proposed to her. And she accepted it.

They hid their feelings for a long time. Only at the very end of December did Blok tell his mother about everything. On January 2, he made an official proposal to the Mendeleev family. Dmitry Ivanovich was very pleased that his daughter decided to link her fate with Beketov’s grandson. However, they decided to postpone the wedding.
By this time, Blok had already begun to gain fame as a talented poet. His second cousin, Mikhail Solovyov’s son Sergei, had a hand in this.

Alexandra Andreevna sent her son’s poems in letters to the Solovyovs - and Sergei distributed them among his friends, members of the “Argonauts” circle. Blok’s poems made a particular impression on his old friend Sergei, the son of the famous mathematics professor Boris Bugaev, who became known under the pseudonym Andrei Bely.

On January 3, Blok, having learned from the Solovyovs that Bely was going to write to him, sent his letter - on the same day as Bely himself. Of course, both took this as a “sign.” The correspondence is developing rapidly, and soon all three - Bely, Blok and Sergei Solovyov - call each other brothers and swear eternal loyalty to each other and the ideas of Vladimir Solovyov.
On January 16, a tragedy occurred: Mikhail Solovyov died of pneumonia. As soon as he closed his eyes, his wife went into the next room and shot herself.
For Blok, who was very close to the Solovievs, this was a major milestone: “I lost the Solovievs and gained Bugaev.”
On March 11, a selection of Blok’s poems is published in the magazine “New Way” - only three poems, but they were noticed. Then a publication appeared in the “Literary and Artistic Collection”, and in April, in the almanac “Northern Flowers” ​​- a cycle entitled “Poems about a Beautiful Lady”.
Many of Mendeleev’s circle were indignant that the daughter of such a great scientist was going to marry a “decadent.” Dmitry Ivanovich himself did not understand the poems of his future son-in-law, but respected him: “Talent is immediately visible, but it is not clear what he wants to say.” Disagreements also arose between Lyuba and Alexandra Andreevna - this was due to the nervousness of Blok’s mother and her jealousy of her son. But nevertheless, on May 25, Blok and Lyubov Dmitrievna got engaged in the university church, and on August 17, a wedding took place in Boblovo. The bride's best man was Sergei Soloviev. Lyubov Dmitrievna wore a snow-white cambric dress with a long train. In the evening the young people left for St. Petersburg. On January 10, 1904, at the invitation of Bely, they came to Moscow.
They stayed there for two weeks, but left a lasting memory of themselves. On the very first day, the Bloks visit Bely. He is disappointed: after reading Blok’s poems, he expected to see a sickly, short monk with burning eyes. And in front of him appeared a tall, slightly shy, fashionably dressed socialite handsome man, with a thin waist, healthy complexion and golden curls, accompanied by an elegant, slightly prim, bushy-haired young lady in a fur hat and a huge muff. Nevertheless, by the end of the visit, Bely was fascinated by both Blok and his wife - she captivated him with her earthly beauty, golden braids, femininity, spontaneity and ringing laughter. In two weeks, Bloks charmed the entire poetic society of Moscow. Everyone recognized Blok as a great poet, Lyubov Dmitrievna charmed everyone with her beauty, modesty, simplicity and grace. Bely gave her roses, Solovyov gave her lilies. The symbolist consciousness of the “Argonauts” saw in Blok its prophet, and in his wife the embodiment of that very Eternal Femininity. Their wedding was perceived as a sacred mystery, foreshadowing what was promised by Vl. Solovyov's world cleansing.
Sometimes this fuss crossed all boundaries of measure and tact. The blocks very quickly got tired of the constant annoying intrusions into their personal lives and almost fled to St. Petersburg.
The seemingly ideal union of poet and muse was, however, far from being so happy. From early youth, a gap formed in Blok’s consciousness between carnal, physical and spiritual, unearthly love. He could not defeat him until the end of his life. After his marriage, Blok immediately began to explain to his young wife that they did not need physical intimacy, which would only interfere with their spiritual relationship. He believed that carnal relationships could not last, and that if this happened, they would inevitably separate. In the fall of 1904, they nevertheless became truly husband and wife - but their physical relationship was sporadic and by the spring of 1906 it ceased altogether.

In the spring of 1904, Sergei Solovyov and Andrei Bely came to Shakhmatovo to visit the Bloks who were staying there. They constantly have philosophical conversations with Blok, and they simply pursue Lyubov Dmitrievna with their exalted worship. Her every action was attributed great significance, all her words were interpreted, her outfits, gestures, and hairstyle were discussed in the light of high philosophical categories. At first, Lyubov Dmitrievna willingly accepted this game, but then it began to burden both her and those around her. Blok could hardly stand it either. He will practically end his relationship with Solovyov in a year. He will have a completely different relationship with Bely for many years.
In 1905, the worship of Lyubov Dmitrievna as an unearthly being, the embodiment of the Beautiful Lady and Eternal Femininity, was replaced by Andrei Bely, who was generally prone to affect and exaltation, by a strong love passion - his only true love. The relationship between him and Blok was confused, everyone was to blame for the confusion - Blok, who constantly avoided explaining, and Lyubov Dmitrievna, who did not know how to make firm decisions, and most of all Bely himself, who in three years had brought himself to a pathological state and infected others with his hysteria .
In the summer of 1905, Sergei Solovyov left Shakhmatov with a scandal - he quarreled with Alexandra Andreevna. Blok took his mother’s side, Bely took Sergei’s side. He also left, but before leaving he managed to declare his love to Lyubov Dmitrievna with a note. She told her mother-in-law and husband about everything. In the fall, Blok and Bely exchange meaningful letters, accusing each other of betraying the ideals of friendship and immediately repenting of their sins. Lyubov Dmitrievna writes to him that she is staying with Blok. Bely tells her that he is breaking up with her because he realized that there was “neither religion nor mysticism” in his love. However, he cannot calm down, and on December 1 he arrives in St. Petersburg. In Palkin's restaurant, a meeting between Bloks and Bely takes place, ending in another reconciliation. Soon Bely leaves back to Moscow, but returns from there angry: Blok published the play “Balaganchik,” in which he ridiculed the Moscow “Argonauts,” the established love triangle, and himself. New letters, new explanations and quarrels... Bely was especially indignant at the figure of Columbine - in the form of a stupid cardboard doll, Blok portrayed his Beautiful Lady, Lyubov Dmitrievna...
Lyubov Dmitrievna herself at that time felt unneeded by her husband, “abandoned to the mercy of everyone who would persistently look after her,” as she herself wrote.

And then Bely appears, who more and more insistently calls her to leave Blok and live with him. She hesitated for a long time - and finally agreed. She even went to see him once, but Bely made some awkwardness, and she immediately got dressed and disappeared. Bely talks to Blok - and he moves away, leaving the decision to his wife. She breaks up with him again, makes up again, breaks up again... Bely writes letters to Blok in which he begs him to let Lyubov Dmitrievna go to him. Blok does not even open the letters. In August 1906, the Bloks came to see Bely in Moscow - a difficult conversation took place in the Prague restaurant, which ended with Bely’s angry flight. He still thinks that he is loved, and that only circumstances and decency stand in his way. Bely's friend, poet and critic Ellis (Lev Kobylinsky), encouraged him to challenge Blok to a duel - Lyubov Dmitrievna nipped the challenge in the bud. When the Blocks from Shakhmatovo move to St. Petersburg, Bely follows them. After several difficult meetings, the three decide that they should not date for a year - so that they can then try to build a new relationship. On the same day, Bely leaves for Moscow, and then to Munich.
During his absence, Bely's friends, at his request, persuade Lyubov Dmitrievna to respond to his feelings. She completely got rid of this hobby. In the fall of 1907, they met several times - and in November they parted completely. The next time they met only in August 1916, and then at Blok’s funeral.

Somov K. A. Portrait of A. A. Blok. 1907

In November 1907, Blok fell in love with Natalya Volokhova, an actress in Vera Komissarzhevskaya’s troupe, a spectacular, lean brunette. She was 28 (Blok was 26). Blok will dedicate the “Snow Mask” and “Faina” cycles to her. The romance was stormy, there was even talk about Blok’s divorce and marriage to Volokhova. Lyubov Dmitrievna took all this hard: the wounds had not yet healed after her humiliating parting with Bely, when Blok brought his new lover to their house. One day Lyubov Dmitrievna came to Volokhova and offered to take upon herself all the worries about Blok and his future fate. She refused, thus recognizing her temporary place in Blok’s life. Lyubov Dmitrievna even becomes friends with her - this friendship survived the romance, which lasted only a year, and even Blok himself.
Now Lyubov Dmitrievna is trying to assert herself in life. She dreams of becoming a tragic actress, which irritates Blok, who did not see any talent in her. Having found a new business for herself - theater - she simultaneously found her new position in the world. Gradually, she took the path of permissiveness and self-affirmation, which was so boasted in the decadent intellectual environment and which Blok largely followed. He found an outlet for his carnal desires in casual relationships - by his own calculations, he had more than 300 women, many of whom were cheap prostitutes. Lyubov Dmitrievna goes into “drifts” - empty, non-binding novels and casual relationships. She meets Georgy Ivanovich Chulkov, Blok’s friend and drinking companion. A typical decadent talker, he nevertheless easily achieves what Bely sought in vain - for which Bely hated him mortally. Lyubov Dmitrievna herself characterizes this novel as “an easy love game.” Blok treated this ironically and did not enter into explanations with his wife.
On January 20, 1907, Dmitry Ivanovich Mendeleev died. Lyubov Dmitrievna was greatly depressed by this, and her romance gradually faded away. At the end of spring, she - alone - leaves for Shakhmatovo, from where she sends tender letters to Blok - as if nothing had happened. He answers her no less tenderly.
In winter, Lyubov Dmitrievna joins Meyerhold’s troupe, which he recruits for tours in the Caucasus. She performed under the pseudonym Basargina. She did not have the talent of an actress, but she worked very hard on herself. While she was on tour, Blok broke up with Volokhova. And Lyubov Dmitrievna begins a new romance - in Mogilev she meets the aspiring actor Dagobert, a year younger than her. She immediately informs Blok about this hobby. In general, they constantly correspond, expressing to each other everything that is on their souls. But then Blok notices some omissions in her letters... Everything is clarified in August, upon her return: she was expecting a child. Lyubov Dmitrievna, terribly afraid of motherhood, wanted to get rid of the child, but realized it too late. By that time, she had long broken up with Dagobert, and the Blocks decide that for everyone this will be their common child.

The son, born in early February 1909, was named Dmitry in honor of Mendeleev. He lived only eight days. Blok experiences his death much more strongly than his wife... After his funeral, he will write the famous poem “On the Death of a Baby.”
Both were devastated and crushed. They decide to go to Italy. Next year they travel around Europe again. Lyubov Dmitrievna is trying to establish family life again - but it didn’t last long. She constantly quarrels with Blok’s mother - Blok is even thinking about moving into a separate apartment. In the spring of 1912, a new theatrical enterprise was formed - the “Association of Actors, Artists, Writers and Musicians.” Lyubov Dmitrievna was one of the initiators and sponsors of this enterprise. The troupe settled in Finnish Terijoki. She is having an affair again - with a law student 9 years younger than her. She goes to Zhitomir for him, returns, leaves again, asks Blok to let her go, offers to live together as a threesome, begs him to help her... Blok yearns for her, she misses being away from him, but remains in Zhitomir - the romance is going hard, her lover drinks and arranges her scenes. In June 1913, the Blocks, having agreed, went to France together. She constantly asks him for a divorce.

And he understands that he loves her and needs her more than ever... They return to Russia separately.
In January 1914, Blok fell in love with the opera singer Lyubov Aleksandrovna Andreeva-Delmas, seeing her in the role of Carmen - he dedicated the cycle of poems “Carmen” to her. In love for her, he was finally able to combine earthly and spiritual love. That is why Lyubov Dmitrievna took this husband’s affair calmly and did not go to explain herself, as in the case of Volokhova. The passion passed quickly, but the friendly relationship between Blok and Delmas continued almost until Blok’s death.
Lyubov Dmitrievna cannot be called an ordinary woman. She showed a person of difficult, extremely reserved character, but, undoubtedly, a very strong will and a very high self-image, with a wide range of spiritual and intellectual needs. Otherwise, why did Blok, with all the complexity of their relationship, invariably turn to her in the most difficult moments of his life?
Blok spent his entire life paying for the family he had broken—with guilt, torment of conscience, and despair. He never stopped loving her, no matter what happened to them. She is the “holy place of the soul.” But with her everything was much simpler. She did not experience serious mental anguish, she looked at things soberly and selfishly. Having completely withdrawn into her personal life, she at the same time constantly appealed to Blok’s pity and mercy, claiming that if he left her, she would die. She knew his nobility and believed in him. And he took on this difficult mission.
The outbreak of the war and the revolutionary confusion that followed were reflected in Blok's work, but had little impact on his family life. Lyubov Dmitrievna still disappears on tour, he misses her, writes letters to her. During the war, she became a sister of mercy, then returned to Petrograd, where she does her best to improve the life ruined by the war and revolution - she gets food, firewood, organizes Blok’s evenings, and she herself performs in the cabaret “Stray Dog” with a reading of his poem “The Twelve”. In 1920, she went to work at the People's Comedy Theater, where she soon began an affair with the actor Georges Delvari, also known as the clown Anyuta. She “terribly wants to live”, she disappears in the company of her new friends. And Blok finally understands that in his life there were and will be “only two women - Lyuba and everyone else.” He is already seriously ill - doctors cannot say what kind of illness it is. A constantly high temperature that could not be brought down by anything, weakness, severe muscle pain, insomnia... He was advised to go abroad, but he refused. Finally he agreed to leave, but didn’t have time. He died on the day the foreign passport arrived - August 7, 1921. No newspapers were published, and his death was announced only in a handwritten announcement on the doors of the Writers' House. All of St. Petersburg buried him.
In an empty room, Lyubov Dmitrievna and Alexandra Andreevna cried together over his coffin.
They, who constantly quarreled during Blok’s life, will live together after his death - in one room of a compact apartment that has become communal. Life will be hard: Blok will soon almost cease to be published and there will be almost no money. Lyubov Dmitrievna will move away from the theater and become interested in classical ballet. Alexandra Andreevna will live for two more years. After her death, Lyubov Dmitrievna, with the help of her friend Agrippina Vaganova, got a job at the Choreographic School at the Opera and Ballet Theater. Kirov - the former Mariinsky, will teach the history of ballet. Now the school bears the name of Vaganova. Lyubov Dmitrievna will become a recognized expert in the theory of classical ballet, write the book “Classical Dance. History and Modernity" - it will be published 60 years after her death. She practically does not lead a personal life after Blok’s death, having decided to become the widow of the poet, to whom she was never able to become his wife. She will also write about her life with him - she will call the book “Both true stories and fables about Blok and about herself.” She died in 1939 - not yet an old woman, in whom it was almost impossible to see the Beautiful Lady of Russian poetry...

Famous poet Alexander Blok, whose birthday marks 136 years on November 28, said that there were only two women in his life - “Lyuba and everyone else.” He really loved his wife very much - the daughter of the scientist Dmitry Mendeleev, but this marriage was very strange. Blok called his wife the Beautiful Lady, believing that physical intimacy is an obstacle to spiritual intimacy. A Lyubov Mendeleeva dreamed of earthly female happiness and was forced to seek it with others...