2-377-257 - © Fine Art Images/Heritage Images

Fyodor Sologub, Russian poet, with his wife Anastasia, early 20th century. Sologub (1863-1927) was a member of the Symbolist movement in Russian literature. He married Anastasia Chebotarevskaya (1876-1921), a translator, in 1908. An opponent of the Bolshevik Revolution, Sologub asked the authorities for permission to emigrate in 1919, but received no response. Trotsky himself finally gave permission for the Sologubs to leave Russia in July 1921 and Fyodor made plans to depart on 25 September. Tragically, two days before their planned departure, Anastasia committed suicide by throwing herself into the Malaya Neva from St Petersburg's Tuchkov Bridge. Sologub abandoned his plans to leave, and his grief at her loss considerably affected his remaining writings. Found in the collection of the State Museum of AS Pushkin, Moscow.