Sergei Esenin got acquainted with Augusta Miklashevskaya (1896 — 1977) in late summer of 1923 after the poet’s return from the trip abroad. Later the actress recalled how happy he was that returned home to Russia: “He was thrilled to bits. He touched houses, trees … with his hands. He maintained that everything, even the sky and the moon, differed from those over there. He used to tell how it was difficult for him abroad”.

That year the actress nominally remained on the employment rolls of the Moscow Chamber Theatre founded by Aleksandr Tairov, but was actually unemployed — in 1923 the theatre was on a long tour abroad, but she did not wish to leave her five-year-old son and had to give up the trip.


The poet’s relationship with Miklashevskaya was described by writer Semen Borisov in his reminiscences: ‘He could be so tender, so gallant! I remember and Miklashevskaya. He used to sit by her side for hours, telling soft things’. The Hooligan’s Love cycle published in the Tavern Moscow book (1924) was dedicated to the actress.

This photographic card was kept by Augusta Miklashevskaya. Here the actress is portrayed as Prinzessin Brambilla in the Chamber Theatre production based on the tale by Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann. This production became a sensation in Moscow of 1920. In 1970 the actress gave the photograph to the Museum as token gift.

The reminiscences of Miklashevskaya are devoted to Sergei Esenin: “For the whole month we met every day. We wandered a good deal around Moscow, went to the country and walked there for hours. Yellow leaves rustled underfoot … — With you I am like a grammar-school boy … — Esenin used to amusedly tell me in a low voice and smiled. We often met in the “Stoilo Pegasa” (“Pegasus” Stall) in the Tverskaya Street, sat alone together, and talked. Sober Esenin was quite shy. He almost never ate in public. He hid his hands as he found them ugly. There was much talk about his toughness on women. But I never felt even the slightest hint of toughness.