In the article the role of the picturesque ekphrases in the novel by A. I. Solzhenitsyn «The First Circle» is researched; the principles of the writer’s work with real visual objects are identified; abundant data has been gathered about the artist and graphic painter S. M. Ivashеv- Musatov, the prototype of the hero – artist Kondrashov-Ivanov; previously unattended ekphrasis variants in the early versions and the final version of the novel are studied in the paper.