A fundamental breakthrough in her understanding of the path to 'the creative icon' appeared to be her visit to an exhibition of recently discovered icons from the USSR, which toured many European cities in 1929, including in Germany. According to her memoirs, she spent 5 days at the exhibition and it was one of the most decisive (?memorable/impressionable) experiences of her life. Along with (?) scientific copies of Andrei Rublyev's 'Trinity' and the Vladimir Mother of God about which Yu. N. Reitlinger writes, , there were original icons on exhibit including masterpieces from the XII-XV centuries. As a result, her aim became: to return icon painting to the realms of 'fine art'.

It should be noted that Yu. N. Reitlinger was not the only one to be astounded by this encounter with traditional iconography. Fr Sergei Bulgakov was also deeply affected. It is no accident that soon after, he published a small but - for the future of icon painting, fundamentally important book ' The Icon and iconography (icon painting)' (1931) Nor were certain lines in this book accidental, clearly they arose in conversation with Yu N Reitlinger who was then living under the same roof, about the canon and accurate (faithful) copies as per the Byzantine masters as a 'living memorial of the church', her soborny (communal church fellowship) inspiration', of the essential possibility of the re-establishment of 'new icons with new content' (the life of the church is never merely quarried out of the old, it has a present and a future and the ever-present movement of the Holy Spirit. And if spiritual visions and discoveries could be depicted in traditional icons, they could be again now and in the future. Whether or not creative inspiration and boldness are evident in a new icon is simply a question of fact.') So in a combination of liturgical life, theology and 'speculation in paints' was born an understanding of the task of giving birth to contemporary Russian Orthodox art.