| Name: |
The Russian Museum |
| |
 |
| Address: |
4 Inzhenernaya ulitsa (metro
stations: Nevsky prospekt and Gostiny Dvor) |
| Phone: |
+7 (812) 314-3448, +7 (812)
219-1608 |
| Open: |
Open: 10am - 5pm
Closed: Tuesdays |
| Description: |
The world's largest repository
of Russian art, the museum was founded in 1895 and opened
to the public in 1898 as "Emperor Alexander Ill's Imperial
Museum of Russian Art".
The Russian Museum is housed in the Mikhailovsky Palace, built
between 1819 and 1825 by Carlo Rossi for Grand Duke Mikhail
Pavlovich. The facades and interiors were decorated by the
sculptors, Vasily Demuth-Malinovsky and Stepan Pimenov, and
the painters, Giovanni Battista, Pietro Scotti, Antonio Vighi
and Barnaba Medici. The main staircase and the White-Columned
Hall survive in their original form. The decor of the other
rooms was lost during the reconstruction of the palace as
a public museum (architect Vasily Svinin). The western wing,
named after its chief architect Leonty Benois (assisted by
Sergei Ovsiannikov), was constructed between 1914 and 1919
to accommodate the rapidly expanding collections.
The bulk of the museum's exhibits are works of Russian art
from the Hermitage, the Academy of Arts and the suburban royal
palaces, as well as various other acquisitions and donations.
After the 1917 revolution, its stocks were considerably increased
following the nationalization of private collections.
Today the Russian Museum totals over 320,000 units of storage,
illustrating the development of Russian art from the 11th
century to the present day. It boasts superb collections of
Russian and Soviet paintings, one of Russia's finest collections
of sculpture and graphic art, and works of applied, decorative
and folk art.
The Department of Early Russian Art takes pride in its world-famous
icon paintings by Andrei Rublev, Dionysius and Simon Ushakov.
It also boasts old wooden sculptures, stone and bone carvings,
embroideries and jewellery. Especially rich and varied is
the exhibition devoted to the art of the 18th and early 19th
century. It displays works by the first secular artists of
Peter Fs time, Ivan Nikitin, Andrei Matveyev and Ivan Vishniakov;
profound portraits by Fedor Rokotov, Dmitry Levitsky, Vladimir
Borovikovsky and Orest Kiprensky; canvases by Alexei Venetsianovr,
Karl Briullov, Alexander Ivanov, Pavel Fedotov; and sculptures
by Fedot Shubin, Mikhail
Kozlovsky and Ivan Martos. The second half of the 19th century
is represented by the Itinerants (members of the Society for
Circulating Art Exhibitions), Ilya Repin and Vasily Surikov.
The late 19th and early 20th centuries are featured in numerous
works by Isaac Levitan, Valentin Serov, Mikhail Vrubel, Konstantin
Korovin, Mikhail Nesterov, artists of the Silver Age and the
Russian avant-garde -groups such as the World of Art, Blue
Rose and Jack of Diamonds, as well as Wassily Kandinsky, Kasimir
Malevich, Marc Chagall and Pavel Filonov.
The exhibition of the Department of Soviet Art includes canvases
and sculptures by Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin, Arkady Rylov, Nikolai
Krymov, Alexander Matveyev, Anna Golubkina, Vera Mukhina,
Sergei Konenkov, Peter Konchalovsky, Sergei Gerasimov, Alexander
Deineka, Arkady Plastov and many others. Large exhibitions
of folk art and the art of the turn of the century have recently
been opened.
Temporary exhibitions from the museum's reserves and other
Russian and foreign collections are regularly held in the
halls of the Benois Wing. |
