Pushkin Fine Arts Museum
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Moscow Museum Guide
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[edit] Description
The renewed Pushkin Fine Arts Museum , established in 1912 under the supervision of Alexander III, is one of the largest museums in the world. Creation of the Museum was the life work of Ivan Tsvetaev (1847-1913), philologist, art historian, Moscow University professor, and Marina Tsvetaeva’s (famous Russian poet of the “silver age”) father. He intended to establish a museum of replicas, which would cover all periods in the development of world art history. Leading Moscow patrons of arts – princes, industrialists and merchants – financed the new museum.
A remarkable collection of Egyptian antiquities was added later to the comprehensive collection of copies of ancient Greek, Roman, medieval and Renaissance masterpieces. Time by time, the Museum gathered a substantial collection of paintings; some of which were donated to it and some were expropriated from the Palaces of Russian nobles in Soviet times. Gradually the Museum of Fine Arts turned from a collection of replicas into a repository of original artistic masterpieces. It was named after Alexander Pushkin in 1937 (centenary of poet’s death).
[edit] Museum's Building
The Museum's building by architect Roman Klein is a masterpiece itself. Interiors are stylized to suit the various historical epochs represented by exhibits. It resembles a Greek temple on a high podium, with an ionic colonnade at the facade. The external portico represents a copy of the frieze «Olympic Games». Behind the colonnade, there is a replica of the Parthenon frieze «Panathenean Procession». So, visitors find themselves in a circulation of various epochs and architectural styles. There is a replica of the frieze of the Temple of Athena in the White Hall; Italian Patio was copied from the patio of the Florentine Palazzo Bargello. Here stands the full-size copy of the celebrated statue of David by Michelangelo, symbolizing in man’s beauty the classical conception: “a sound mind is a sound body”.
[edit] Picture Gallery
Pushkin Museum contains the biggest (23 items) collection of Faiyum portraits from Egypt, dating from the first centuries A.D. These pictures accompanied mummies in order for the spirit not to be mistaken after the resurrection and to return into its former abode. The Museum has exhibit depicting different cultures and religious cults. A very impressive collection of Byzantine art, including several most antique icons, illustrates the Christian idea of transmigration.
[edit] Western European Art
A huge collection of the Western European art of 13th – 20th centuries, that comprises first-class works by outstanding artists of Spain, Flanders, Italy, Germany, France, Netherlands and other countries, illustrates some Roman and Greek myths, the Holy Writ and life of people through centuries.
[edit] French Impressionists
World's best collection of French Impressionists: Monet, Renoir, Degas, Cézanne, Gauguin, Van Gogh – amazes most of all. Russian collectors bought canvases by Impressionists during 1880s-90s, long before the artists began to gain general recognition. The distinctive feature in the manner of this trend is the expression of man’s optical sensations in vibrant harmonies.
Canvases by Claude Monet, the leading artist of Impressionists, are the dawn of great discoveries in the realm of light – expression of chromatic variations according to the time of day and changes in the atmosphere. Auguste Renoir’s representation of the human body in a dissolved way made his characters an integral part of their natural environment, while Edgar Degas recorded the manners and movements of people as if it were another world. For Paul Cézanne the transparency of the air on a two-dimensional surface was most important. Paul Gauguin also used Cézanne’s technique, but made emphasis on the decorative element and deliberate simplification of lines. And Vincent van Gogh’s sinuous lines recall the lyrical violence of this great and tragic painter.
[edit] Fauvism
The collection of Pushkin Museum also contains works by representatives of Fauvism, including canvases by Henri Matisse, the inventor of forms in impetuous polyphonic colors. Pablo Picasso’s Blue and Rose Periods, and Cubism are also presented by excellent paintings. The well-known “Young Girl on a Ball” is undoubtedly the best in Rose.[edit] Photos
