Pushkin Museum

For the last accommodation of Alexander Pushkin, seeAll Russian Pushkin Museum.

Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts

Государственный музей изобразительных искусств имени А. С. Пушкина
Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts
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Established	1912(1912)
Location	12,Volkhonka Street,Khamovniki,Moscow,Russia
Coordinates	55°44′49.304″N37°36′21.704″E
Type	Art museum
Founder	Ivan Tsvetaev
Director	Elizaveta Likhacheva
Public transit access	Kropotkinskaya
Website	pushkinmuseum.art

ThePushkin State Museum of Fine Arts(‹See Tfd›Russian:Музей изобразительных искусств имени А. С. Пушкина,abbreviated as‹See Tfd›Russian:ГМИИ) is the largest museum of European art inMoscow.It is located in Volkhonka street, just opposite theCathedral of Christ the Saviour.The International musical festivalSviatoslav Richter's December nightshas been held in the Pushkin Museum since 1981.

Etymology

Despite its name, the museum has no direct association with the Russian poetAlexander Pushkin,other than as a posthumous commemoration. The facility was founded by professorIvan Tsvetaev(father of the poetMarina Tsvetaeva) in 1912. Tsvetaev persuaded themillionaireandphilanthropistYuriy Nechaev-Maltsovand the architectRoman Kleinof the urgent need to give Moscow a fine arts museum. After going through a number of name changes, particularly in the transition to the Soviet era and the return of the Russian capital to Moscow, the museum was finally renamed to honour Pushkin in 1937, the 100th anniversary of his death.

History

During theBolshevik Revolution,works by French impressionists and modern artists were confiscated and then exhibited in theHermitage Museumin Saint Petersburg before being privately stored. In 2019, those works reappeared and some of them rejoined the Pushkin museum.In 1981, the museum held theMoscow-Parisexhibition.In 2016, art historians discovered 59Italian Renaissancesculptures in the Pushkin Museum that had been missing from Berlin's collections since the Second World War.

In March 2022, a number of museums officials, including deputy directors, resigned to protest againstRussia's invasion of Ukraine.

Building

The building of the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts was designed byRoman KleinandVladimir Shukhov.Construction lasted from 1898 until early 1912, withIvan Rerbergheading structural engineering effort on the museum site for the first 12 years.

In 2008, PresidentDmitri A. Medvedevannounced plans for a $177 million restoration.A 22 billion rubles ($670 million) expansion, developed byNorman Fosterin collaboration with local architectural firm Mosproject-5, was confirmed in 2009, but became mired in disputes with officials and preservationists and concern grew that it would not be completed on schedule for 2018. After Moscow's chief architectSergei Kuznetsovissued an ultimatum, demanding that Foster take a more active role in the project and prove his commitment by coming to the Russian capital within a month, Norman Foster's firm resigned from the project in 2013.In 2014, Russian architect Yuri Grigoryan, and his firm Project Meganom, were chosen to take over the project. Grigoryan's design provides new modern buildings and, following the protest of heritage groups who campaigned to save the pre-revolutionary architecture, preserves the historic 1930s gas station near the Pushkin's main building inside a glass structure.

Collection

The holdings of the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts currently include around 700,000 paintings,sculptures,drawings,applied works, photographs, and archaeological and animalistic objects.

Painting

André Derain,1905,Le séchage des voiles (The Drying Sails),oil on canvas, 82 x 101 cm. Exhibited at the 1905Salon d'Automne.

The earliest monuments from the museum collection are pieces ofByzantine art:mosaicsandicons.The early stage of development of Western European painting is represented by a relatively small collection of Italian Primitives. The hall of earlyItalian artwas opened on October 10, 1924.

Graphic art

The Department of Prints and Drawings was founded in 1924, when the museum received the holdings of the Printing Cabinet of the Moscow Public andRumyantsev Museum.In 1861, Alexander II made a valuable gift to the Printing Cabinet: the Moscow Public and Rumyantsev Museum received more than 20,000 prints from the Hermitage.

Sculpture

The collection of Western European sculptures includes more than 600 pieces. The museum has expanded its holdings over the years and currently owns artworks from the 6th-21st centuries. The first artifacts presented to the Museum of Fine Arts were sculptures from Mikhail Schekin's collections. After the revolution, the museum received sculptures from nationalized collections.

Collection of decorative art pieces (Department of the Old Masters)

The collection of decorative art pieces from Europe includes around 2,000 items. The earliest are from theMiddle Ages,and the set as a whole is very diverse.

Archaeological collection

Stele with twoHellenistic soldiersof theBosporan Kingdom;fromTaman peninsula(Yubileynoe),southern Russia,3rd quarter of the 4th century BC; marble, Pushkin Museum

The Museum of Fine Arts was intended primarily as a museum of classical arts. Ancient artifacts were the core and the main components of its collection, and the Department of Antiquity was one of the three major scientific departments. Its founder and director, Ivan Tsvetaev (1847-1913), was an expert in ancient art, as were his closest associates, Vladimir Malmberg (1860-1921) and Nikolay Scherbakov (1884-1933).

Egypt

Most of the objects presented in Hall No. 1 have been on display since the museum opening in 1912 and come from the collection of Vladimir Golenishchev (1856-1947).

Ancient civilizations

The museum holdings of genuine artifacts of Southwest Asia are based on the collection of Russian Orientalist and Egyptologist Vladimir Golenishchev.

Antiquity

The antique collection of the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts includes many genuine artifacts: more than 1,000 vessels, small plastic pieces, and sculptures.

Tsvetaev's collection of casts

The collection of casts and copies, typical for European museums of the nineteenth century, is unique today in its preservation and consistency. With a similar cohesiveness, Tsvetaev wanted to present plastic art of the modern era and complete the collection with casts made from contemporary sculptures, whereAuguste Rodin's works would take the central place.

Numismatic collection

Today, the holdings of the Numismatics Department of the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts form a collection in excess of 200,000 items and 3,000 volumes of the special library. It was started at Imperial Moscow University. In 1888, the collection was divided and formed the basis for the major numismatic collections of Moscow that belonged to the Historical Museum and the Alexander III Fine Arts Museum.

Since 1912, objects of ancient and Western European numismatics from the university collection were transferred to the Sculpture Department of the Fine Arts Museum and mostly kept packaged. By June 1925, museum custodians had grouped together a number of cases with coins, medals, and casts and created the Numismatic Cabinet located on the balcony of the White Hall. In 1945, the museum's Numismatic Cabinet became an independent department. It includes archaeological material from Central Asia, such as a hoard of Kushano-Sasanian coins acquired in 2002

Museum Quarter

The work on the Museum Quarter of the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts started in the late 2000s. In 2019–23, the Main Building of the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts will be reconstructed.

Gallery

• 
  Eberswalde Hoard
• 
  Priam's Treasure
• 
  TheMoscow Mathematical Papyrus
• 
  Fayum mummy portraits
• 
  AnnunciationbySandro Botticelli,c. 1495-1498
• 
  Madonna and a ChildbyLucas Cranach the Elder,c. 1520
• 
  Apparition of the Sybil to the emperor AugustusbyParis Bordone,c. 1550
• 
  Ahasuerus and Haman at the Feast of EstherbyRembrandt,1660
• 
  Death of SophonisbabyGiambattista Pittoni,first half of the 18th century
• 
  Fastnacht (Mardi Gras)byPaul Cézanne,1888
• 
  The Night Cafe, ArlesbyPaul Gauguin,1888
• 
  The Red VineyardbyVincent van Gogh,1888, only van Gogh painting sold in his lifetime
• 
  Yvette GuilbertbyHenri de Toulouse-Lautrec,1894
• 
  Blue DancersbyEdgar Degas,1897
• 
  Acrobat on a BallbyPablo Picasso,1905

Directors

1961-2013:Irina Antonova

2013-March 2023:Marina Loshak

Further reading

• William Craft Brumfield.The Origins of Modernism in Russian Architecture(Berkeley:University of California Press,1991)ISBN0-520-06929-3

External links

• Official website
• Museum Quarter official website
• The Morozov/Shchukin's collections,morozov-shchukin
• Pushkin Museum History,SmashPixels
• Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts (Moscow)
• The Opening of the Museum,English.tsvetayeva
• Photo (1024x768),otdihinfo.ru
• Virtual tour of the Pushkin Museumprovided byGoogle Arts & Culture
• Media related toPushkin Museumat Wikimedia Commons