The Collection

Paintings: Karl Bryullov’s The Last Day of Pompei (1833) and Ivan Aivazovsky’s The Ninth Wave probably top most people’s list of “must sees” at the Russian Museum. But also be sure to see: Orest Kiprensky’s Portrait of Yevgraf Davydov, Pyotr Basin’s Susannah and the Elders, Alexei Ventsianov’s The Threshing Barn, Bryullov’s Portrait of Countess Yulia Samoilova Retiring from a Ball with the Adopted Daughter Amazilia Paccini, Vasily Tropinin’s Guitarist and Girl with a Doll, and Pavel Fedotov’s The Major Makes a Proposal.

Of course that is only the very tip of the iceberg. The museum holds a rich collection of Itinerant art, of which Victor Vasnetsov’s Warrior on the Crossroads (1882), Ilya Repin’s Barge Haulers on the Volga (1870-1873) and Zaporozhye Cossacks (1880-1891) are perhaps the most famous. The museum also boasts Repin’s largest painting (4x9 meters): The Meeting of the State Council on May 7, 1901, on its 100th Anniversary

Icons: This part of the collection includes some 6,000 items, including the museum’s oldest icon (12th century) of St. Gabriel (Angel with Golden Hair), Belozerskaya Madonna (early 13th century), Sts. Boris and Gleb (14th century), icons by Andrei Rublyov and many others. Many icons were gifts from churches themselves, which hoped to save them from destruction by donating them to the museum. The museum has fine representations of all the major city styles, from Novgorod and Pskov to Moscow and Vologda.

Sculpture: The museum’s holdings include over 4,000 works, from models to final works, including Fedos Schedrin’s Diana, Naum Aronson’s Grief, and Fyodor Kamensky’s Young Sculptor.

Other: The museum’s collection of some 100,000 18-20th century drawings and watercolors is the largest and fullest of its kind. Its 80,000 engravings span the entire history of the art form in Russia. There are church utensils, rings, bracelets, and dippers dating back to the 11th century. There is a rich assemblage of Russian folk art, including handmade lace, exquisitely embroidered tapestries, traditional headdresses, painted tiles, porcelain toys, and lacquered spoons and dishes. There are some 70,000 coins and banknotes, as well as medals and orders produced from the 15th century onwards.

Modern Art: In the 1980s, the museum opened its Department of Contemporary Art, which collects and exhibits new and often unconventional art – installations, objects, assemblages, video art, photography and photo based art.

Exhibitions: Given the large size of its collections, the Russian Museum, as any museum, can only display a fraction of its works at any one time. For the latest information on current and upcoming exhibitions, visit rusmuseum.ru