Have you ever visited the Museum of Fine Arts. Pushkin in Moscow? If you have never been there before, then it’s a pity, because this is one of the most interesting places in the capital! Today, the Pushkin Museum expositions are on a par with collections of such titans of world cultural heritage as the Louvre or the Hermitage.
A bit of history
And it all began in 1898, August 17. Museum of Fine Arts. Pushkin was laid precisely on that distant summer day. It was intended primarily for the dissemination and popularization of knowledge in the field of art among the wide layers of the Russian public, as well as for students studying sculpture. I must say that the most educated people of that time worked on the museum project. Money for the construction (most of them) was donated by the Russian famous philanthropist Yu.S. Nechaev-Maltsev. The project of the building itself was developed by the talented architect R.I. Klein. Before embarking on a responsible assignment, Klein studied the museums of Egypt and Greece for a long time, as well as the European experience.
When the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts was being built, Klein was assisted by engineers Vladimir Shukhov and Ivan Rerberg. The first was the author of the original translucent ceilings of the main museum building, and the second was the deputy project manager. For the construction of the complex, Klein was awarded the high title of academician of architecture.
Amazing architectural style
Take a close look at the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, the photo of which is presented below, and you can notice that it is very similar to an ancient temple (Greek) from antiquity, towering among thick trees. Like ancient religious buildings, the building stands on a high stone podium and is surrounded by majestic ionic columns.
This colonnade reproduces the exact proportions of the columns of the portico of the temple of Erechtheion on the Greek Acropolis. However, the architectural style of the Museum of Fine Arts. Pushkin is close to classicism. But it is only outside. Having entered inside, visitors find themselves in spacious rooms, flooded with light, access to which is provided by a glass dome. Such an unusual ceiling already indicates neoclassicism. By the way, when the museum was being built, electric lighting was not provided for in the project at all. It was believed that sculptural compositions are best seen in natural light.
Collections
An interesting fact is that the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, before the October Revolution, which hit Russia in 1917, was exclusively a sculpture museum. Skilfully executed copies of antique mosaics and statues were exhibited here. At that time, the originals were represented only by exhibits from the collections of the Egyptologist Golenishchev.
But after the October Revolution, museum expositions replenished with paintings confiscated from private collections of the Russian aristocracy and nationalized by the Bolsheviks. So, for example, the famous paintings "Girl on the Ball" (Picasso Pablo) and "Red Vineyards in Arles" (Dutchman Van Gogh) were in the Pushkin Museum from the collections of the merchant Morozov.
Today, the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts is proud to present its visitors a rich collection of French Impressionism and Post-Impressionism. Here we can enjoy the paintings of Camille Pizarro, Arnie Matisse, Auguste Renoir, Pablo Picasso, Paul Cezanne, Sisley, Edgar Degas, Toulouse Lautrec, as well as the unique Van Gogh and other great painters.
Also in the Pushkin Museum you can see Italian paintings of the 18-20 centuries, Japanese and British engravings, copies of the masterpieces of ancient art, including a huge sculpture by David Michelangelo, and much more. Total Museum of Fine Arts. Pushkin stores 700 thousand exhibits, and during the year it is visited by almost one and a half million people.
Events and events held within the museum
On Thursdays in the evenings and Fridays in the afternoon, interesting classes are held at the museum for all comers, entitled Conversations on Art. Lectures are devoted to all the main sections of the exposition, as well as to various seasonal exhibitions held regularly in this cultural center.
Since 2012, the Pushkin Museum annually takes part in the all-Russian cultural action "Museum Night". The refined musical "Evenings of Svyatoslav Richter" has also become a tradition - an international music festival held under the arches of the Pushkin Museum every December.
