The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts (russian: Музей изобразительных искусств имени А. С. Пушкина, abbreviated as ) is the largest museum of European art in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...

, located in Volkhonka street, just opposite the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. The International musical festival ''

Sviatoslav Richter Sviatoslav Teofilovich Richter, group= ( – August 1, 1997) was a Soviet classical pianist. He is frequently regarded as one of the greatest pianists of all time, Great Pianists of the 20th Century and has been praised for the "depth of his int ...

's December nights'' has been held in the Pushkin Museum since 1981.

Etymology

Despite its name, the museum has no direct association with the Russian poet

Alexander Pushkin Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin (; rus, links=no, Александр Сергеевич ПушкинIn pre-Revolutionary script, his name was written ., r=Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin, p=ɐlʲɪkˈsandr sʲɪrˈɡʲe(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ ˈpuʂkʲɪn, ...

, other than as a posthumous commemoration. The facility was founded by professor

Ivan Tsvetaev Ivan Vladimirovich Tsvetaev (; 16 May Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates">O._S._4_May.html" ;"title="Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="nowiki/> O._S._4_May">Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html"_;"title="nowiki/>Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates ...

(father of the poet

Marina Tsvetaeva Marina Ivanovna Tsvetaeva (russian: Марина Ивановна Цветаева, p=mɐˈrʲinə ɪˈvanəvnə tsvʲɪˈtaɪvə; 31 August 1941) was a Russian poet. Her work is considered among some of the greatest in twentieth century Russia ...

). Tsvetaev persuaded the

millionaire A millionaire is an individual whose net worth or wealth is equal to or exceeds one million units of currency. Depending on the currency, a certain level of prestige is associated with being a millionaire. In countries that use the short scal ...

and philanthropist Yuriy Nechaev-Maltsov and the architect

Roman Klein Roman Ivanovich Klein (russian: Роман Иванович Клейн), born Robert Julius Klein, was a Russian architect and educator, best known for his Neoclassical Pushkin Museum in Moscow. Klein, an eclectic, was one of the most prolific ...

of 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 the Bolshevik revolution, works by French impressionists and modern artists were confiscated and then exhibited in the

Hermitage Museum The State Hermitage Museum ( rus, Государственный Эрмитаж, r=Gosudarstvennyj Ermitaž, p=ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)ɨj ɪrmʲɪˈtaʂ, links=no) is a museum of art and culture in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is the largest ...

in Saint Petersburg before being privately stored. In 2019, those works reappeared and some of them rejoined the Pushkin museum. In 1981, the museum held the ''Moscow-Paris'' exhibition. In 2016, art historians discovered 59

Italian Renaissance The Italian Renaissance ( it, Rinascimento ) was a period in Italian history covering the 15th and 16th centuries. The period is known for the initial development of the broader Renaissance culture that spread across Europe and marked the trans ...

sculptures in the Puschkin Museum that had been missing from Berlin’s collections since the Second World War. In March 2022, the museum's deputy director Vladimir Opredelenov resigned to protest against Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Building

The building of the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts was designed by

and

Vladimir Shukhov Vladimir Grigoryevich Shukhov (russian: link=no, Влади́мир Григо́рьевич Шу́хов; – 2 February 1939) was a Russian Empire and Soviet engineer-polymath, scientist and architect renowned for his pioneering works on new ...

. Construction lasted from 1898 until early 1912, with

Ivan Rerberg Ivan Ivanovich Rerberg (October 4, 1869 – 1932, Moscow) was a Russian civil engineer, architect and educator active in Moscow in 1897–1932. Rerberg's input to present-day Moscow include Kiyevsky Rail Terminal, Central Telegraph building and ...

heading structural engineering effort on the museum site for the first 12 years. In 2008, President Dmitri A. Medvedev announced plans for a $177 million restoration. A 22 billion rubles ($670 million) expansion, developed by

Norman Foster Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Nor ...

in 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 architect Sergei Kuznetsov issued 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

painting Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...

sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable ...

s, drawings, applied works, photographs, and archaeological and animalistic objects. The Department of Manuscripts houses documents on the museum's history; the scientific and epistolary heritage of its founder Ivan Tsvetaev (1847–1913), other museum workers, famous art historians, and artists; and archives from other museums that are also included in the Pushkin Museum holdings. The museum owns studios for research and restoration works and a Scientific Library.

Painting

The earliest monuments from the museum collection are pieces of

Byzantine art Byzantine art comprises the body of Christian Greek artistic products of the Eastern Roman Empire, as well as the nations and states that inherited culturally from the empire. Though the empire itself emerged from the decline of Rome and lasted u ...

mosaic A mosaic is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and were particularly pop ...

s and

icon An icon () is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, in the cultures of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Catholic churches. They are not simply artworks; "an icon is a sacred image used in religious devotion". The most ...

s. The early stage of development of Western European painting is represented by a relatively small, but very impressive, collection of Italian Primitives. The hall of early

Italian art Since ancient times, Greeks, Etruscans and Celts have inhabited the south, centre and north of the Italian peninsula respectively. The very numerous rock drawings in Valcamonica are as old as 8,000 BC, and there are rich remains of Etruscan art ...

was opened on October 10, 1924, but the first original paintings were presented to the Alexander III Fine Arts Museum in 1910 by Mikhail Schekin (1871–1920), the Russian consul in

Trieste Trieste ( , ; sl, Trst ; german: Triest ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital city, and largest city, of the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, one of two autonomous regions which are not subdivided into prov ...

, and include unique Old Master works such as painting by Giambattista Pittoni.

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 and

Rumyantsev Museum The Rumyantsev Museum evolved from the personal library and historical collection of Count Nikolay Rumyantsev (1754–1826). Its origin was in St. Petersburg in the Rumyantsev house or mansion, building number 44 on the English Embankment overlo ...

. 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. Later, the department received a number of private collections from

Dmitry Rovinsky Dmitry Aleksandrovich Rovinsky (russian: Дми́трий Алекса́ндрович Рови́нский; - 23 June 1895) was an art historian and compiler of reference albums on Russian portraits and engravings of the 18th to 19th centuries. ...

(1824-1895) (Russian prints), Nikolay Mosolov (1846-1914) (etchings by Rembrandt, drawings by Dutch masters of the 17th century), and Sergey Kitaev (1864-1927) (Japanese prints).

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 many sculptures from nationalized collections. In 1924, a few painting halls were opened in the museum.

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 the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

, and the set as a whole is very diverse. It includes art pieces made from wood and bone, base and precious metals, stone, textiles, ceramics, and glass. Of particular interest are the collection of ceramics that includes all major types of artworks and the collection of furniture.

Archaeological collection

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 famous 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, where Auguste Rodin’s works would take the central place. Unfortunately, the last part of his plan was not implemented due to a lack of funding after a fire broke out during construction. Some casts and copies from the museum collection are the only genuine reproduction of artifacts lost during the World Wars.

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. After the reconstruction, nine museums will operate in the Museum Quarter.

Gallery

File:Goldfund von Eberswalde.jpg, Eberswalde Hoard File:Big golden diadem with pendants (03).jpg,

Priam's Treasure Priam's Treasure is a cache of gold and other artifacts discovered by classical archaeologists Frank Calvert and Heinrich Schliemann at Hissarlik, on the northwestern coast of modern Turkey. The majority of the artifacts are currently in the Pushk ...

File:Moskou-papyrus.jpg, The

Moscow Mathematical Papyrus The Moscow Mathematical Papyrus, also named the Golenishchev Mathematical Papyrus after its first non-Egyptian owner, Egyptologist Vladimir Golenishchev, is an ancient Egyptian mathematical papyrus containing several problems in arithmetic, geom ...

File:Fayum-Man-Gold-Crown.jpg,

Fayum mummy portraits Mummy portraits or Fayum mummy portraits are a type of naturalistic painted portrait on wooden boards attached to upper class mummies from Roman Egypt. They belong to the tradition of panel painting, one of the most highly regarded forms of a ...

File:Botticelli (Sandro di Mariano Filipepi) - Annunciation - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Annunciation'' by

Sandro Botticelli Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi ( – May 17, 1510), known as Sandro Botticelli (, ), was an Italian Renaissance painting, Italian painter of the Early Renaissance. Botticelli's posthumous reputation suffered until the late 19th cent ...

, c. 1495-1498 File:Lucas Cranach d.Ä. - Madonna mit Kind (ca.1520).jpg, ''Madonna and a Child'' by

Lucas Cranach the Elder Lucas Cranach the Elder (german: Lucas Cranach der Ältere ; – 16 October 1553) was a German Renaissance painter and printmaker in woodcut and engraving. He was court painter to the Electors of Saxony for most of his career, and is kno ...

, c. 1520 File:Paris Bordon - Sibilla davanti ad Augusto - Museo Puskin - Mosca.jpg, ''Apparition of the Sybil to the emperor Augustus'' by

Paris Bordone Paris Bordone (Paris Paschalinus Bordone; 5 July 1500 – 19 January 1571) was an Italian painter of the Venetian Renaissance who, despite training with Titian, maintained a strand of Mannerist complexity and provincial vigor. Biography Bord ...

, c. 1550 File:Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn - Ahasuerus, Haman and Esther - Google Art Project.jpg, ''

Ahasuerus and Haman at the Feast of Esther The painting ''Ahasveros and Haman at the Feast of Esther'' is one of the few works of Rembrandt van Rijn whose complete provenance is known. The origin of the painting can be traced back to 1662, two years after its completion. Subject The sub ...

'' by Rembrandt, 1660 File:Giambattista Pittoni-Sophonisba.jpg, ''Death of Sophonisba'' by Giambattista Pittoni, first half of the 18th century File:Mardi gras, par Paul Cézanne, Yorck.jpg, ''Fastnacht (Mardi Gras)'' by

Paul Cézanne Paul Cézanne ( , , ; ; 19 January 1839 – 22 October 1906) was a French artist and Post-Impressionist painter whose work laid the foundations of the transition from the 19th-century conception of artistic endeavour to a new and radically d ...

, 1888 File:Paul Gauguin 072.jpg, ''The Night Cafe, Arles'' by

Paul Gauguin Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin (, ; ; 7 June 1848 – 8 May 1903) was a French Post-Impressionist artist. Unappreciated until after his death, Gauguin is now recognized for his experimental use of colour and Synthetist style that were distinct fr ...

, 1888 File:red vineyards.jpg, '' The Red Vineyard'' by

Vincent van Gogh Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who posthumously became one of the most famous and influential figures in Western art history. In a decade, he created about 2,100 artworks, inc ...

, 1888, only van Gogh painting sold in his lifetime File:Lautrec Yvette Guilbert.jpg, ''

Yvette Guilbert Yvette Guilbert (; born Emma Laure Esther Guilbert, 20 January 1865 – 3 February 1944) was a French cabaret singer and actress of the '' Belle Époque''. Biography Born in Paris into a poor family as Emma Laure Esther Guilbert, Guilbert b ...

'' by

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Comte Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec-Monfa (24 November 1864 – 9 September 1901) was a French painter, printmaker, draughtsman, caricaturist and illustrator whose immersion in the colourful and theatrical life of Paris in th ...

, 1894 File:Edgar Germain Hilaire Degas 076.jpg, '' Blue Dancers'' by Edgar Degas, 1897 File:Pablo Picasso, 1905, Acrobate à la Boule (Acrobat on a Ball), oil on canvas, 147 x 95 cm, The Pushkin Museum, Moscow.jpg, '' Acrobat on a Ball'' by

Pablo Picasso Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...

, 1905

Directors

1961-2013: Irina Antonova