The State Tretyakov Gallery (; abbreviated ГТГ, ''GTG'') is an

art gallery An art gallery is a room or a building in which visual art is displayed. In Western cultures from the mid-15th century, a gallery was any long, narrow covered passage along a wall, first used in the sense of a place for art in the 1590s. The long ...

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

, Russia, which is considered the foremost depository of Russian

fine art In European academic traditions, fine art (or, fine arts) is made primarily for aesthetics or creative expression, distinguishing it from popular art, decorative art or applied art, which also either serve some practical function (such as ...

in the world. The gallery's history starts in 1856 when the Muscovite merchant Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov acquired works by Russian artists of his day with the aim of creating a collection, which might later grow into a

museum A museum is an institution dedicated to displaying or Preservation (library and archive), preserving culturally or scientifically significant objects. Many museums have exhibitions of these objects on public display, and some have private colle ...

of national art. In 1892, Tretyakov presented his already famous collection of approximately 2,000 works (1,362 paintings, 526 drawings, and 9 sculptures) to the Russian

nation A nation is a type of social organization where a collective Identity (social science), identity, a national identity, has emerged from a combination of shared features across a given population, such as language, history, ethnicity, culture, t ...

. The museum attracted 894,374 visitors in 2020 (down 68 percent from 2019, due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

). It was 13th on the

list of most-visited art museums A primary source for 2024 figures is the Art Newspaper whose most recent annual survey was published in March 2025. Other major sources included the newsroom of the Smithsonian Institution, the French Ministry of Culture, and the Association of ...

in the world in 2020. The façade of the gallery building was designed by the painter

Viktor Vasnetsov Viktor Mikhaylovich Vasnetsov (; 15 May (New Style, N.S.), 1848 – 23 July 1926) was a Russian artist who specialised in mythological and historical subjects. He is considered a co-founder of Russian folklorist and romantic nationalistic pain ...

in a peculiar Russian

fairy-tale A fairy tale (alternative names include fairytale, fairy story, household tale, magic tale, or wonder tale) is a short story that belongs to the Folklore, folklore genre. Such stories typically feature Magic (supernatural), magic, Incantation, e ...

style. It was built in 1902–04 to the south from the

Moscow Kremlin The Moscow Kremlin (also the Kremlin) is a fortified complex in Moscow, Russia. Located in the centre of the country's capital city, the Moscow Kremlin comprises five palaces, four cathedrals, and the enclosing Kremlin Wall along with the K ...

. During the 20th century, the gallery expanded to several neighboring buildings, including the 17th-century church of St. Nicholas in Tolmachi. The collection contains more than 130,000 exhibits, ranging from the '' Theotokos of Vladimir'' to the monumental '' Composition VII'' by

Wassily Kandinsky Wassily Wassilyevich Kandinsky ( – 13 December 1944) was a Russian painter and art theorist. Kandinsky is generally credited as one of the pioneers of abstract art, abstraction in western art. Born in Moscow, he spent his childhood in ...

and the '' Black Square'' by

Kazimir Malevich Kazimir Severinovich Malevich (

. In 1977 the Gallery kept a significant part of the George Costakis collection. In May 2012, the Tretyakov Art Gallery played host to the prestigious

FIDE The International Chess Federation or World Chess Federation, commonly referred to by its French acronym FIDE ( , ), is an international organization based in Switzerland that connects the various national chess federations and acts as the Spor ...

World Chess Championship The World Chess Championship is played to determine the world champion in chess. The current world champion is Gukesh Dommaraju, who defeated the previous champion Ding Liren in the World Chess Championship 2024, 2024 World Chess Championship. ...

between Viswanathan Anand and

Boris Gelfand Boris Abramovich Gelfand (; born 24 June 1968) is a Belarusian-Israeli chess player. A six-time World Championship candidate (1991, 1994–95, 2002, 2007, 2011, 2013), he won the Chess World Cup 2009 and the 2011 Candidates Tournament, mak ...

as the organizers felt the event would promote both chess and art at the same time. In May 2023, the Tretyakov Gallery refused to hand over one of its most famous icons,

Andrei Rublev Andrei Rublev (, ; ) was a Russian artist considered to be one of the greatest medieval Russian painters of Orthodox Christian icons and frescoes. He is revered as a saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church, and his feast day is 29 January. Ear ...

's ''

Trinity The Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the Christian doctrine concerning the nature of God, which defines one God existing in three, , consubstantial divine persons: God the Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ) and God the Holy Spirit, thr ...

'', to the

Russian Orthodox Church The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC; ;), also officially known as the Moscow Patriarchate (), is an autocephaly, autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox Christian church. It has 194 dioceses inside Russia. The Primate (bishop), p ...

. In June 2023 the icon was transferred to Moscow's main cathedral despite the museum's protests on the personal order of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Administratively, the State Tretyakov Gallery organisation also includes a gallery of contemporary art in another part of central Moscow, and a number of other satellite galleries, including one in

Kaliningrad Kaliningrad,. known as Königsberg; ; . until 1946, is the largest city and administrative centre of Kaliningrad Oblast, an Enclave and exclave, exclave of Russia between Lithuania and Poland ( west of the bulk of Russia), located on the Prego ...

, in the extreme west of Russia, and one in

Vladivostok Vladivostok ( ; , ) is the largest city and the administrative center of Primorsky Krai and the capital of the Far Eastern Federal District of Russia. It is located around the Zolotoy Rog, Golden Horn Bay on the Sea of Japan, covering an area o ...

, in the far east.

History

Pavel Tretyakov started collecting art in the middle of 1850. The founding year of the Tretyakov Gallery is considered to be 1856, when Tretyakov purchased two paintings of Russian artists: ''Temptation'' by Nikolay Shilder and ''Skirmish with Finnish Smugglers'' by Vasily Khudyakov, although earlier, in 1854–1855, he had bought 11 drawings and nine pictures by Dutch Old Masters. In 1867 the Moscow City Gallery of Pavel and Sergei Tretyakov was opened. The gallery's collection consisted of 1,276 paintings, 471 sculptures and 10 drawings by Russian artists, as well as 84 paintings by foreign masters. In August 1892 Tretyakov presented his art gallery to the city of Moscow as a gift. In the collection at this time, there were 1,287 paintings and 518 graphic works of the Russian school, 75 paintings and eight drawings of European schools, 15 sculptures and a collection of icons. The official opening of the museum called the Moscow City Gallery of Pavel and Sergei Tretyakov took place on 15 August 1893. The gallery was located in a mansion that the Tretyakov family had purchased in 1851. As the Tretyakov collection of art grew, the residential part of the mansion filled with art and it became necessary to make additions to the mansion in order to store and display the works of art. Additions were made in 1873, 1882, 1885, 1892 and 1902–1904, when there was the famous façade, designed in 1900–1903 by architect V. Bashkirov from the drawings of the artist

. Construction of the façade was managed by the architect A. M. Kalmykov. In early 1913, the

Moscow City Duma The Moscow City Duma (, commonly abbreviated to ) is the Regional parliaments of Russia, regional parliament (city duma) of Moscow, a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject and the capital city of Russia. As Moscow is one of Federal cities ...

elected Igor Grabar as a trustee of the Tretyakov Gallery. On 3 June 1918 the Tretyakov Gallery was declared owned by the Russian Federated Soviet Republic and was named the State Tretyakov Gallery. Igor Grabar was again appointed director of the museum. With Grabar's active participation in the same year, the State Museum Fund was created, which up until 1927 remained one of the most important sources of replenishment of the gallery's collection. In 1926 architect and academician Alexey Shchusev became the director of the gallery. In the following year the gallery acquired the neighboring house on Maly Tolmachevsky Lane (the house was the former home of the merchant Sokolikov). After restructuring in 1928, it housed the gallery's administration, academic departments, library, manuscripts department, and funds and graphics staffs. In 1985–1994, an administrative building was built from the design of architect A. L. Bernstein with two floors and height equal to that of the exposition halls. In 1928 serious renovations were made to the gallery to provide heating and ventilation. In 1929 electricity was installed. In 1929 the Church of St. Nicholas in Tolmachi was closed, and in 1932 the building was given to the gallery and became a storage facility for paintings and sculptures. Later, the church was connected to the exposition halls and a top floor was built which was specially designed for exhibiting a painting by Alexander Andreyevich Ivanov,'' The Appearance of Christ Before the People'' (1837–1857). A transition space was built between rooms located on either side of the main staircase. This ensured the continuity of the view of exposure. The gallery began to develop a new concept of accommodating exhibits. In 1936, a new two floor building was constructed which is located on the north side of the main building – it is known as the Schusevsky building. These halls were first used for exhibitions, and since 1940 have been included in the main route of exposure.From the first days of the

Great War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, the gallery's personnel began dismantling the exhibition, as well as those of other museums in Moscow, in preparation for evacuating during wartime. Paintings were rolled on wooden shafts, covered with tissue paper, placed in boxes, and sheathed with waterproof material. In the middle of the summer of 1941 a train of 17 wagons traveled from Moscow and brought the collection to

Novosibirsk Novosibirsk is the largest city and administrative centre of Novosibirsk Oblast and the Siberian Federal District in Russia. As of the 2021 Russian census, 2021 census, it had a population of 1,633,595, making it the most populous city in Siber ...

. The gallery was not reopened in Moscow until 17 May 1945, upon the conclusion of the Great War. In 1956, in honor of the 100th anniversary of the Tretyakov Gallery, the Alexander Ivanov Hall was completed. From 1980 to 1992, the director of the Tretyakov Gallery was Y. K. Korolev. Because of the increased number of visitors, Korolev was actively engaged in expanding the area of exposition. In 1983, construction work began to expand the gallery. In 1985 the Depository, a repository of works of art and restoration workshops, was commissioned. In 1986 renovations began on the main building of the Tretyakov Gallery. The architects I. M. Vinogradsky, G. V. Astafev, B. A. Klimov and others were retained to perform this project. In 1989, on the south side of the main building, a new building was designed and constructed to house a conference hall, a computer and information center, children's studio and exhibition halls. The building was named the "Corps of Engineers", because it housed engineering systems and services. From 1986 to 1995, the Tretyakov Gallery in Lavrushinsky Lane was closed to visitors to accommodate a major renovation project to the building. At the time, the only museum in the exhibition area of this decade was the building on the Crimean Val, 10, which in 1985 was merged with the Tretyakov Gallery. New Tretyakov Gallery

Other galleries within the Tretyakov organisation

The Tretyakov management structure looks after multiple other sites, the most important of these being a second major gallery in Moscow and two remote satellite galleries.

Gallery of modern art

In 1985, the Tretyakov Gallery was administratively merged with a gallery of contemporary art, housed in the Central House of the Artists a large

modernist Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...

building along the Garden Ring, immediately south of the Krymsky Bridge. The grounds of this branch of the museum contain a collection of Socialist Realism sculpture, including such highlights as Yevgeny Vuchetich's iconic statue '' Iron Felix'' (which was removed from Lubyanka Square in 1991), the ''Swords Into Plowshares'' sculpture representing a nude worker forging a plough out of a sword, and the ''Young Russia'' monument. Nearby is Zurab Tsereteli's 86-metre-tall statue of

Peter the Great Peter I (, ; – ), better known as Peter the Great, was the Sovereign, Tsar and Grand Prince of all Russia, Tsar of all Russia from 1682 and the first Emperor of Russia, Emperor of all Russia from 1721 until his death in 1725. He reigned j ...

, one of the tallest outdoor statues in the world. Near the gallery of modern art there is a sculpture garden called " the graveyard of fallen monuments" that displays statues of former

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

that were relocated. There are plans to demolish the gallery constructed in the late Soviet modernism style, though public opinion is strongly against this.Moscow Cultural Landmark Is Seen as Threatened
. ''The New York Times''. Accessed 24 March 2012.

Kaliningrad and Vladivostok

New branches of the Tretyakov, based in the far west and east of Russia, were funded with reserved oil and gas revenue.

Directors

* Ilya Ostroukhov (1905-1913) * Igor Grabar (1913-1925) * Nikolay Shchekotov (1925-1926) * Alexey Shchusev (1926-1929) * Mikhail Christie (1930-1939) * Polikarp Lebedev (1939-1941) * Alexander Zamoshkin (1941-1951) * Boris Ioganson (1951-1954) * Polikarp Lebedev (1954-1979) * Yuri Korolev (1980-1992) * Valentin Rodionov (1993-2009) * Irina Lebedeva (2009-2015) * Zelfira Tregulova (2015-2023) * Yelena Pronicheva (since 2023)

Gallery

File:Annunciation ystuj.jpg, '' Ustyug Annunciation'' () File:Vladimirskaya.jpg, '' Theotokos of Vladimir'' () File:Angelsatmamre-trinity-rublev-1410.jpg,

, ''

'' (1411 or 1423–1425) File:Odigitriya Smolenskaya Dionisiy.jpg, Dionisius, ''Hodegetria of Smolensk'' (c. 1500) File:Blessed Be the Host of the King of Heaven… - Google Art Project.jpg, Athanasius of Moscow, '' Blessed Be the Host of the King of Heaven'' (1552) File:Ivan Nikitin - Портрет графа Г.И.Головкина - Google Art Project.jpg, Ivan Nikitin, ''Portrait of Chancellor Gavriil Golovkin'' () File:Elizaveta with Black Servant by Grooth (1743, Tretyakov gallery).jpg, Georg Christoph Grooth, '' The Empress Elizabeth of Russia on Horseback, Attended by a Page (''1743) File:Cyril Razumovsky by Andre-Jean Lebrun (GTG, 1766) by shakko 02.jpg, André-Jean Lebrun, ''Bust of Kirill Razumovsky'' (1766) File:Anton Losenko - Прощание Гектора с Андромахой - Google Art Project.jpg, alt=, Anton Losenko, '' Farewell of Hector and Andromache'' (1773) File:Hercules Burning Himself on the Pyre in the Presence of His Friend Philoctetes, 1782 Ivan Akimovich Akimov Academy of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg.jpg, alt=, Ivan Akimov, ''

Hercules Hercules (, ) is the Roman equivalent of the Greek divine hero Heracles, son of Jupiter and the mortal Alcmena. In classical mythology, Hercules is famous for his strength and for his numerous far-ranging adventures. The Romans adapted the Gr ...

Burning Himself on the Pyre in the Presence of His Friend

Philoctetes Philoctetes ( ''Philoktētēs''; , ), or Philocthetes, according to Greek mythology, was the son of Poeas, king of Meliboea (Magnesia), Meliboea in Thessaly, and Demonassa or Methone (Greek myth), Methone. He was a Greek hero, famed as an archer ...

'' (1782) File:Catherine II the Legislatress by D. Levitskiy (1780s, Tretyakov gallery).jpg, Dmitry Levitzky, ''

Catherine the Great Catherine II. (born Princess Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst; 2 May 172917 November 1796), most commonly known as Catherine the Great, was the reigning empress of Russia from 1762 to 1796. She came to power after overthrowing her husband, Peter I ...

in a Temple of Justice'' (1783) File:Aleksey Venetsianov - На пашне. Весна - Google Art Project.jpg, Alexey Venetsianov, '' In the Ploughed Field: Spring'' (first half of 1820s) File:Kiprensky Pushkin.jpg, Orest Kiprensky, ''Portrait of

Alexander Pushkin Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin () was a Russian poet, playwright, and novelist of the Romantic era.Basker, Michael. Pushkin and Romanticism. In Ferber, Michael, ed., ''A Companion to European Romanticism''. Oxford: Blackwell, 2005. He is consid ...

'' (1823) File:Orest Kiprensky 010.jpeg, Orest Kiprensky, '' Newspaper readers in Naples'' (1831) File:1832. BRULLOV VSADNICA1.jpg, alt=, Karl Bryullov, '' Horsewoman'' (1832) File:Александр Андреевич Иванов - Явление Христа народу (Явление Мессии) - Google Art Project.jpg, alt=, Alexander Ivanov, '' The Appearance of Christ Before the People'' (1837–1857) File:RooksBackOfSavrasov.jpg, Alexei Savrasov, '' The Rooks Have Come Back'' (1871) File:1871 Vereshchagin Apotheose des Krieges anagoria.JPG,

Vasily Vereshchagin Vasily Vasilyevich Vereshchagin (; 26 October 184213 April 1904) was a Russian painters, Russian painter, war artist, and traveller. The Violence in art, graphic nature of his Realism (arts), realist scenes led to many of them never being printe ...

, '' The Apotheosis of War'' (1871) File:Christ in the Wilderness - Ivan Kramskoy - Google Cultural Institute.jpg, alt=, Ivan Kramskoi, '' Christ in the Desert'' (1872) File:Procesión de Pascua en la región de Kursk, por Iliá Repin.jpg,

Ilya Repin Ilya Yefimovich Repin ( – 29 September 1930) was a Russian painter, born in what is today Ukraine. He became one of the most renowned artists in Russian Empire, Russia in the 19th century. His major works include ''Barge Haulers on the Volga' ...

, '' Religious Procession in Kursk Province'' (1880–1883) File:Surikov streltsi.jpg, alt=,

Vasily Surikov Vasily Ivanovich Surikov (; 24 January 1848 – 19 March 1916) was a Russian Realism (arts), realist history painter. Many of his works have become familiar to the general public through their use as illustrations. Biography He was born to an ...

, '' The Morning of the Streltsy Execution'' (1881) File:Kramskoy Portrait of a Woman.jpg, Ivan Kramskoi, '' Portrait of an Unknown Woman'' (1883) File:Iván el Terrible y su hijo, por Iliá Repin.jpg,

, '' Ivan the Terrible and His Son Ivan'' (1885) File:Walentin Alexandrowitsch Serow Girl with Peaches.jpg, Valentin Serov, '' Girl with Peaches'' (1887) File:Utro v sosnovom lesu.jpg, Ivan Shishkin and

Konstantin Savitsky Konstantin Apollonovich Savitsky (; 25 May 1844 — 31 January 1905) was a Russian Realism (art movement), realist painter born in the city of Taganrog in the village Frankovka or Baronovka, named after former governor Otto Pfeilizer-Frank. Toda ...

, '' Morning in a Pine Forest'' (1889) File:What-is-truth02.jpg, Nikolai Ge, '' Quid Est Veritas? Christ and Pilate'' (1890) File:Isaak Levitan Tihaya obitel.jpg, Isaac Levitan, '' A Quiet Monastery'' (1890) File:Vrubel Demon.jpg, Mikhail Vrubel, '' The Demon Seated'' (1890) File:Viktor Vasnetsov - Богатыри - Google Art Project.jpg, Victor Vasnetsov, ''

Bogatyr A bogatyr (, ; , ) or vityaz (, ; , ) is a stock character in medieval Bylina, East Slavic legends, akin to a Western European knight-errant. Bogatyrs appear mainly in Kievan Rus', Rus' epic poems—Bylina, ''bylinas''. Historically, they came i ...

s'' (1898) File:Filipp Malyavin - Вихрь - Google Art Project.jpg, alt=, Filipp Malyavin, ''Whirlwind'' (1906) File:NesterovMV NaRusi206x483GTG.jpg, alt=,

Mikhail Nesterov Mikhail Vasilyevich Nesterov (; – 18 October 1942) was a Russian and Soviet painter; associated with the Peredvizhniki and Mir iskusstva. He was one of the first exponents of Symbolist art in Russia. Biography He was born to a strong ...

, ''In Rus. The Soul of the People'' (1916)

References

Sources

* Korolev, Yuri Konstantinovich & Iovleva, Lydia Ivanova (1992). ''The Tretyakov Gallery''. Moscow, Russia: Izobrazitelnoye Iskusstvo Publishers.

External links

Official website of the Tretyakov GalleryTretyakov Gallery
within

Google Arts & Culture Google Arts & Culture (formerly Google Art Project) is an online platform of high-resolution images and videos of artworks and cultural artifacts from partner cultural organizations throughout the world, operated by Google. It utilizes high-re ...

* {{Authority control Art museums and galleries in Moscow Art museums and galleries established in 1856 Art museums and galleries established in 1904 Modern art museums 1856 establishments in the Russian Empire Cultural heritage monuments of federal significance in Moscow