Art of the XXth Century

The collection of the museum comprises works by representatives of large schools that existed in the Soviet times (e.g., Leningrad school of landscape painting of the 1930s — 1950s). The art of socialist realism, showing high artistic merit, clarity of plot, a tendency for "grand style", is reflected in the paintings by A.A. Deyneka, A.N. Samokhvalov, A.A. Plastov, Yu.I. Pimenov and many other Soviet artists who continued to work during the Great Patriotic War and in the second half of the XX century. The most valuable part of the collection of Soviet art of the Russian Museum includes works by representatives of the "severe style" and relating trends of Soviet art of the 1960s and 1970s. The museum holds works by such masters of postwar time as N.I. Andronov, V.V. Vatenin, D.D. Zhilinsky, V.I. Ivanov, G.M. Korzhev, E.E. Moiseenko, P.F. Nikonov, P.P. Ossovsky, V.E. Popkov, V.M. Sidorov, V.F. Stozharov, brothers A.P. and S.P. Tkachev, B.S. Ugarov, P.T. Fomin, and others, representing a wide range of genres — from historical painting to still life. In the 1970s and 1980s, the formerly rejected artistic experience was actualized within the official art trends, thus giving rise to a number of artists who worked in the area of "idea pictures" related to the metaphorical multidimensional conceptualisation of the world and human life (O.V. Bulgakova, T.G. Nazarenko, N.I. Nesterova , I.V. Pravdin, A.A. Sundukov, and others). During the period of "perestroika" (1985–1991), the collection of the Russian Museum was enriched by a number of artists working within the underground movement. The collection of contemporary art is a very mobile and dynamic part of the collection of the XX and early XXI centuries, while other parts of the collection of paintings continue to grow as well.