Painting of the second half of the XIX – early XXI centuries

Among the paintings handed over to the Russian Museum at the time of its foundation, a significant portion was comprised of works by leading artists of the second half of the XIX century. (I.K. Aivazovsky, V.M. Vasnetsov, K.E. Makovsky, I.E. Repin, V.D.Polenov, V.I.Surikov). Despite the fact that the selection of paintings for the museum in the first two decades of its existence was somewhat limited by the conservative tastes of the Council of the Academy of Arts, the range of paintings presented in the collection was constantly expanding. This can largely be credited to museum officials, such as Albert and Alexander Benois, I.E.Grabar, P.I.Neradovsky and others.