The State Russian Museum / St Michael’s Castle Drawings and Watercolours of the 18th century
The Russian Museum boasts the world’s largest collection of 18th-century Russian drawings and watercolours. Alongside the works of native Russian artists, there are also those created by Western European masters who lived and worked in Russia.
Despite their differences in genre and typology, the plein air studies, the sketches and studies for the paintings of Anton Losenko and Pyotr Sokolov, Mikhail Kozlovsky’s designs for his bas-reliefs, the enigmatic series of blind beggar images by Ivan Ermenyov, and veduta watercolour series by Semyon Shchedrin and Mikhail Ivanov all apply the drawing structure prevalent at the time, while their artful use of a range of techniques testifies to the high level of professional excellence Russian artists had attained during the fast-paced development of Russia’s school of painting in the 18th century.
The drawings and watercolours of foreign masters such as Jean-Baptiste Le Prince, Francesco Fontebasso, Pietro Gonzaga, Giacomo Quarenghi, Thomas de Thomon and Johann Friedrich Anthing -- ranging from sketches for ceiling and stage artwork to quick caricature portraits and silhouettes -- introduce viewers to the European painting tradition, which inspired Russian artists and audiences to discover new subjects and new ways of drawing.
This exhibition offers visitors the rare opportunity to appreciate the more interesting and notable specimens of 18th century drawing and watercolour from the museum’s extensive collection. Because of their fragility, these works are seldom presented for public viewing.
This exhibition is dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the Russian Museum staff member Ludmila Pavlovna Rybakova.
Age restrictions: 18+
From Peter the Great to Elizabeth Petrovna
1 June—23 September 2024
This exhibition, unique in its scale, covers the period from the death of Peter the Great to the accession to the throne of his daughter Elizabeth Petrovna (1725–1742). The main events of the internal Russian life in the time of struggle for Peter the Great’s legacy shown on the material from the collections of 21 museums, including State Hermitage Museum, the State Historical Museum, the Moscow Kremlin Museums, the Tretyakov Gallery, the Museum of the History of St Petersburg, the Peterhof State Museum and Reserve, the Pavlovsk State Museum, the Arkhangelskoye State Museum and Reserve and others.
Master of Painting. 325th Anniversary of Ivan Vishnyakov’s Birth
26 April—1 July 2024
Ivan Vishnyakov is one of the leading artist of the 18th century, portraitist, mural painter, restorer and teacher. However, not much of the artist’s vast legacy, the result of thirty years of untiring creative activity, has survived to the present day. All the more valuable are the eleven surviving portraits in the collections of the Russian Museum, the Tretyakov Gallery, the Museum of Vasily Tropinin and Moscow Artists of His Time, art museums in Tver and Rybinsk, and the National Art Museum of the Republic of Belarus.
- 15 March—13 May 2024 > Mikhailovsky Palace Mstislav Farmakovsky. 150th Anniversary of the Artist’s Birth
- 21 February—13 May 2024 > Benois Wing Anna Golubkina (1864–1927). 160th Anniversary of the Artist's Birth
The collection of masterpieces, chosen by the Russian Museum will allow you to make a first impression of the collection of the Russian Museum.
Russian Museum - one of the world's largest museums and is perhaps the only country where such a full treasure of national culture are presented.
Virtual tour of the museum complex. 2009 (Rus., Eng., Ger., Fin.)
In the online shop of the Russian Museum presented a huge range of souvenirs, illustrated editions and multimedia disks.
