TRETYAKOV GALLERY

Description

Essentials about the Tretyakov Gallery in brief

For art lovers, a visit to the Tretyakov Gallery is a must during a trip to Moscow. It is not only one of the most famous and popular museums in Russia, but is also considered the world’s best collection of Russian art. With about 140,000 works of painting, graphic art and sculpture from the period from the 11th to the 20th century, it is one of the largest art collections in Russia, along with the Hermitage in St. Petersburg.

The history of the Tretyakov Gallery

The art gallery takes its name from its founder, the Russian textile merchant and art collector Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov. The beginnings of his art collection date back to the mid-19th century, when Tretyakov, together with his younger brother Sergei, assembled a considerable collection of paintings by local contemporary artists on the upper floor of their house on the banks of the Moscow River. Over the years, the collection grew so large that in 1874 Pavel Tretyakov purchased a plot of land in the immediate vicinity of the house and had a new building erected on it specifically for the storage of the works. By the early 1890s, the collection already included some 1,500 pieces, including not only paintings but also icons and sculptures.

At his death in 1892, Sergei Tretyakov bequeathed his part of the art collection to the city of Moscow. A few weeks later, Pavel Tretyakov also donated the rest of the collection to the city to enable the establishment of an art museum open to the public. At that time, the entire collection given to the city numbered almost 1,300 paintings and over 500 drawings and sculptures by Russian artists, as well as some paintings and drawings by contemporary German and French painters. The newly established art museum opened its doors to the public in 1893 under the name of Moscow Municipal Art Gallery of Pavel and Sergei Mikhailovich Tretyakov.

A few months after the October Revolution, the gallery was nationalized in 1918 by decree of the revolutionary leader Lenin and received its present name State Tretyakov Gallery. In the 1920s, collections of numerous other museums as well as parts of various private collections confiscated by the state were integrated into the Tretyakov Gallery. This led to a considerable increase in the museum’s holdings, so that the gallery building had to be expanded in the mid-1930s due to a lack of space.

During World War II, large parts of the collection were evacuated to Siberia before the imminent invasion of Moscow by the German Wehrmacht. This measure proved to be correct, as the museum complex was severely damaged during German air raids. After reconstruction works, the museum operation could be resumed as early as 1945.

In the 1980s and 90s, the museum underwent major remodeling and expansion in order to handle the increasing crowds of visitors and to better accommodate the growing collection. In 1986, a Modern Art Department was also opened, located in a new building on the Moskva River directly across from the main entrance to Gorky Park.

The collections of the Tretyakov Gallery

Today, the Tretyakov Gallery’s holdings include some 140,000 exhibits, including about 15,000 paintings, 4,500 icons and sculptures each, and more than 100,000 drawings, prints, and similar works of art. Most of the collection is housed in the 62 halls in the main building of the gallery. There are the works of art from the period of the 11th century to the beginning of the 20th century. This collection includes works of almost all known Russian artists of these periods. The art of the later 20th century can be seen in the Modern Art Department, opened in 1986.