The exhibition of works from the Leiden collection broke the attendance record

The exhibition ends at the Pushkin Museum “The era of Rembrandt and Vermeer. Masterpieces of the Leiden Collection” organized with the support of Sberbank. Since the opening of the exhibition, more than 275 thousand people have seen the exhibition, which has become the highest indicator in the last five years. Earlier, the record for attendance belonged to the exhibition Rafael. The poetry of the image. Works from the Uffizi Galleries and other collections in Italy ”(215,132 people). The exposition is open until July 22.

For the first time in Russia, masterpieces of the Leiden collection of Thomas S. Kaplan and his wife Daphne Recanati Kaplan, one of the largest and most significant private collections of Dutch painting of the 17th century, were presented. On display are 82 works, not one of which has previously been exhibited in Russia. Visitors saw the masterpieces of Rembrandt Harmenszoon Van Rijn (twelve paintings and one drawing), Jan Vermeer Delft and Karel Fabricius (one work each), Frans Hals (two), Gerrit Dow (nine), Jan Livens (four) and their other outstanding contemporaries, as well as a unique drawing of Leonardo da Vinci.

On weekdays, the average number of guests was 2-3 thousand people, on weekends reached 6 thousand, and during the World Cup, the attendance of the exhibition doubled per day. The events of the educational program, which included lectures and meetings at the exposition, were attended by 1.7 thousand people.

Vadim Sadkov, curator of the exhibition, head of the department of art of old masters of the Pushkin Museum im. A.S. Pushkin:

When we did the exhibition, I was aware that it would be a huge success. First of all, for two reasons: firstly, because of the constellation of the names of Rembrandt, Vermeer, Hals and many other Dutch artists, and secondly, because of the uniqueness of the collection, which is not normally accessible to a wide audience. We deliberately expanded the composition of the exhibition and showed more work than was done in Paris, Shanghai and Beijing. The Leiden collection was first presented so fully and holistically in our museum. Mr. Thomas Kaplan himself and the curators of the Leiden collection noted that in terms of artistic quality and elegance of the show, this exhibition has never been exhibited so worthily anywhere.

Marina Loshak, Director of the Pushkin Museum. A. S. Pushkin:

For me, the protagonist of this exhibition is the collector himself. For 15 years, Thomas and Daphne Kaplan have assembled an incredible collection of 250 works of art, which in quality corresponds to the level of national museums. I am extremely pleased that we were able to show a private collection from America in our museum, thereby once again proving that there are no boundaries for art.

The exhibition has received recognition from the global museum community. Taco Dibbits, director of the Rijksmuseum, who has the largest collection of works by the master, came to the opening and gave a lecture on Rembrandt. The exhibition was also visited by Armenian President Armen Sargsyan, Deputy Prime Minister Olga Golodets, Chairman of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation Elvira Nabiullina, statesman Mikhail Shvydkoy, director of the State Hermitage Mikhail Piotrovsky, Russian public figure and widow of the great writer Natalia Solzhenitsyna, journalist Vladimir Pozner and other guests.

A catalog was published for the exhibition, as well as Vadim Sadkov’s book, “The Earliest Rembrandt: Opening Pictures from the Five Senses Series,” in which the author explores the origins of Leiden’s genius and analyzes the features of his talent formation.

After the Pushkin Museum to them. A.S. Pushkin The Leiden collection will be shown at the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg (from September 5) and in the Louvre Abu Dhabi.