"Wanderers and impressionists. On the way to the twentieth century"

Exhibition “Wanderers and Impressionists. On the way to the XX century ”prepared for the XXXVII International Music Festival of Arts“ December Evenings of Svyatoslav Richter ”. Traditionally, the curator of the project is the president of the Pushkin Museum. A. S. Pushkina Irina Aleksandrovna Antonova. The exposition is a continuation of the museum’s long-term exhibition strategy, based on a dialogue between Western and Russian art. Outstanding works of the Wanderers and Impressionists from the collections of the largest museums of Russia are presented in a single exhibition space, two of the greatest phenomena in the artistic culture of the 19th century are compared. The artistic views and stylistics of the work of the Wanderers and the Impressionists often diverge, but unexpected parallels and points of contact can be found in them.

The exhibition included about 80 works. Among them are works by masters of the 19th – 20th centuries, paintings and graphic works by French and Russian artists from the collection of the Pushkin Museum. A.S. Pushkin, the work of the Wanderers from the collection of the State Tretyakov Gallery, the State Russian Museum in St. Petersburg and other museums.

The exposition “Wanderers and impressionists. On the way to the 20th century ”- scientific publication of the largest art historian Nina Alexandrovna Dmitrieva (1917–2003). The peculiarity of her scientific approach was the desire to consider Russian art in a global context, to show its originality and place among other European schools. The article "Wanderers and Impressionists" was the result of thoughts about the formation in France and in Russia of a generation of artists with different worldviews and worldviews, but inspired by the struggle against academism and in different ways that came to solve similar problems.

The curatorial group, following the researcher’s original thought, creates in the museum space a real reflection of the unified cultural process, shows the general background of the artistic life of Russia and France in the last quarter of the 19th century and correlates two significant phenomena using their most prominent representatives as an example. At the exposition, the viewer will see comparisons of paintings by Eduard Manet and paintings by Ilya Repin and Vladimir Makovsky, Alfred Sisley and Alexei Savrasov, Valentin Serov and Pablo Picasso, Nikolai Yaroshenko and Pierre Auguste Renoir, Mikhail Vrubel and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec.

The exhibition halls also feature the famous works of post-impressionists - Paul Cezanne, Vincent van Gogh, Paul Gauguin. These masters were not united by a common program or by the artistic method, but they were contemporaries of the Impressionists, their “students”.

Exposition “Wanderers and Impressionists. On the way to the XX century ”continues a series of projects devoted to aspects of mutual influences, parallels and dialogues in the works of artists of different eras and countries. Among the most striking examples of such exhibitions: “Moscow - Paris. 1900-1930 "(1982)," Moscow - Berlin. 1900-1950 "(1996)," Russia - Italy. Through the ages. From Giotto to Malevich ”(2005),“ Voices of the André Malraux Imaginary Museum ”(2016–2017).

The program of the music festival "December Evenings of Svyatoslav Richter" in 2017 continues the main theme of the exhibition. The concerts will feature works by Camille Saint-Saens, Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel, who applied the style and aesthetics of impressionism in their work. In comparison with the works of French composers, the music of Modest Mussorgsky, Alexander Scriabin, Igor Stravinsky and others will be performed.

Irina Aleksandrovna Antonova, President of the Pushkin Museum im. A. S. Pushkin:

In the work on the project of the exhibition, the common efforts of specialists in the field of Russian art from the State Tretyakov Gallery and curators of the French collection from the Pushkin Museum to them. A.S. Pushkin was aimed at convincingly illustrating the original ideas of N.A. Dmitrieva with artworks from museum collections. First of all, we relied on the thoughts and conclusions of Nina Dmitrieva that both artistic directions were a specific form of creative consciousness characteristic of this historical period, both had an impact on the further development of art. And in this sense, they are an integral part of each other - a reflection and expression of the public consciousness of an entire era, its aspirations and aspirations.

A juxtaposition of the works of Russian and French masters, Wanderers and Impressionists in a single exhibition space is a vivid demonstration of two of the greatest phenomena in the artistic culture of the 19th century.

The author of the idea and the project: Irina A. Antonova, President of the Pushkin Museum im. A.S. Pushkin

CURATOR GROUP

The Pushkin Museum to them. A.S. Pushkin:
Irina Nikiforova, Head Department of Art of Europe and America of the XIX – XX centuries.
Anna Poznanskaya, Senior Researcher, Department of Art, Countries of Europe and America, XIX – XX centuries.
Natalia Avtonomova, Head department of personal collections.
Alla Lukanova, Deputy Head department of personal collections.

State Tretyakov Gallery:
Tatyana Yudenkova, Head painting department of the second half of the XIX - early XX centuries.
Olga Atroshchenko, N.S. painting department of the second half of the XIX - early XX centuries.

Exhibitors:

State Museum of Fine Arts named after A.S. Pushkina, Moscow
State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow
State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
State Museum L.N. Tolstoy, Moscow
Museum A.M. Gorky Institute of World Literature named after A.M. Gorky RAS, Moscow
Museum-apartment F.M. Dostoevsky State Museum of the History of Russian Literature named after V.I. Dalia (State Literary Museum), Moscow
Kaluga Museum of Fine Arts

Pierre Auguste Renoir. Portrait of Jeanne Samari. 1877. The State Museum of Fine Arts named after A.S. Pushkin

Vasily Ivanovich Surikov. Siberian beauty. 1891. State Tretyakov Gallery

Claude Monet. Breakfast on the grass. 1866. The State Museum of Fine Arts named after A.S. Pushkin

Eduard Manet. Zucchini. 1878-1879. State Museum of Fine Arts named after A.S. Pushkin

Vladimir Egorovich Makovsky. In the restaurant. 1897-1914. State Museum of Fine Arts named after A.S. Pushkin

Vincent van Gogh. Prisoners walk. February 1890. The State Museum of Fine Arts named after A.S. Pushkin