Exhibition "Gifts and Acquisitions"

In the exhibition hall of the Kaluga Museum of Fine Arts (104 Lenin St.), the opening of the "Gifts and Acquisitions" exhibition will take place. The exhibition presents works of art from Albrecht Durer to Nikas Safronov. Until April 15, visitors have a unique opportunity to see works, some of which are stored in the museum’s collections and will be presented to the viewer for the first time.

The exhibition is dedicated to a significant date - the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Kaluga Museum of Fine Arts. The emergence of the museum is inextricably linked with the cultural life of Russia in the late XIX - early XX centuries and, above all, with collecting and philanthropy. The basis of the museum collection was a private collection of Kaluga doctor Nikanor Ivanovich Vasiliev (1832 - 1917), which included about 100 works by Russian and Western European artists. Today the museum is the largest collection of art monuments in the Kaluga region, numbering 11 thousand paintings, sculptures, engravings, drawings, and decorative and applied arts. The museum has turned into a large scientific, educational, aesthetic center of Kaluga and occupies an important place in the cultural life of the region.

The exhibition continues the tradition of publicly presenting to the society the most interesting works of art that have replenished museum collections. The current, fourth in a row, exhibition of new arrivals acquaints art lovers with the gifts and acquisitions included in the museum collection over the past 6 years - from 2012 to 2017. The works included in the exposition are works received as a gift from artists, collectors, owners, heirs, and also acquired by the museum with financial assistance from the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the Kaluga Region.

The exhibition features about 200 exhibits, most of which are shown for the first time. The exposition combined the creative work of both young authors and recognized masters of domestic and foreign art. First-rate works by prominent Russian artists are noteworthy, including Viktor Ivanov, Mikhail Konchalovsky, Boris Messerer, Eli Belyutin, Eduard Shteinberg, Vasily Shukhaev, Evgeny Matiko, Andrey Tutunov, Nikas Safronov, Valery Maloletkov, Yuri Vasnetsov, Ivan Tarasyuk, Yuri Shestakov and many others. The clash of various creative individuals in a small exhibition space of the exhibition, literally on one wall, creates a special tension, creating a holistic view of the complex processes taking place in contemporary art.

An important part of the exhibition is a section devoted to the work of Kaluga artists. Expressive, informative works by Tatyana Dukhanova, Svetlana Farnieva, Olga Kuzminova, Alexei Bazanov, Evgeny Stolyarov, Anatoly Moshchelkov, Lev Ryzhov, Stanislav and Larisa Minchenko, Mikhail and Irina Kamyshansky are on display. The section is supplemented by the works of older artists - George Abramov, Ivan Pushkarev, Ivan Kalinin, Lev Kazakevich, Boris Dmitriev, Nikifor Yaskov.

Valuable exhibits include an old miniature depicting His Imperial Highness Konstantin Pavlovich, portraits of representatives of the Romanov House from the "Argentine" collection of M. A. Gershelman, three engravings representing the works of the most famous European artists of the 16th century - Albrecht Durer, Lucas van Leyden and Daniel Hopfer. A special place in the exposition is occupied by the painting of the 19th century Russian artist Vasily Golynsky “Fishing”, lost during the Great Patriotic War and regained in 2016.

The exhibition “Gifts and Acquisitions” is a significant milestone in the history of the Kaluga Museum of Fine Arts. Communicating with works of art will bring not only aesthetic pleasure to each visitor to the exhibition, but also give an idea of the collecting activities of the museum.

Two actions will be held within the framework of the exhibition, in which we offer everyone to take part:

Promotion "Happy Ticket" -

The museum gives visitors the “Gifts and Acquisitions” exhibition a chance to get a “happy ticket”: get to the exhibition with a free ticket or a discount ticket, or get a bonus from the museum along with the ticket! Children under 16 attend the exhibition for free!

The second action is addressed to active users of social networks - this is a creative photo contest. We suggest visiting the exhibition, finding a picture on the exposition, which, in your opinion, is most closely associated with the concepts of “Gifts”, “Acquisitions” - in the broadest sense, and photographing it. Then you will need to upload a photo to the social network Vkontakte or Instagram (продукт Meta Platforms Inc., компания признана экстремистской организацией, деятельность на территории РФ запрещена) with the hashtag # gifts and acquisitions of the commission with a brief explanation of your choice. According to the results of the competition, 3 winners will be selected who will be able to receive company prizes from the Kaluga Museum of Fine Arts.

For visitors, the exhibition will begin work on March 17 and will last until April 15.