State Russian Museum: Black Square, The Ninth Wave, The Last Day of Pompeii (photo)

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

The State Russian Museum in St. Petersburg is the largest collection of paintings by Russian artists, numbering over 400,000 works. There is no other such collection of Russian art in the world.

Creation of the Russian Museum

The decree establishing the museum was published in 1895. For this, the Mikhailovsky Castle and the garden around, and services, and outbuildings were purchased. According to the decree, all works already acquired by the museum cannot be sold or transferred to anyone. They should always be in the collection. In 1898, the State Russian Museum was opened for visitors. St. Petersburg has been looking forward to this event for three years. It received works from the Academy of Arts, the Hermitage, the Winter Palace and private collections. The initial exposure was not extensive.

After the revolution

The collection was constantly replenished, and the area of the museum was expanded by adding new premises. During the Patriotic War, all the most valuable works were evacuated and did not suffer at all. Those that remained in the besieged city were carefullypacked and stored in cellars. They also remained intact. The State Russian Museum has fully coped with such a difficult task - to save the entire exposition, which already had more than seven thousand exhibits.

Museum growth

New arrivals were actively added in the 50s. He placed the State Russian Museum of the work in the Mikhailovsky Palace, and in the Engineering Castle, in the Benois building, as well as in other buildings. They have a section of ancient Russian art with priceless works by Rublev, Dionysius and a number of other icon painters of the early and late Middle Ages. The State Russian Museum keeps works of the 18th-mid 19th centuries.

The photo shows the work of D. G. Levitsky "Portrait of E. I. Nelidova". The museum is rightfully proud of the completeness of the paintings presented to visitors. Listing the names and surnames of our outstanding and brilliant artists will take up a lot of space. The State Russian Museum widely presents works of the middle and late 19th century, as well as the works of painters of the "World of Art" and futurist artists, who are also the pride of the museum. A whole hall is devoted to the works of A. N. Benois, artist, art critic, decorator.

On the photo of A. N. Benois "Parade in the reign of Paul I". The museum's collection contains paintings by Soviet artists from all periods of the existence of the Soviet Union. Currently, the State Russian Museum collects and exhibits new, non-traditional works. This department dealing withthe latest trends, was created in about thirty years ago.

Famous painting

The Black Square is on display. The State Russian Museum acquired it with scandalous fame and placed it in the Benois building.

Creating a big scandal was the task of the futurist artists, and then the supermatists, to draw attention to themselves. Their predecessor was Herostratus, who, in order to remain for centuries, burned down the temple. The main desire of Malevich and his associates is to destroy everything: we have freed ourselves from everything that preceded it, and now we will make art on a clean, even, scorched place. Initially, Malevich made a black square as a piece of scenery for the opera. Two years later, he created a theory that proves that it is above everything (supermatism), and denies everything: both form and nature. There is simply art out of nothing.

Impressive exhibition from 1915

At the exhibition "0.10" there were paintings consisting of squares, crosses, circles, and in this hall in the upper right corner, where icons are hung, Malevich hung his square.

What is important here? The square or the place where it is hung? Of course, the place was more important than what was drawn, especially considering that it was written "nothing". Imagine "nothing" in the place of God. It was a very significant event. It was a phenomenally talented PR stunt, thought through to the end, because it is not about what is depicted there. The statement was like this - nothing, blackness, emptiness,darkness instead of God. “Instead of an icon that leads up to the light, there is a path to darkness, to a manhole, to a basement, to the underworld” (Tatyana Tolstaya). Art is dead, here's a piece of nonsense instead. You are willing to pay money for it. Malevich's "Black Square" is not art, but a brilliant act of a very talented salesman. Most likely, the "Black Square" is just a naked king, and this is worth talking about, and not about the depths of understanding the world. Black Square is not art because:

Where is the talent of feeling?

Where is the skill? Anyone can draw a square.

Where is the beauty? The viewer must think for a long time what it means, and never understand.

Where is the violation of tradition? There are no traditions.

Thus, if we look from this point of view, we see what has happened and is happening with art that breaks with sincerity, which begins to appeal to the intellect, that is, “I think for a long time what to do to make a scandal happen and they noticed me." A normal person asks himself the question: “Why did he do this? Did you want to earn money or did you want to express some of your feelings? The question of sincerity arose because the artist is thinking how to sell himself. The pursuit of novelty leads art to complete non-objectivity, and this intellectual striving comes from the head, not from the heart. Malevich and others like him were looking for ways to scandals and sales, which is now raised to a professional height. It is very important to sum up the theory for your creation and add an incomprehensible long clever name, which is more important than the image. Talented in our society is considered for some reason-that which is incomprehensible to man. The absence of a spiritual principle in the "Black Square" is undeniable for many. A sign of time and skillful self-trading is the "Black Square". The State Russian Museum could not miss such a "talking" work.

Drama at sea

In 1850, Aivazovsky created a large-scale painting "The Ninth Wave". The State Russian Museum now exhibits this work.

A powerful wave hangs over the wreckage of the ship. Humanity is represented in this picture as unfortunate sailors, who, on the remnant of a mast, unsuitable for sailing, desperately cling to it, while the wave ruthlessly wants to swallow it. Our feelings are divided. They are absorbed in the rise of this huge wave. We enter with its upward movement and experience tension between the comb and the force of gravity, especially at the moment when the top of the wave breaks and turns into foam. The shaft is aimed at those who invaded this element of water without asking. Sailors are an active force that penetrates the waves. One can try to consider this composition as a picture of harmony in nature, as a picture of a harmonious combination of water and earth, which is not visible, but it is present in our minds. Water is a fluid, changeable, unstable element, and the earth as the main object of hope is not even mentioned. This is, as it were, an incentive to the active role of the spectator. This is a picture of the universe, which is shown through the landscape. The waves on the horizon look like mountains covered with haze, and they are more gentle and repeatcloser to the viewer. This leads to the rhythmic ordering of the composition. The color is striking, rich in shades of pink and purple in the sky, and green, blue, purple in the sea, penetrated by the rays of the rising sun, bringing joy and optimism. One of the gems of the collection is the romantic work The Ninth Wave. The State Russian Museum has a masterpiece painted by the young Aivazovsky.

Tragedy on earth

If two elements, water and wind, were involved in the previous picture, then earth and fire menacingly appear on the next canvas - this is “The Last Day of Pompeii”. The State Russian Museum received it from the collection of the Academy of Arts.

Written in 1834 and exhibited in Rome, the picture made a sensation among Italians, as subsequently among Russian spectators, a sensation. Pushkin, Gogol, Baratynsky devoted heartfelt lines to her. Why is this work relevant today? With the plasticity of movements, the turns of bodies and heads, the dynamics of the colorful palette, the artist revived the events of bygone millennia. We are involved in the terrible experiences of people who are about to die in the fiery lava caused by a volcanic eruption and a powerful earthquake. Are there no such tragedies today? The classical form of the work is perfect, the workmanship is superb, forcing one to recall the names of the artists of the High Renaissance. The masterpiece of Karl Bryullov captures with its beauty, despite the fact that it depicts the death of ancient civilization.

Museum in modern times

If the museum originally consisted of the Imperial Palaces, now it is a whole ensemble, unusually beautiful, which is a cultural center, since it solves scientific and educational problems. From the depths of centuries, the legacy of great painters has come down to us. Classical, romantic, everyday, genre works are kept by the State Russian Museum. The photo shows us the main building - the Mikhailovsky Palace.

This living space has been remodeled to house the work of the painters.

Ensemble adjoining the palace

The State Russian Museum is housed in six architectural monuments of the 18th-19th centuries, which are complemented by the Summer and Mikhailovsky Gardens, where visitors can admire not only the strict regular planting of bushes and trees, but also beautiful sculptures. Excursions are held in the museum buildings, as well as additional services are provided by a lecture hall, a cinema hall, an Internet class, a cafeteria equipped to receive disabled people.