The Tretyakov Gallery celebrates its 160th anniversary. The world's largest collection of Russian painting began with the private collection of Moscow merchant Pavel Tretyakov.
The founding date of the Tretyakov Gallery is considered to be May 22, 1856, when Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov acquired the first two paintings by Russian artists, “Temptation” by Schilder and “Clash with Finnish Smugglers” by Khudyakov.
Young and early
At that time, the collector was only 24 years old, but he already knew for sure that a passion for art would last a lifetime.
Being the eldest son of Mikhail Zakharovich Tretyakov, owner of a flax spinning and weaving factory in Kostroma and five shops in the Old Trading Rows on Ilyinka, Pavel, like his brother Sergei, received an excellent education at home.
At the age of 20, he went to St. Petersburg, where he became acquainted with the Hermitage collection. On his next visit, Pavel Mikhailovich met with a prominent public figure and philanthropist Fyodor Pryanishnikov, who at that time already owned an impressive collection of Russian painting. After examining this collection, Tretyakov actively engaged in self-education, collecting literature on art, following exhibitions, and reading reviews.
At the age of 27, going on a trip abroad and being in perfect health, he made his first will: “I bequeath one hundred and fifty thousand rubles in silver for the establishment of an art museum or public art gallery in Moscow...”. The key word is “public”: Tretyakov considered it his mission to make art accessible to both the nobleman and the common employee.
Esthete and ascetic
Initially, Pavel Mikhailovich wanted to buy Pryanishnikov’s collection and add to it, but due to the high price, Tretyakov had to create his gallery from scratch, relying only on his artistic taste, as well as on the help of his wife and brother Sergei.
The collector walked towards his goal persistently and methodically. Despite the fact that the Tretyakovs’ trading business was going well, collecting required large expenses, so Pavel Mikhailovich until the end of his days led a very modest lifestyle by the standards of his class - even traveling around Europe, to save money, he made in night trains and seated carriages. The collector taught his family the same asceticism.
In a letter to his daughter Alexandra, he explained: “Money is a bad thing, causing abnormal relationships. For parents, it is obligatory to give their children upbringing and education, and not necessarily support... My idea was from a very young age to make money so that what was acquired from society would also be returned to society (the people ) in any useful institutions; this thought did not leave me all my life...”
The only idle everyday habit that Tretyakov himself possessed was an afternoon cigar.
Tretyakov valued truth above excesses, both materially and artistically. When ordering a landscape from Goravsky, the patron wrote to the painter: “I don’t need rich nature, no magnificent composition, no spectacular lighting, no miracles, give me even a dirty puddle, but so that there is truth in it, poetry, and there can be poetry in everything, this the artist's job."
Patron and friend
Already 11 years after the acquisition of the first paintings, the Tretyakov Gallery had more than a thousand paintings, almost five hundred drawings and ten sculptures. Aspiring artists went there to gain experience, and accomplished masters sought Tretyakov’s friendship and patronage.
Some of those to whom the collector ordered works became real friends of his family. Largely thanks to this friendship, the Tretyakov Gallery today has a magnificent portrait gallery of outstanding figures of Russian culture of the late 19th century.
Having become close to the artist Vasily Perov, Tretyakov ordered him a whole series of portraits that every schoolchild knows today: Ostrovsky, Dostoevsky, Maykov, Pogodin, Dahl and Turgenev. Another painter who entered Tretyakov’s house, Ivan Kramskoy, painted portraits of Tolstoy, Saltykov-Shchedrin, Aksakov and Nekrasov.
Visionary and builder
Despite the great influence of his artist friends on the formation of his collection, towards the end of his life Tretyakov relied entirely on his own taste, often buying paintings that were received ambiguously by critics and the public.
As the collection grew, the question of where to place it became increasingly pressing. Pavel Mikhailovich hung the purchased paintings in his house on Lavrushinsky Lane, but there was a catastrophic lack of space there.
In 1872, Tretyakov began construction of the first two purely museum halls, which, however, communicated with residential premises. Two years later they were ready. But this soon turned out to be not enough. Vereshchagin's Turkestan series made us think about another perestroika.
In 1882, after Tretyakov placed the Turkestan series of works by Vereshchagin in the gallery, 6 more new rooms were added.
In the next five years, Pavel Mikhailovich acquired, perhaps, the most famous paintings from the Tretyakov Gallery today: “Morning of the Streltsy Execution” and “Boyaryna Morozova” by Surikov, “They Didn’t Expect” and “Ivan the Terrible and His Son Ivan November 16, 1581” by Repin, “Morning in Pine forest" by Shishkin and "Inconsolable Grief" by Kramskoy.
Also in the gallery were works by Polenov, Levitan, Ostroukhov. Seven more halls were urgently added to the house in Lavrushinsky. In the late 80s, Tretyakov bought paintings by the young Nesterov that were unappreciated by connoisseurs, as well as Serov’s work “Girl Illuminated by the Sun” and “After the Rain. Reach” by Levitan.
The "City Art Gallery of Pavel and Sergei Tretyakov" was officially opened to visitors on August 15, 1893. Pavel Mikhailovich was appointed trustee of the gallery, but the modest philanthropist did not want to participate in the celebrations and went abroad.
Nevertheless, the gratitude of Muscovites overtook him there too. The critic Stasov wrote about Tretyakov: “With a guide and a map in his hands, zealously and carefully, he reviewed almost all European museums, moving from one big capital to another, from one small Italian, Dutch and German town to another. And he became real, a deep and subtle connoisseur of painting. And yet he did not lose sight of the main goal, he did not cease to care most about the Russian school. This is why his art gallery is so little like our other Russian galleries. It is not a random collection of paintings, it is. is the result of knowledge, considerations, strict weighing and all the deeper love for one’s dear work.”
Pavel Mikhailovich did not stop caring for his brainchild even after handing it over to the city. Tretyakov continued to buy paintings and donate them to the gallery. He also annually published catalogs of the collection, corresponded with artists, their relatives, and collectors, obtaining valuable information, and himself suggested titles for paintings.
In 1897-98, the gallery building was again expanded to include an internal garden, where Tretyakov loved to walk.
Even after death, the philanthropist did not stop caring about his life’s work. In his will, he allocated significant funds for the repair and maintenance of the gallery, although he objected to the collection being replenished, fearing that without his supervision the collection would change its character.
This point, fortunately for you and me, was not fulfilled, and today the Tretyakov Gallery has seven buildings and more than 170 thousand works.
"Moscow City Gallery Pavel And Sergei Mikhailovich Tretyakov"has been a huge success with visitors since its inception, and many of its 180,000 exhibits have a history filled with secrets and mysteries. E.G.. RU collected several little-known facts about the Tretyakov Gallery.
Pavel Tretyakov: entrepreneur, philanthropist and collector
Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov was born on December 15, 1832 into a merchant family. Communication with peers did not work out, so the future Russian legend spent most of his free time reading as a child.
In his free time, the young man loved to go to the “flea market” of the Sukharevsky market. He was attracted to paintings by old masters, and by the age of 20 he became the owner of more than a dozen such paintings. It was then that he was scammed for the first time by slipping in a cheap fake instead of the original painting.
The future entrepreneur instantly realized that if he did not want to make mistakes in the future, he should acquire paintings only by contemporary artists for his collection. The best thing is from them themselves.
A hobby that has become the meaning of life
At the age of 23, Pavel Tretyakov decided not only to collect paintings, but also to exhibit them for public viewing. Modern researchers have discovered a receipt that Pavel Tretyakov issued to the artist on May 22, 1856 Vasily Khudyakov for the painting “Skirmish with Finnish Smugglers” (1853), calling this day the beginning of the founding of the Tretyakov Gallery.
Gradually, the hobby completely captured the mind of the young entrepreneur. He personally selected and acquired paintings by Russian masters, entrusting his brother Sergei, who lived in Europe, to purchase paintings by the best Western artists.
When the Moscow City Gallery of Pavel and Sergei Tretyakov became available to the general public, its exhibition consisted of 1276 paintings, 471 drawings and 10 sculptures by Russian artists, as well as 84 paintings by foreign masters.
“Ivan the Terrible and his son Ivan November 16, 1581”
Few people know that the picture Ilya Repin, better known as “Ivan the Terrible Kills His Son” (1885), was strictly prohibited from being shown at exhibitions for several years. The censorship believed that it dealt a severe blow to tsarism and the Orthodox religion.
Pavel Tretyakov achieved the lifting of the ban and hung the canvas in his gallery. True, this did not protect her from attack. In 1913, an Old Believer icon painter Abram Balashov slashed it with a knife, declaring that it was written by the devil himself. Fortunately, Ilya Repin was still alive at that time and repaired the damage with his own hands.
The attack was repeated in May of this year. 37 year old Igor Podporin broke the glass of a painting using a metal fence post, and then hit the canvas with it several times. He told the police that he acted spontaneously under the direction of “voices from above,” but law enforcement officers consider this attack to be a targeted and well-prepared action.
Today the painting is under restoration. Experts are at least happy that the faces and hands of the characters, considered the main elements of the composition, were not damaged by the vandal’s actions.
"Young Painter"
Pavel Tretyakov personally purchased this wonderful canvas, signed with the name Anton Losenko, considered the founder of Russian historical painting.
But experts noticed that the style of its writing is seriously different from Losenko’s works. During Tretyakov’s lifetime, they tried not to talk about this openly, but in the 1910s, the gallery’s Board of Trustees decided to submit it for independent examination.
What a surprise it was when the signature of another artist was discovered under Anton Losenko’s washed-out initials! Today, “The Young Painter,” written in 1765-1768, has the signature of the real author - the Russian artist Ivan Firsov.
"Bears" without its author
“Morning in a Pine Forest” (1889) is considered one of the Tretyakov Gallery’s masterpieces. This picture looks at us from the labels of the “Bear-toed Bear” chocolate candies, which the Einem confectionery factory began producing in pre-revolutionary times.
Two artists worked on the canvas. Ivan Shishkin painted a landscape of a fairy forest, and Konstantin Savitsky- bears.
Pavel Tretyakov liked the picture so much that without hesitation he paid the authors four thousand rubles. But, upon returning home, he personally washed off Savitsky’s signature with turpentine.
In his opinion, the signature of one artist, Shishkin, was much better associated with the title of the painting “Morning in a Pine Forest.”
“The Cossacks write a letter to the Turkish Sultan”
In 1890, Ilya Repin painted the painting “Cossacks,” which Pavel Tretyakov immediately decided to purchase. But I didn’t have time. The emperor was ahead of him AlexanderIII, which the artist simply could not refuse.
In the 1930s, the Soviet government redistributed some of the Tretyakov's masterpieces to provincial museums. “Cossacks” went to the Kharkov Art Museum, where they are exhibited to this day.
"Girl with Peaches" and "Unknown"
The modern exhibition of the Tretyakov Gallery contains paintings that its creator categorically refused to acquire during his lifetime.
The painting “Unknown Woman,” or, as it is commonly called today, “Portrait of an Unknown Woman,” was painted Ivan Kramskoy in 1883. Pavel Tretyakov, who got acquainted with it, stated that the girl depicted on the canvas is too beautiful, and the picture itself suffers from a lack of realism.
He refused to buy the painting, but after his death it was acquired by the Tretyakov Board of Trustees, becoming one of its masterpieces. During Soviet times, reproductions and copies of “Portrait of an Unknown Woman” became widespread and could be seen on the walls of thousands of Soviet apartments.
A similar story with the painting. Valentina Serova“Girl with Peaches” (1887), which Pavel Tretyakov did not regret seeing in his gallery, but it is still there.
Understanding art is not as difficult as it seems. To do this, it is not necessary to study for several years to become an art critic. It is enough to talk with experts who will talk about famous paintings in such a way that later in the museum you can see them from an unexpected angle.
Lecturer of the educational project Level One, certified art historian Natalya Ignatova revealed the secrets of the five most mysterious paintings of the Tretyakov Gallery.
News and facts publishes this amazing material for its reader.
“Bogatyrs”, Viktor Vasnetsov, 1898
Viktor Vasnetsov devoted a significant part of his life to the painting with three heroes of epics and fairy tales. The canvas is one of the Tretyakov's record holders for the number of years spent on its creation. The artist made the first sketch in 1871, and completed his masterpiece only in 1898.
Contrary to popular belief that the heroes went out into the field just to take a walk and survey the surroundings, they are ready to rush into battle. The enemy stands in the distance, as if behind the viewer, his presence is evidenced by gathering clouds, hawks that anticipate prey, but the main thing is the extended sword of Dobrynya Nikitich and the bow ready to shoot in the hands of Alyosha Popovich.
The prototype of Ilya Muromets was Emperor Alexander III, the artist painted Dobrynya Nikitich from himself, but the prototype of Alyosha Popovich is not reliably known, he could have been a commoner - Vasnetsov, in the process of working on the picture, painted many portraits of peasants, cab drivers and blacksmiths, who, as it seemed to him, were somewhat similar to famous fairy tale characters.
“Unequal marriage”, Vasily Pukirev, 1862
The plot for the painting was suggested to Vasily Pukirev by his friend, artist Pyotr Shmelkov. He knew well the customs of wealthy and influential people, for whom arranged marriages were commonplace. Pukirev thanked his friend for the idea by depicting him on the right behind the bride’s back. The painter himself is also present in the picture: he painted himself in profile in the image of the best man of the bride with crossed arms. Initially, the artist did not plan to put himself on the canvas: in his place was a friend whose lover was married to an elderly man. Moreover, Pukirev’s friend, due to family circumstances, was forced to attend that unpleasant wedding as a best man.
Subsequently, the friend asked the artist to remove him from the canvas so that mutual friends and relatives would not remember this story again. Then Pukirev wrote himself instead of him. If you visually divide the canvas diagonally from the upper right corner to the lower left, then the bride and her two friends will appear on the right side. While on the left are the relatives and friends of the groom, deliberately depicted as unpleasant people. Thus, the canvas is divided into two semantic parts, as if personifying good and evil. Moreover, the priest ends up on the side of evil. This technique testifies to the artist’s commitment to the principles of realism, thereby raising the question of the role of the church in society.
“Morning in a pine forest”, Ivan Shishkin, Konstantin Savitsky, 1889
Not all sweets lovers know that two artists worked on the famous painting, which was then replicated on chocolate candy wrappers. Shishkin was in charge of the forest, and Savitsky was in charge of the bears. Moreover, it was Savitsky who came up with the plot of the film. There were initially two bears, but then their number grew. Collector Pavel Tretyakov purchased the painting for 4 thousand rubles.
However, it is believed that the collector did not like Savitsky's work. According to legend, Tretyakov said: “What terrible bears!” And Savitsky’s name was blurred out on the canvas: according to one version, it was done by Tretyakov, and according to another, it was the artist himself, who was offended, unable to tolerate criticism from the gallery owner. Shishkin's skill is expressed in the lighting of the forest: on the tops of the pines the first rays of the sun are masterfully painted, which viewers usually do not notice, distracted by the figures of bears.
“The Appearance of Christ to the People”, Alexander Ivanov, 1857
Alexander Ivanov painted the first significant painting based on a biblical story in 1834. It was "The Appearance of the Risen Christ to Mary Magdalene." And just three years later, in 1837, he began creating the main work of his life - the epoch-making canvas “The Appearance of Christ to the People.” The artist worked on the painting for 20 years in Italy. In the process of creating the canvas, he made more than 500 studies and sketches. All connoisseurs of painting in Russia knew that Ivanov was working on a monumental canvas. In May 1858, the painter decided to send the painting to St. Petersburg. According to legend, during the journey the ship was overtaken by a strong storm. The artist rolled the canvas into a pipe and raised it above his head - he chose not to see the death of his creation, but to drown himself if the ship went under water.
However, the canvas still arrived in St. Petersburg, where it was exhibited in one of the halls of the Academy of Arts. The public received the picture coldly - there were complaints about the too small figure of Christ, and about the water, depicted not in an academic manner, but with free strokes. It is curious that Ivanov was ahead of his time in this sense, because later the Impressionists would work in a similar manner. In addition, the canvas turned out to be unfinished. On the left side you can see an old man in a white loincloth, which is reflected in the water as a red spot. In the sketches, the bandage was indeed red, and the artist, apparently, simply forgot to repaint it. A month after the presentation of the work, Ivanov died, and a few hours after his death, Emperor Alexander II purchased the painting for 15,000 rubles. Despite the fact that the amount was substantial, initially the artist, who devoted half his life to this work, was counting on a much larger fee, but, unfortunately, did not manage to receive even this money.
“Moscow courtyard”, Vasily Polenov, 1878
The painting of the Wanderer Vasily Polenov is closely related to another of his works called “Grandma’s Garden.” Both canvases depict the same house in the Arbat area, only from different sides. Polenov wrote his most famous work after moving to Moscow from St. Petersburg and settling in one of the apartments in the building at the intersection of Durnovsky and Trubnikovsky lanes near the Church of the Savior on the Sands.
The view depicted in the painting was from his window. Moreover, it took Polenov very little time to create the masterpiece: in fact, it is a sketch painted from life. For the first time in the history of Russian painting, the artist combined two genres - everyday life and landscape. The public, tired of the gloomy and depressive paintings of the Wanderers, accepted the cheerful sunny picture with delight. No one was even embarrassed by the garbage dump depicted in the lower left corner, which most viewers mistake for a well.
Understanding art is not as difficult as it seems. To do this, it is not necessary to study for several years to become an art critic. It is enough to talk with experts who will talk about famous paintings in such a way that later in the museum you can see them from an unexpected angle.
Lecturer of the educational project Level One, certified art historian Natalya Ignatova revealed the secrets of the five most mysterious paintings of the Tretyakov Gallery.
“Bogatyrs”, Viktor Vasnetsov, 1898
Viktor Vasnetsov devoted a significant part of his life to the painting with three heroes of epics and fairy tales. The canvas is one of the Tretyakov's record holders for the number of years spent on its creation. The artist made the first sketch in 1871, and completed his masterpiece only in 1898.Contrary to popular belief that the heroes went out into the field just to take a walk and survey the surroundings, they are ready to rush into battle. The enemy stands in the distance, as if behind the viewer, his presence is evidenced by gathering clouds, hawks that anticipate prey, but the main thing is the extended sword of Dobrynya Nikitich and the bow ready to shoot in the hands of Alyosha Popovich. The prototype of Ilya Muromets was Emperor Alexander III, the artist painted Dobrynya Nikitich from himself, but the prototype of Alyosha Popovich is not reliably known, he could have been a commoner - Vasnetsov, in the process of working on the picture, painted many portraits of peasants, cab drivers and blacksmiths, who, as it seemed to him, were somewhat similar to famous fairy tale characters.
“Unequal marriage”, Vasily Pukirev, 1862
The plot for the painting was suggested to Vasily Pukirev by his friend, artist Pyotr Shmelkov. He knew well the customs of wealthy and influential people, for whom arranged marriages were commonplace. Pukirev thanked his friend for the idea by depicting him on the right behind the bride’s back. The painter himself is also present in the picture: he painted himself in profile in the image of the best man of the bride with crossed arms. Initially, the artist did not plan to put himself on the canvas: in his place was a friend whose lover was married to an elderly man. Moreover, Pukirev’s friend, due to family circumstances, was forced to attend that unpleasant wedding as a best man.Subsequently, the friend asked the artist to remove him from the canvas so that mutual friends and relatives would not remember this story again. Then Pukirev wrote himself instead of him. If you visually divide the canvas diagonally from the upper right corner to the lower left, then the bride and her two friends will appear on the right side. While on the left are the relatives and friends of the groom, deliberately depicted as unpleasant people. Thus, the canvas is divided into two semantic parts, as if personifying good and evil. Moreover, the priest ends up on the side of evil. This technique testifies to the artist’s commitment to the principles of realism, thereby raising the question of the role of the church in society.
“Morning in a pine forest”, Ivan Shishkin, Konstantin Savitsky, 1889
Not all sweets lovers know that two artists worked on the famous painting, which was then replicated on chocolate candy wrappers. Shishkin was in charge of the forest, and Savitsky was in charge of the bears. Moreover, it was Savitsky who came up with the plot of the film. There were initially two bears, but then their number grew. Collector Pavel Tretyakov purchased the painting for 4 thousand rubles.However, it is believed that the collector did not like Savitsky's work. According to legend, Tretyakov said: “What terrible bears!” And Savitsky’s name was blurred out on the canvas: according to one version, it was done by Tretyakov, and according to another, it was the artist himself, who was offended, unable to tolerate criticism from the gallery owner. Shishkin's skill is expressed in the lighting of the forest: on the tops of the pines the first rays of the sun are masterfully painted, which viewers usually do not notice, distracted by the figures of bears.
“The Appearance of Christ to the People”, Alexander Ivanov, 1857
Alexander Ivanov painted the first significant painting based on a biblical story in 1834. It was "The Appearance of the Risen Christ to Mary Magdalene." And just three years later, in 1837, he began creating the main work of his life - the epoch-making canvas “The Appearance of Christ to the People.” The artist worked on the painting for 20 years in Italy. In the process of creating the canvas, he made more than 500 studies and sketches. All connoisseurs of painting in Russia knew that Ivanov was working on a monumental canvas. In May 1858, the painter decided to send the painting to St. Petersburg. According to legend, during the journey the ship was overtaken by a strong storm. The artist rolled the canvas into a pipe and raised it above his head - he chose not to see the death of his creation, but to drown himself if the ship went under water.However, the canvas still arrived in St. Petersburg, where it was exhibited in one of the halls of the Academy of Arts. The public received the picture coldly - there were complaints about the too small figure of Christ, and about the water, depicted not in an academic manner, but with free strokes. It is curious that Ivanov was ahead of his time in this sense, because later the Impressionists would work in a similar manner. In addition, the canvas turned out to be unfinished. On the left side you can see an old man in a white loincloth, which is reflected in the water as a red spot. In the sketches, the bandage was indeed red, and the artist, apparently, simply forgot to repaint it. A month after the presentation of the work, Ivanov died, and a few hours after his death, Emperor Alexander II purchased the painting for 15,000 rubles. Despite the fact that the amount was substantial, initially the artist, who devoted half his life to this work, was counting on a much larger fee, but, unfortunately, did not manage to receive even this money.
“Moscow courtyard”, Vasily Polenov, 1878
The painting of the Wanderer Vasily Polenov is closely related to another of his works called “Grandma’s Garden.” Both canvases depict the same house in the Arbat area, only from different sides. Polenov wrote his most famous work after moving to Moscow from St. Petersburg and settling in one of the apartments in the building at the intersection of Durnovsky and Trubnikovsky lanes near the Church of the Savior on the Sands.The view depicted in the painting was from his window. Moreover, it took Polenov very little time to create the masterpiece: in fact, it is a sketch painted from life. For the first time in the history of Russian painting, the artist combined two genres - everyday life and landscape. The public, tired of the gloomy and depressive paintings of the Wanderers, accepted the cheerful sunny picture with delight. No one was even embarrassed by the garbage dump depicted in the lower left corner, which most viewers mistake for a well.
1. Tretyakov began by purchasing Western European paintings.
Merchant and philanthropist Pavel Tretyakov Throughout his life he was interested in painting, but he himself never painted. In his youth, he began collecting books with illustrations and engravings. He made his first purchases at the Sukharevsky market, to which he liked to take Sunday walks. At the very beginning of his career as a collector, Pavel Mikhailovich did not even think that his collection would consist exclusively of works by Russian painters. Like all beginning collectors, he made accidental acquisitions. So, in 1854–1855 Tretyakov bought eleven graphic sheets and nine paintings by old Dutch masters.
Wanderer Ilya Ostroukhov, who later became one of the leaders of the Tretyakov Gallery, after Tretyakov’s death, recalled the following: “The first two or three mistakes in such a difficult matter as determining the authenticity of old paintings turned him away from collecting old masters forever. Subsequently, the deceased used to say: “The most authentic painting for me is the one that was personally purchased from the artist.” Today's collectors of contemporary art will definitely support this sound argument.
2. Pavel Tretyakov writes for the first time about plans to create a museum of Russian painting in his will.
At twenty-eight years old, Pavel Tretyakov wrote his first will - he was going to go abroad to study how linen weaving works in factories in Western Europe. According to the rules of the time and by agreement with the partners, it was necessary to draw up a will. The young merchant amusingly distributes everything that he receives from his father and that he himself has earned by the age of twenty-eight: “I bequeath a capital of one hundred and fifty thousand rubles in silver to the establishment of an art museum or public art gallery in Moscow... For me, who truly and ardently loves painting, there can be no better desire than to lay the foundation for a public, accessible repository of fine arts for all, which will bring benefit to many , everyone's pleasure."
3. The founding date of the gallery was the day of acquisition of the painting “Skirmish with Finnish Smugglers” by Khudyakov.
It is generally accepted that the history of the Tretyakov Gallery began on May 22, 1856 (new style). On this day, Pavel Tretyakov bought a painting by Khudyakov, and the artist received a receipt. From this time on, Tretyakov acquired dozens of works, not even stopping at large expenses. The collector himself considered the painting “Temptation” by the genre painter Schilder to be his first Russian acquisition; he writes about this in a letter to the critic Stasov (though thirty years after his first purchases) in 1893 after donating the art gallery to Moscow.
Vasily Khudyakov
"Skirmish with Finnish Smugglers"
1853
4. The Tretyakov Gallery is based on the collections of two Tretyakovs - brothers Pavel and Sergei, who collected Western painting.
The youngest of the Tretyakovs, Sergei, became interested in collecting much later than his brother. In the early 1870s, he gradually began to collect modern Western painting, primarily French, which, by the way, was then more expensive than Russian. Sergei's collection was small (included Daubigny, Corot, Mile) and was located in a mansion on Prechistensky Boulevard. The owner showed it only to guests and, as they say, “on recommendation.” He bought paintings for himself and sometimes on the advice of Pavel. Some of his acquisitions were exhibited by his older brother. After the sudden death of Sergei Tretyakov, according to his will, the collection was donated to the city (its value then exceeded 500 thousand rubles). The will of his brother prompted Pavel to transfer his museum along with the mansion to Moscow. So, in 1892, a corresponding statement appeared in the City Duma. The Duma gave the resulting collection the name “Moscow City Gallery named after the brothers Pavel and Sergei Tretyakov,” and paintings from Sergei’s Western collection were exhibited right there in Lavrushinsky Lane. Moreover, in 1910, according to the will of the collector Mikhail Morozov, Western art in the Tretyakov Gallery was replenished with works by Renoir, Pissarro, Manet, Monet and Degas.
Pavel and Sergei Tretyakov
Photo: press service of the Tretyakov Gallery
5. Tretyakov competed with Emperor Alexander III in collecting Russian artists.
Tretyakov showed no less agility in acquiring new works than in commercial transactions. There are memories according to which Emperor Alexander III and his brother Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich (he, by the way, was the president of the Imperial Academy of Arts and in many ways became the reason for Serov and Polenov leaving the Academy) were often indignant at exhibitions, seeing paintings that had already been noted as property of Tretyakov. This is because he preferred to buy canvases in the studio directly from the artists even before the opening of exhibitions. An indicative case occurred after the death of Alexander III. In memory of him, his son Nicholas II, knowing that his father really wanted to get Surikov’s painting “The Conquest of Siberia by Ermak,” outbid the price and offered for it a record amount for that time of 40 thousand rubles, which Tretyakov could not afford.
6. The emblem of the Tretyakov Gallery became the façade based on a drawing by Vasnetsov.
The gallery was located in a house purchased by the Tretyakovs in 1851. The more acquisitions there were, the more spacious new premises were added to the residential part of the mansion - for storing and displaying works of art. In 1902–1904, after the death of Pavel Tretyakov, the famous facade of the architect Bashkirov, based on a drawing by Vasnetsov, appeared in the Russian style with a “kokoshnik” and a relief of St. George the Victorious (the patron saint of Moscow, who is depicted on the city’s coat of arms).
Drawing provided by the press service of the Tretyakov Gallery
7. Repin’s painting “Ivan the Terrible and his son Ivan November 16, 1581” was attacked by a vandal.
On January 16, 1913, a terrible thing happened in the Tretyakov Gallery - an unknown vandal dealt a fatal blow to Ilya Repin’s painting “Ivan the Terrible and his son Ivan on November 16, 1581” with a knife. It is interesting that at one time Emperor Alexander III and his entourage did not like this painting terribly. By his decree, he banned it from being shown, and the painting itself thus became the first painting to be censored in the Russian Empire. The ban was later lifted. However, a new misfortune came with the 29-year-old Old Believer and son of a furniture magnate, Abram Balashov. After the cuts he inflicted, Repin had to actually rebuild the faces of his heroes anew. The then curator of the Tretyakov Gallery, Yegor Moiseevich Khruslov, upon learning of the damage to the painting, threw himself under a train.
8. The chronological arrangement of the paintings was introduced by the artist Igor Grabar.
At the beginning of 1913, the Moscow City Duma elected Grabar a trustee of the Tretyakov Gallery, and he remained in this position until 1925. In accordance with world museum practice, Grabar decided to remake the exhibition. Thus, the works of one artist were now exhibited in one hall, and the halls themselves were subordinated to a chronological principle.
9. Part of the Tretyakov Gallery is the Museum-Church of St. Nicholas in Tolmachi.
Due to the strengthening of anti-religious sentiments, the Church of St. Nicholas in Tolmachi was closed in 1929. A few years later, its building was transferred to the Tretyakov Gallery for storage. Later it was connected to the exhibition halls by a two-story building, the upper floor of which was specially designed for exhibiting Ivanov’s painting “The Appearance of Christ to the People.” Today the temple has the status of a house church at the gallery. Unique shrines are kept here, including the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God, and once a year on the feast of the Holy Trinity, Andrei Rublev’s “Trinity” icon is brought from the halls of the Tretyakov Gallery to the temple.
10. The Tretyakov Gallery was closed for a total of sixteen years (two years under Tretyakov, four during the Second World War and ten for reconstruction).
For the first time, the gallery was closed for two years due to theft. In 1891, four canvases were stolen from the gallery on Lavrushinsky Lane. For Tretyakov, this incident turned out to be a real tragedy, and he ordered the gallery to be closed for two years. Later, two paintings were found. During the Great Patriotic War, the collection was evacuated to Novosibirsk and returned in May 1945. From 1986 to 1995, due to major reconstruction, the Tretyakov Gallery was closed to visitors. Then the building on Krymsky Val became the only exhibition area of the museum for a whole decade. By the way, it was merged with the Tretyakov Gallery just before the renovation in 1985. Over the years of its existence, the collection of the Tretyakov Gallery has increased fifty-fold.
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