For Spanish people and tourists who want to have a taste of Russian art and culture, it's not necesarry to go directly to Moscow or St. Petersburg. Now you can take advantage of the current exhibition in "The Prado" of Madrid capital, "El Hermitage en el Prado", which shows us a big sample of Russian history through the marvellous collection of the Hermitage Museum. More than 170 works have been chosen with the intention to expose the history of this Russian museum, of his collections, with theirs origins and subsequent acquisitions. It's also a way to discover the history of Russia, a nation with own culture and tradition, but with a big and strong link with Europe. As a matter of fact, Peter the Great, who reigned between 1682-1725, founded the city of Saint Petersburg in 1703, with the clear aim to build up a great capital for his kingdom, taking as a model other european towns like Amsterdam and Paris. He wanted Saint Petersburg to be a window open to the Europe, featuring with theatres, administrative buildings, royal house and opera and, of course, a big museum, where royal collections of art would have been hosted, as the European royal families did.
The Ermitage museum in Saint Petersburg represents a big effort in this sense. It is both a palace and a museum, which was progressive enlarged as the royal collection grew thanks to the patronage of Peter the Great' successors. Among them, Catherine the Great (reigned 1762-96) was the strongest lover of European culture, with a deep passion for Voltaire (she bought his complete library when he died) and the history of art (she sent all over the continent her emissaries in order to buy great masterpieces of painting).
The current exhibition includes different sections.The most interesting are dedicated to the collection of Italian paintings and sculptures (Caravaggio and Canova) and Spanish school, but the most curious is that in wich you can admire rare and precious archaelogical items including Scythian ancient gold objects, deriving from the archaelogical excavations that began in Russia in the eighteenth century. In the end, take your time and enjoy the view of an absolute contemporary art 's masterpiece: "Conversation" by Henri Matisse.
The Ermitage museum in Saint Petersburg represents a big effort in this sense. It is both a palace and a museum, which was progressive enlarged as the royal collection grew thanks to the patronage of Peter the Great' successors. Among them, Catherine the Great (reigned 1762-96) was the strongest lover of European culture, with a deep passion for Voltaire (she bought his complete library when he died) and the history of art (she sent all over the continent her emissaries in order to buy great masterpieces of painting).
The current exhibition includes different sections.The most interesting are dedicated to the collection of Italian paintings and sculptures (Caravaggio and Canova) and Spanish school, but the most curious is that in wich you can admire rare and precious archaelogical items including Scythian ancient gold objects, deriving from the archaelogical excavations that began in Russia in the eighteenth century. In the end, take your time and enjoy the view of an absolute contemporary art 's masterpiece: "Conversation" by Henri Matisse.
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| "The conversation" by Henry Matisse |
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