Russian Museum

The State Russian Museum, located on Arts Square in Saint Petersburg, Russia, is the world's largest depository of Russian fine art. Founded in 1895 and opened to the public in 1898, it ranks among the largest art museums globally, occupying a total area exceeding 30 hectares. In 2022, the museum attracted 2,651,688 visitors, placing it twelfth among the most-visited art museums worldwide. Its holdings span Russian art from the 10th century to the present day, encompassing painting, sculpture, graphic arts, decorative art, and folk art across all major periods and movements.

The museum was established on 13 April 1895 (25 April in the Gregorian calendar) upon the enthronement of Emperor Nicholas II, who decreed its creation to commemorate his father, Alexander III. The founding decree assigned the Mikhailovsky Palace and its dependencies to house the new institution, which was initially named the Russian Museum of His Imperial Majesty Alexander III. The museum's charter, approved by Nicholas II on 14 February 1897, established strict conditions: works by living artists were to remain at the Imperial Academy of Arts for five years before transfer; deposited items could never be alienated; and the director had to be a member of the imperial family. Grand Duke Georgy Mikhailovich Romanov served as the first director from 1895 to 1917.

The original collection comprised works from the Hermitage (80 paintings), the Imperial Academy of Arts (122 paintings), the Winter Palace, and the suburban palaces at Gatchina and Alexander, supplemented by acquisitions from private collections including portraits from the heirs of Prince A. B. Lobanov-Rostovsky and drawings from Princess M. K. Tenisheva. At its opening on 17 March 1898, the museum held 445 paintings, 111 sculptures, 981 graphic works, and approximately 5,000 ancient Russian icons and decorative objects. The collection nearly doubled in its first decade through purchases and donations.

The 1917 Revolution dramatically expanded holdings as private noble and bourgeois collections were nationalized. The State Museums Fund (1921-1928) distributed confiscated artworks, and in 1926 the museum absorbed the entire collection of the Leningrad Museum of Artistic Culture (founded 1921), gaining significant modernist works. By 1925 the painting collection alone reached 3,648 works. In 1934 the ethnographic department was separated to form the independent State Museum of Ethnography of the Peoples of the USSR.

During the Second World War, over 7,500 of the most valuable pieces were evacuated to Molotov (now Perm) in 1941; the remainder was packed and hidden in the palace basement. No works were damaged during the conflict. Post-war exhibitions reopened progressively in 1946, with the Benois Wing linked to the Mikhailovsky Palace by a corridor in the late 1940s to unify the display. Systematic acquisitions resumed after 1954 with the establishment of an expert purchasing commission. In 2004 the Summer Garden, Peter I's Summer Palace, and associated structures were incorporated into the museum. As of 1 January 2023, the collection numbered 444,705 pieces.

The museum's collection encompasses approximately 315,000 exhibits across painting, sculpture, graphic arts, decorative art, and folk art, representing the most comprehensive survey of Russian art alongside Moscow's Tretyakov Gallery. Chronologically it extends from 12th-century icons through Socialist Realism to contemporary practice, covering all major genres and movements. Particular strengths include Old Russian icon painting, 19th-century academic and realist painting, and the Russian avant-garde. The 1926 absorption of the Leningrad Museum of Artistic Culture brought major modernist holdings including works by Olga Rozanova, Kazimir Malevich, Robert Falk, Lyubov Popova, Alexander Rodchenko, Nadezhda Udaltsova, and Natalia Goncharova. The collection also maintains significant holdings of international contemporary art through the Ludwig Museum, established in 1995 in the Marble Palace, featuring post-1945 works.

Among the most celebrated works in the collection are Andrei Rublev's "The Apostle Peter and The Apostle Paul" (1408); Karl Bryullov's "The Last Day of Pompeii" (1833); Alexander Ivanov's "The Appearance of Christ Before the People" (1836-1855); Ivan Aivazovsky's "The Ninth Wave" (1850); Ilya Repin's "The Volga Barge Haulers" (1870-1873); Marc Chagall's "The Walk" (1917); Kazimir Malevich's "Suprematism" (1915-1916) and "Black Square"; Wassily Kandinsky's "Composition No. 223" (1919); and Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin's paintings. The Ludwig Museum in the Russian Museum, opened 10 March 1995 in the Marble Palace, holds significant international contemporary works by Jasper Johns, Pablo Picasso, Jeff Koons, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Andy Warhol, Joseph Beuys, Ilya Kabakov, Jorg Immendorff, Werner Braun, and Gottfried Helnwein.

The principal building is the Mikhailovsky Palace, a Neoclassical residence constructed 1819-1825 to designs by Carlo Rossi for Grand Duke Michael Pavlovich. After the Grand Duke's death it became known as the Palace of Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna, renowned for theatrical presentations and balls. Some halls retain their Italianate opulent interiors from the imperial residence period. The Benois Building (Corpus Benua), designed by Leon Benois in 1910-1912, was begun in 1914, interrupted by the First World War, and completed in 1919; it was assigned to the museum in the 1930s and connected to the palace by a corridor in the late 1940s.

Additional museum properties include the Summer Palace of Peter I (1710-1714) with the Summer Garden; the Marble Palace of Count Orlov (1768-1785), now housing the Ludwig Museum; St Michael's Castle (Engineers' Castle) of Emperor Paul (1797-1801); the cabin of Peter the Great on the Petrovskaya Embankment; and the Rastrelliesque Stroganov Palace on Nevsky Prospekt (1752-1754). The exterior of the main building and its west wing remain unaltered from Rossi's original design.

The State Russian Museum is situated on Arts Square in central Saint Petersburg, near Nevsky Prospekt. It operates as a state institution under the Russian Federation. The museum complex encompasses multiple palace buildings across more than 30 hectares, offering extensive exhibition space for its comprehensive collections. The international society "Friends of the Russian Museum" was founded on 19 March 1997 to provide financial, professional, and organizational support; its board is chaired by V. P. Yevtushenkov and comprises 400 individuals plus 85 companies and organizations. The museum maintains an active exhibition program and continues systematic collection development. Restoration of the collection is handled by the Museum Valuables Restoration Service, established in 1922 and comprising 16 specialized workshops employing 95 staff as of 2019, with a contemporary art restoration workshop added in 2010.