Eastern and Central Europe (Eyewitness Travel Guides)

136 NORTH EASTERN EUROPE

Tretyakov Gallery y
Третьяковская галерея
Tretyakovskaya galereya

The gallery was founded in 1856 by Pavel Tretyakov, a wealthy

merchant, who presented it to the city in 1892. It continued to
expand after the Revolution as numerous private collections
were nationa lized. Today it has the largest collection of Russian
art in the world – with more than 100,000 works on display.
The building has a striking façade, with a bas-relief of St
George and the dragon at its centre. A new wing was added in

1930. Many of the early 20th-century works are now in the
      New Tretyakov Gallery, an annexe to the main building.

Portraits by Ivan Kramskoy

The Appearance of

Christ to the People

is by the 19th-century

Romantic artist,

Aleksandr Ivanov.

The Rooks Have
Come (1871)
This bleak winter scene by
Aleksey Savrasov contains
a message of hope – rooks
are taken by Russians as a
sign of the coming spring.

Portrait of Arseny
Tropinin, the Artist’s
Son (c. 1818)
This portrait is by Vasiliy
Tropinin, who was a serf for
47 years before gain ing free-
dom and finding success.

Stairs from

basement

Portraits by Ilya

Repin (1844–1930)

. Demon Seated (1890)
This is one of several innovative paintings by Mikhail Vrubel,
who adopted a new, strikingly modern style. They are
inspired by Mikhail Lermontov’s Symbolist poem, The Demon
(1839), with which Vrubel became obsessed.

Stairs down to

ground floor

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STAR EXHIBITS

. Demon Seated
. The Trinity

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For hotels and restaurants in this region see pp160–61 and pp162–3

First floor