Petrovka 35 Museum of Modern Art. Exhibition strategy

The Moscow Museum of Modern Art is the first state museum in Russia that entirely specializes in the art of the 20th and 21st centuries. Since its opening, the museum has expanded the scope of its activities many times and gained recognition from the general public. Today the museum is one of the most active participants in the artistic life of the capital.

The museum opened its doors on December 15, 1999 with the support of the Moscow Government and the Moscow City Department of Culture. The founder and director of the museum was Zurab Tsereteli, President of the Russian Academy of Arts. His personal collection of more than 2,000 works by famous artists of the 20th century laid the foundation for the museum's collection. Later, the museum's funds were significantly replenished, and at present it is one of the most representative collections of Russian art of the 20th century.

Today the museum is located on four sites in the historical center of Moscow. The main building, which houses the permanent exhibition and hosts temporary exhibitions, is located on Petrovka Street, in the former mansion of the merchant Gubin, designed by the architect Matvey Kazakov. In addition, the museum has at its disposal three magnificent exhibition spaces: a five-story building in Ermolaevsky Lane, a spacious gallery on Tverskoy Boulevard and an old building of the Russian Academy of Arts on Gogolevsky Boulevard.

Building history

The main building of the Moscow Museum of Modern Art is of historical and cultural value. In the history of the city of Moscow, this architectural monument dating back to the 18th century has remained known as the Gubin mansion. Once it really was the main house of the city estate of the wealthy Ural industrialist and merchant Mikhail Pavlovich Gubin. The building was built in 1793 according to the project of the famous Russian architect Matvey Kazakov.

The place where the manor house is located - the current museum - was inhabited by Muscovites back in the XIV century. Then Petrovka Street was a deserted road, stretching from the Vysokopetrovsky Monastery - a vis-a-vis the museum building - to the Kremlin itself. Until the end of the 17th century, on the site where the mansion now stands, there was a settlement of monastery workers. At the time of Peter I, on Petrovka, opposite the monastery, there was the possession of the Naryshkin boyars, whose house was connected by an overhead passage across the street to the monastery.

After the change of a whole series of owners, the land plot went to the owner, whose name remained immortalized thanks to the wonderful estate built by him, the main house of which has come down to us almost unchanged. "I have a house, in the White City ... inherited by deeds from the Orenburg merchant Dmitry Kuzmin, son of Krasheninnikov ..." - this is how Gubin himself reports to the Moscow office of city buildings on May 25, 1799. Researchers working on the architectural heritage of Matvey Kazakov have repeatedly suggested that the main house of the estate was rebuilt by an architect from an older building. The mansion, together with the side wings (one of them has survived to this day), was a typical Moscow estate ensemble facing the red line of the street. A park with a small pond was located behind the buildings. In this form, the estate existed until the end of the 19th century. Then she suffered the fate of most of the old Moscow estates: there was a division of ownership. Most of it, together with the garden and the pond, was sold and built up. In 1880, the main house was rented out for a gymnasium. It is known that the famous symbolist poet Valery Bryusov and the Bakhrushin brothers studied there.

After the revolution, a new life began again for the building. In 1920, the former gymnasium was designated the Institute of Physiotherapy and Orthopedics. Throughout the Soviet period, up to the moment when the mansion was transferred to a museum purpose, a hospital facility was located here. During this time, the external decoration and interior were badly dilapidated, and a major restoration was required. As a result, the museum visitor can now see the unique paintings on the ceilings of the mansion, made in the classicist spirit. Interior elements - the main staircase, the orchestral niche in the ballroom, ceramic furnaces - still convey to us the atmosphere of Moscow antiquity.

The idea of ​​adapting the mansion for a modern art museum is not accidental. In a combination of old and new forms, in the close proximity of completely different eras, both the artist and the viewer open up the possibility of self-determination in the synthetic space of culture. This element of free play with historical material is characteristic of postmodern aesthetics as a whole. The experience of exposing works of contemporary art in the architectural space of a different era is well known to European countries.

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Moscow Museum of Modern Art

The Moscow Museum of Modern Art is the first state museum in Russia that entirely specializes in the art of the 20th and 21st centuries. Since its opening, the museum has expanded the scope of its activities many times and gained recognition from the general public. Today the museum is one of the most active participants in the artistic life of the capital.

The museum opened its doors on December 15, 1999 with the support of the Moscow Government and the Moscow City Department of Culture. The founder and director of the museum was Zurab Tsereteli, President of the Russian Academy of Arts. His personal collection of more than 2,000 works by famous artists of the 20th century laid the foundation for the museum's collection. Later, the museum's funds were significantly replenished, and at present it is one of the most representative collections of Russian art of the 20th century.

Today the museum is located on four sites in the historical center of Moscow. The main building is located on Petrovka Street, in the former mansion of the merchant Gubin, designed by the architect Matvey Kazakov. In addition, the museum has at its disposal three magnificent exhibition spaces: a five-story building in Ermolaevsky Lane, a spacious exhibition space on Tverskoy Boulevard and an old building of the Russian Academy of Arts on Gogolevsky Boulevard.

Collection

The collection of the museum represents the main stages in the development of the avant-garde. Most of the collection consists of works by Russian authors, but the exhibition also includes works by foreign artists: graphic sheets by Pablo Picasso, Fernand Leger, Juan Miro and Giorgio de Chirico, sculptures by Salvador Dali, Armand and Arnaldo Pomodoro, paintings by Henri Rousseau and Françoise Gilot, installations Yukinori Yanaga.

The core of the museum's collection consists of works by the classics of the Russian avant-garde of the early 20th century. Many works purchased at auctions and in galleries in Europe and the United States have been returned to their homeland from abroad. Among them are paintings by Kazimir Malevich, Marc Chagall, Natalia Goncharova and Mikhail Larionov, Aristarkh Lentulov, Vladimir Tatlin, Pavel Filonov and Wassily Kandinsky, sculptures by Alexander Archipenko and Osip Zadkin. In addition, the museum is proud of its unique collection of works by the Georgian primitive artist Niko Pirosmani. An impressive section of the exposition is dedicated to the work of nonconformist artists of the 1960-1980s: Ilya Kabakov, Anatoly Zverev, Vladimir Yakovlev, Vladimir Nemukhin, Vitaly Komar and Alexander Melamid, Oscar Rabin, Dmitry Krasnopevtsev, Leonid Shvartsman, Oleg Tselkov and others. The museum supports the development of contemporary art in Russia and is constantly expanding its collection. Now the section of contemporary art presents works by Boris Orlov, Dmitry Alexandrovich Prigov, Valery Koshlyakov, Vladimir Dubossarsky and Alexander Vinogradov, Oleg Kulik, Viktor Pivovarov, Konstantin Zvezdochetov, Andrey Bartenev and other artists.

Exhibition strategy

The extensive exhibition program of the museum is aimed at the widest and most diverse representation of the visual culture of the 20th and 21st centuries. Every year the museum organizes many exhibitions of various sizes - from debut shows by emerging authors and conceptual exhibitions to international festivals and huge retrospectives of major artists.

Education

We support young artists and involve them in the actual artistic process. For this purpose, the Museum has a School of Contemporary Art "Free Workshops". The two-year training program is implemented in concrete practical activities in creative workshops. The course program includes lectures on contemporary art, the study of the art market, the study of new technologies of visual arts, the development of intellectual problems of modern culture. Also in the museum there is an art studio "Fantasy" for children from 5 to 12 years old. Lectures and master classes with leading artists, curators and art researchers are held for everyone.

On the day of cultural heritage, April 18, I managed to get on an excursion from the project "Entering the city" to the Gubin Estate, better known as the Museum of Contemporary Art. The former estate, and now the museum is located in the center of Moscow, on Petrovka Street. I share my feedback on visiting the Museum of Contemporary Art on Petrovka.

Having signed up for an excursion to Gubin's Estate through a social network (from the project "Entering the City"), I was terribly pleased with myself. I was in time, I was in time! - I rejoiced, anticipating another interesting journey into the past. The excursion started at 16-00, but I, as always, managed to be late. Well, more precisely, the minibus, which got stuck in a traffic jam, is to blame (according to an old tradition, someone is always to blame). I had to change from the minibus to the metro, get to Tsvetnoy Boulevard, and then literally run with a camera at the ready to Petrovka Street. In general, the difficult path had to be overcome - this is what a craving for knowledge!

Fuh, catching my breath, I saw a bunch of intelligent people in the courtyard of the Museum of Modern Art.

Is this an excursion from the City Gate? ”I asked.

Yes, yes, the answer is a pretty aunt - by the way, your face is familiar. The same persons on excursions.

My heart somehow calmed down after the marathon, and I decided to look around. The courtyard of the museum is an open-air exhibition of unusual sculptures. Café Mart was visible in the distance from the courtyard. By the way, you can enter the courtyard completely free of charge, without visiting the museum.

Despite the beginning of the fifth, no one started the excursion. “Well, I ran in vain” - flashed through my head. However, they didn't let us get bored for a long time - a local guide came out of the museum building and took us to the Estate Museum.

First of all, it should be noted, at 25 Petrovka, there are several objects:

1) The perfectly preserved building of the architect Matvey Kazakov;

2) The collection of contemporary art, which is exhibited in the halls of the former Gubin estate;

3) The courtyard of the estate, where various outdoor sculptures are located.

The entrance to the Museum of Modern Art in Moscow is decorated in an unusual way, it reminded me personally of something the entrance to a cave.

The first thing you pay attention to upon entering the building is the most beautiful massive wooden door, very heavy.

A luxurious staircase leads to the former state rooms, as in a classic manor house. On both sides of the stairs and on the ceiling, there are images in the grisaille technique (painting in various shades, imitating stucco molding). By the way, the dome of the round hall in Petrovsky traveling palace .

The guide began to tell the story of the history of the old Moscow building.

The building of the museum by Matvey Kazakov

So, about the estate. The building that houses the Museum of Modern Art is an architectural monument of Moscow of the 18th century. The building was built in 1793 by the famous architect Matvey Kazakov. It went down in history as the Gubin Estate. Many years ago this building belonged to Mikhail Pavlovich Gubin, a wealthy Ural industrialist. Apparently, in those days, everyone, just as everyone, aspired to Moscow, nothing has changed over the years.

From the side of Petrovka street, the building is simply beautiful. Matvey Kazakov's impeccable style: clear lines, noble columns. The facade of a typical Moscow estate faces the red line of the street, while the rest of the estate, hidden from prying eyes, was located behind the main building. This was an unusual decision for those times. By the way, until the end of the 19th century there was a small pond behind the Estate, which was filled up - land in Moscow was always expensive. In 1880, the main house was rented out for a gymnasium. It is known that the famous symbolist poet Valery Bryusov and the Bakhrushin brothers studied there.

In 1920, the Institute of Physiotherapy and Orthopedics appeared on the site of the former gymnasium. And up to the moment the museum appeared within these walls, there was a hospital institution. During this time, the external decoration and interior were badly dilapidated, and a major restoration was required. Low bow to those people who, bit by bit, restored the external and internal decoration of the estate.

As a result, the museum visitor can now see the unique paintings on the ceilings of the mansion, made in the classicist spirit. Interior elements - the main staircase, the orchestral niche in the ballroom, ceramic furnaces - still convey to us the atmosphere of Moscow antiquity.

Despite the rich history inside, the interiors have practically not survived, in fact there are only walls and ceiling paintings. Because of what many tourists were upset, expecting to see something "old-noble" inside. On the other hand, in some of the halls, beautiful paintings in the grisaille technique I have already mentioned have been preserved on the ceilings. I post a photo so that everyone can appreciate this beauty.

Exposition of the Museum of Contemporary Art

But let's return from the former splendor to the present. The former Gubin estate houses the Museum of Contemporary Art in Moscow. That is, a very unusual combination has turned out - the art of the XX and XXI centuries, and antiquity architecture.

I must say right away that it is better to visit the museum with a guided tour, because you yourself are unlikely to understand something, unless of course you are a connoisseur of contemporary art.

A very nice tour guide of the museum gave us a real excursion into the world of modern art.

Another special feature of the museum is that it hosts various exhibitions. At the time of our tour, the museum was hosting an exhibition "Dreams for those who are awake."

Description of the concept of the exhibition from the official website of the museum (I admit, I would not have written that myself): The task of the new, fifth in a row, thematic exposition of the Moscow Museum of Modern Art is to analyze the patterns of viewers' perception through the prism of the eternal, actual and to this day opposition of “true” and “phantom” images. In other words, to explore the conflict rooted in Western culture between a positive, rational view of the image as a transparent "window into the world" and the opposite attitude to visual similarities as suspicious or downright dangerous figments of fantasy. Rarely revealed in such an exaggerated form, these psychological attitudes seem to be a dynamic pair: they are able to change places depending on the point of view.

In simple words, this is a rebus exhibition where contemporary artists and sculptors offer to solve various riddles, to include imaginative thinking. It's amazing and interesting.

In the first hall, we literally "looked into the eyes of contemporary art", and the big "eye" of art looked at us from the canvas. Someone, in general. It is better not to play goggles with "art", you will still lose. The feeling is strange, I confess. In a small room, “eyes” were displayed in different forms: drawing, telescope, etc.

The second room was even cooler. In the former ballroom, unusual installations are exhibited, on the theme of dreams, which recalled our consciousness in prehistoric times, in a cave of ancient people. All the action took place in a dark-dark hall, the huge windows of the ballroom were curtained.

Dreams, for those who are awake

If not for the guide, I would not have understood anything, honestly. And thanks to her, everything fit into the shelves in my head.

To understand the essence of the exposition, there are several more works.

Among the artists whose works are on display at the current exhibition: AES + F, Nikita Alekseev, Sergey Bratkov, Oleg Vasiliev, Francisco Infante, Ilya Kabakov and many others.

I also really liked this unusual corridor.

Modern Art Museum

We spent about an hour in the museum, but the time flew by quickly.

Courtyard with unusual sculptures

After walking around the estate, the guide invited us to show interesting exhibits in the courtyard of the museum. Well, who would refuse? However, there were few people willing, and only 5 of the group of 20 people went into the yard.

In the courtyard, the most interesting specimen is ... a piece of stairs. But this is not an ordinary staircase, it is a part of the staircase of the Eiffel Tower, which was literally “taken away” to the museums of contemporary art in the world.

Here you can see the well-known heroes of the film "Mimino", the monument to Vysotsky, the composition "Citizens" and many other sculptures.

Part of the stairs from the real Eiffel Tower

Overall, this excursion was very interesting. However, all those who are looking for preserved aristocratic interiors in this estate will be disappointed. But those who want to plunge into the world of contemporary art, to get acquainted with the works of authors of the twentieth century, will certainly be rewarded with a lot of impressions and new knowledge. And I will take note of the courtyard with sculptures, where you can hide from the bustle of the center of Moscow.

Address: Moscow, Petrovka street, 25 (metro "Chekhovskaya", "Pushkinskaya")

Ticket prices: RUB 250 (adult), 100 rubles. (preferential, for students).

Opening hours: Mon-Wed and Fri-Sun 12: 00-20: 00 (ticket office is open until 19:30)

Thursday from 13.00 to 21.00 (Cashier until 20.30).

Day off - third Monday of every month

On the third Sunday of each month, admission is free for all categories of citizens.

A large selection of excursions in Moscow, the environs and cities of the Golden Ring here >>>

The brainchild of Zurab Tsereteli at 25 Petrovka is a museum of contemporary art, or rather, one of the four buildings allocated by the Moscow authorities to the president of the Academy of Arts under their patronage. The department in question occupies a historical building, and the museum entrance considerably changes its appearance.

Considering the entrance to the museum, one should note the massiveness, even the cumbersomeness of a simple architectural element. Antique-style wedge-shaped boulders with imitation of rock carvings hang over the entrance, completely violating the appearance of the building of the end of the 18th century, conceived by the great Matvey Kazakov. The fact is that due to the proximity to the temple on the opposite side of the street, the architect placed the front part of the building in the courtyard and now he could not recognize his creation.

The Museum of Contemporary Art has changed the appearance of the courtyard of the building on Petrovka Street 25 beyond recognition. This is clearly confirmed by a slider with pictures of Tsereteli's works, placed on the square adjacent to the building. The stylized images of his characters, characteristic of the sculptor's pictorial manner, and even in mass numbers, leave an ambiguous impression. Whoever Zurab Konstantinovich portrays, the result is something massive and rather conventional.

And the sculptures of Tsereteli are depicted of a variety of people, the images are real, fictional, and generalized. Shostakovich still resembles himself, but Vysotsky is almost caricatured. Don Quixote and his squire are generally collected from scrap metal, I would like to believe that this is not the creation of the country's chief artist. The rest of the sculptures represent abstract participants in folk games, musicians and townspeople of old Georgia.

The main staircase of the mansion, built by Kazakov for the breeder from the Urals Gubin, has not suffered from modern trends in art. Preserved gray stone steps, classic white-stone railings, arched entrance and the same window openings at the top.

Climbing up to the museum halls, visitors have time to take a break from the oppressive impression that many of them have in the courtyard of the mansion. The sunlight penetrating from the outside not only illuminates the path ahead, but also cheers up before viewing the exhibition.

When climbing the stairs, visitors are presented with ceiling and wall paintings made in a rather rare painting technique. Depicted are various military symbols and attributes, plant elements and other things as conceived by the creator. The murals are similar to stucco or bas-reliefs, which is achieved using a special decoration technique.

Drawing in the grisaille technique, which means the use of paint of only one color, allows, due to various shades, to obtain a three-dimensional effect. This technology is used not only in painting walls and ceilings with paints, but also in engravings, stained-glass windows, when decorating dishes and dyeing fabrics.

The purpose of the visit of only a small part of the visitors to the historic building is the head office at 25 Petrovka Street - the Museum of Contemporary Art with its permanent exhibition, although Tsereteli's painting collection includes many outstanding works of the classics of the Russian avant-garde of the last century and the present.

An exhibition has now been presented: Antoni Gaudi. Barcelona. The work of the architect of the capital of Catalonia appeared before the Russians for the first time.

The exhibition is preceded by a description of the life path and creative biography of Gaudi, made in chronological order.

Although the original purpose of our review was not the exhibition of the magnificent architect, it would be unforgivable to pass by such significant exhibits, because our readers may still have time to visit this rare event. The following slider shows pictures from both the exhibition and on the way to the Spanish materials.

You can see historical materials about the famous architect, his drawings and even models of cakes made by him - great masters are often unpredictable in the manifestations of their talents. By the way, confectionery decorations can be compared with mosaics, which Gaudi actively used in his works. The main exhibits, of course, are the models of the buildings he built, as well as their images.

The exhibition presents a model of one of the most significant works of Antoni Gaudí civil plan - the residential building of the Barcelona Mila family, after which Gaudí completely switched to work on the project of the Church of the Atonement of the Sagrada Familia - Sagrada Familia ..

The audience nicknamed Mila's house, this kind of quaint structure, Quarry (in Spanish, La Pedrera) for an unusual constructive solution in general, as well as for the original construction of the supporting part and design.

The partially exposed interior of the building reveals its interior, in which Gaudí innovatively applied a monolithic reinforced concrete structure, where the walls are not load-bearing elements.

You can see the model of one of the best creations of the architect Gaudí - the famous house of the Mila family (Quarries) on Petrovka 25 - the Museum of Modern Art has organized an exhibition of his work.

The uneven walls of the building are like waves of the sea, and the wrought-iron balconies are just separate works of art. The house has two courtyards, where all apartments face in addition to communication with the street space. This allows you to do without air conditioning in the hottest weather.

The roof of the Quarry is decorated with many architectural elements, including films being filmed. In the old hall of the mansion-museum, a certain screen was placed above the model of the unusual house, either providing reflection of the roof for inspection, or protecting the valuable exhibit from the collapse of particles of the ceiling painting from unfinished restoration.

An ancient colonnade of the Corinthian order adorns one of the premises of the Museum of Modern Art. This is what little remains of the adornments of the former palace of the Ural breeder.

Further on our slider presents individual fragments of the exhibition, reflecting the main stages of Gaudí's work. You can see the original set of drawing tools of the architect (ready-made), as well as models of many buildings in Barcelona, ​​built according to his designs.