The section of Russian Art is well represented
by the romanticists, realists and other
early
twentieth century artists. It affords
a good
idea of the development of Russian
painting
from the eighteenth to the twentieth
century.
On display are the works of Sylvester
Shchedrin,
who, though remaining within the framework
of the old system of classical painting,
sincerely and forcibly conveyed a deeply
personal poetical perception of nature.
Alexei
Venetsianov's pictures are imbued with
a
special grace and purity of the life
of peasantry.
Ilya Repin evelated nineteenth-century
Realism
to new heights. Repin's greatest works
left
neither a layman, nor an art critic
indifferent.
The Gallery contains Isaac Levitan's
landscapes
slightly touched with sadness, Mikhail
Vrubel's
graphic works bearing a stern imprint
of
his individuality, Victor Borisov-Musatov's
portraits conveying the majestic dreaminess
of fresco painting.
