This fabulous museum is located on the Square of Arts behind the Grand Hotel Europe off of Nevsky Prospect. The square is dominated by Anikushin’s famous statue of Alexander Pushkin, the poet Laureate of Russia. 100 meters behind Pushkin’s statue surrounded by a wonderful wrought iron fence is the fabulous Mikhailovski Palace. This palace which was built for the former Grand Duke Mikhail of Russia has been the home of the Russian State Museum of Art
since 1898.
The Russian Museum of Art would be well worth seeing even it were completely empty. The original architect, Carlo Rossi, built the palace for a younger son of Paul I. The building was one of St. Petersburg’s most outstanding until it fell into a state of disrepair in the late 1800s. Nicholas II insisted that it be purchased from the neglectful heirs and that it be restored into an edifice worthy of holding a collection of Russian Art. The new architect, Svinin, replaced many of Rossi’s original designs but by the time he had finished his results were regaled throughout Russia.
The museum is famous for its many icons and displays of ancient Russian Applied Art, its portrait art of the 18th Century, the patriotic art movement of the first half of the 19th Century, the immortal works of the fabulous "Itinerant" painters of the second half of the 19th Century, the onset of the World of Art Movement of the beginning of the 20th Century, the works of the great Russian Abstract artists, Russian avant-garde works and finally the large collection of totalitarian art.
The names of Russian immortal painters and sculptors is far too large to name here but any Western art patron owes it to himself to familiarize himself with the major art movements of Russian history and immerse himself in the high quality art to be found is this marvelous museum. I personally recommend all of the Itinerant painters and other notables such as Schedrin, Serov, Wruble, Kadinsky, Malevich, Petrov Vodkin, Baskt, Golovin, Kustodiev, and countless others that are little known in the West.