State Tretyakov Gallery: history of creation, exhibits, photos, address, best tips before visiting. A brief history of the creation of the State Tretyakov Gallery

State Tretyakov Gallery(also known as the Tretyakov Gallery, Tretyakov Gallery) - Art Museum in Moscow, founded in 1856 by merchant Pavel Tretyakov and has one of the largest and most significant collections of Russian fine art in the world. The exhibition in Moscow's Lavrushinsky Lane "Russian Painting of the 11th - Early 20th Centuries" (Lavrushinsky Lane, 10) is part of the All-Russian Museum Association "State Tretyakov Gallery", formed in 1986.

Pavel Tretyakov began collecting his painting collection in the mid-1850s. This, after some time, led to the fact that in 1893 the “Moscow City Gallery of Pavel and Sergei Tretyakov” was opened to the general public in Zamoskvorechye. Her collection consisted of 1276 paintings, 471 drawings and 10 sculptures by Russian artists, as well as 84 paintings by foreign masters.

On June 3, 1918, the Tretyakov Gallery was declared “state property of the Russian Federative Soviet Republic” and received the name State Tretyakov Gallery. Igor Grabar was appointed director of the museum. With his active participation, the State Museum Fund was created in the same year, which until 1927 remained one of the most important sources of replenishment of the Tretyakov Gallery collection.

In 1928, major heating and ventilation repairs were made, and electricity was installed in 1929. In 1932, three new halls were built, connecting the main building of the State Tretyakov Gallery with the storage room in the Church of St. Nicholas in Tolmachi. This ensured uninterrupted viewing of the exhibition. The museum began developing a new concept for exhibit placement.

From the first days of the Great Patriotic War dismantling of the exhibition began in the Gallery - like other museums in Moscow, the Tretyakov Gallery was preparing for evacuation. In mid-summer 1941, a train of 17 carriages departed from Moscow and delivered the collection to Novosibirsk. Only on May 17, 1945, the State Tretyakov Gallery was reopened in Moscow.

In 1985, the State Art Gallery, located on Krymsky Val, 10, was merged with the Tretyakov Gallery into a single museum complex under common name State Tretyakov Gallery. The building now houses a renovated permanent exhibition"Art of the 20th Century".

From 1986 to 1995, the Tretyakov Gallery was closed to visitors due to major reconstruction.

Part of the Tretyakov Gallery is the Museum-Church of St. Nicholas in Tolmachi, which represents a unique combination of a museum exhibition and a working temple. The museum complex on Lavrushinsky Lane includes, intended for temporary exhibitions, the Engineering Building and the Exhibition Hall in Tolmachi.

Included in the federal government agency culture All-Russian Museum Association State Tretyakov Gallery (FGK VMO Tretyakov Gallery) includes: Museum-workshop of the sculptor A.S. Golubkina, House-Museum of V.M. Vasnetsov, Museum-Apartment of A.M. Vasnetsov, House-Museum of P.D. Korina, Exhibition Hall in Tolmachi.

The State Tretyakov Gallery is one of the largest museums peace. Hundreds of thousands of people annually get acquainted with the collection of the Tretyakov Gallery, dedicated exclusively to national Russian art, to those artists who made a great contribution to the history of Russian art
Muscovites call this museum warmly and lovingly - “Tretyakov Gallery”. He is familiar and close to us early childhood when we started coming there with our parents. Cozy, Moscow-warm, located in a quiet Lavrushinsky lane among the streets and alleys of Zamoskvorechye, the oldest district of Moscow.
The founder of the Tretyakov Gallery was the Moscow merchant and industrialist Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov. At first, everything that Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov acquired was housed in the rooms of his residential building on Lavrushinsky Lane, purchased by the Tretyakov family in the early 1850s. But already at the end of the 1860s there were so many paintings that there was no way to place them all in the rooms.
The founding date of the Tretyakov Gallery is considered to be 1856, when Pavel Tretyakov acquired two paintings by Russian artists: “Temptation” by N. G. Schilder and “Skirmish with Finnish Smugglers” by V. G. Khudyakov, although earlier in 1854-1855 he bought 11 graphic sheets and 9 paintings by old Dutch masters. In 1867, the Moscow City Gallery of Pavel and Sergei Tretyakov was opened to the general public in Zamoskvorechye. Her collection consisted of 1276 paintings, 471 drawings and 10 sculptures by Russian artists, as well as 84 paintings by foreign masters.
P. M. Tretyakov, setting out to create a collection that in the future could develop into a museum national art. "For me, who truly and ardently loves painting, there cannot be better wishes“how to lay the foundation for a public, accessible repository of fine arts for all, which will bring benefit to many and pleasure to all,” wrote P. M. Tretyakov in 1860, adding: “. . . I would like to leave national gallery, that is, consisting of paintings by Russian artists." Throughout his life, Tretyakov remained a major business person who did not have any special education in the field of painting. Contemporaries were quite surprised at the natural intelligence and impeccable taste of this hereditary merchant. Over time, high taste, strict selection, nobility of intentions brought Tretyakov well-deserved and undeniable authority and gave him “privileges” that no other collector had: Tretyakov received the right to be the first to view new works of artists either directly in their workshops or at exhibitions, but , as a rule, before their public opening. P. M. Tretyakov bought the paintings that interested him, despite the opinions of critics and the dissatisfaction of the censorship. This happened with such films as "Rural procession for Easter" by V. G. Perov, "Ivan the Terrible" by I. E. Repin. P. M. Tretyakov clearly understood that the museum he created should not so much correspond to his personal tastes and sympathies, but rather reflect an objective picture of the development of Russian art. And Until now, almost everything that was acquired by P. M. Tretyakov constitutes a genuine gold fund not only of the Tretyakov Gallery, but of all Russian art.

In 1892, Pavel Mikhailovich transferred his art gallery as a gift to the city of Moscow. By this time, the collection included 1,287 paintings and 518 graphic works of the Russian school, 75 paintings and 8 drawings of the European school, 15 sculptures and a collection of icons.
Pavel Tretyakov was the manager of the gallery until his death. In 1898, a Council was created to manage the gallery, chaired by a trustee, which at the beginning was I. S. Ostroukhov, and since 1913 - I. E. Grabar.
At the beginning of 1913, the Moscow City Duma elected Igor Grabar as a trustee of the Tretyakov Gallery.

On June 3, 1918, the Tretyakov Gallery was declared “state property of the Russian Federative Soviet Republic” and received the name State Tretyakov Gallery. Igor Grabar was again appointed director of the museum.
In 1926, academician of architecture A.V. became the director of the museum. Shchusev. IN next year the gallery received a neighboring house on Maly Tolmachevsky Lane ( former house merchant Sokolikov). After the restructuring, the administration of the Gallery, scientific departments, a library, a department of manuscripts, and graphic collections were located here.
In 1932, the building of the Church of St. Nicholas in Tolmachi was transferred to the Gallery, which became a repository of paintings and sculpture. Later it was connected to the exhibition halls by a built two-story building, the upper floor of which was specially designed for exhibiting the painting by A. A. Ivanov “The Appearance of Christ to the People” (1837-1857). A passage was also built between the halls located on both sides of the main staircase. This ensured uninterrupted viewing of the exhibition.
In 1936, a new two-story building was opened on the northern side of the main building - the so-called “Shusevsky building”. These halls were first used for exhibitions, and from 1940 onwards they were included in the main exhibition route.
In 1956, in honor of the 100th anniversary of the Tretyakov Gallery, the A.A. Hall was completed. Ivanova. In 1980, a monument to P. M. Tretyakov, created by sculptor A. P., was erected in front of the gallery building. Kibalnikov and architect I.E. Rogozhin.
Over the years of reconstruction, a new concept of the Tretyakov Gallery has emerged as a single museum on two territories: in Lavrushinsky Lane, where exhibitions and repositories of old art are concentrated, from ancient times to the early 1910s, and in a building on Krymsky Val, the exhibition areas of which are devoted to art XX century. Exhibitions of both old and new art are held in both territories.
The current collection of the Tretyakov Gallery includes more than 100 thousand works.

The Tretyakov brothers came from an old, but not very rich merchant family. Their father, Mikhail Zakharovich, gave them a good home education. From their youth they took up family business, first commercial and then industrial. The brothers created the famous Big Kostroma linen manufactory, did a lot of charity work and social activities. Both brothers were collectors, but Sergei Mikhailovich did this as an amateur, but for Pavel Mikhailovich it became his life’s work, in which he saw his mission.

Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov is not the first collector of Russian art. Famous collectors were Kokorev, Soldatenkov and Pryanishnikov; at one time there was a Svinin gallery. But it was Tretyakov who was distinguished not only by artistic flair, but also by democratic convictions, deep true patriotism, responsibility for native culture. The important thing is that he was both a collector and a patron of artists, and sometimes an inspirer, a moral co-author of their work. We owe him a magnificent portrait gallery of outstanding cultural figures and public life. He was an honorary member of the Society of Art Lovers and the Musical Society from the day of their founding, and contributed substantial sums, supporting all educational endeavors.

The first paintings by Russian artists were acquired by Tretyakov back in 1856 (this date is considered the year the gallery was founded). Since then, the collection has been constantly replenished. It was located in a family-owned house in Zamoskvorechye, on Lavrushinsky Lane. This building is the main building of the museum. It was constantly expanded and rebuilt to suit the needs of the exhibition, and at the beginning of the twentieth century it acquired a familiar appearance. Its facade was made in the Russian style according to the design of the artist Viktor Vasnetsov.

From the moment the gallery was founded, Pavel Tretyakov decided to transfer it to the city and already in his will of 1861 he stipulated the conditions of this transfer, highlighting large amounts on its content. On August 31, 1892, in his application to the Moscow City Duma about the transfer of his gallery and the gallery of his late brother to Moscow, he wrote that he was doing this “wishing to contribute to the establishment of useful institutions in my dear city, to promote the prosperity of art in Russia and at the same time to preserve for eternity the collection I collected over time.” City Duma She gratefully accepted this gift, deciding to allocate five thousand rubles annually for the purchase of new exhibits from the collection. In 1893, the gallery was officially opened to the public.

Pavel Tretyakov was a very modest man who did not like the hype around his name. He wanted a quiet opening and, when the celebrations were organized, he went abroad. He refused the nobility that had been granted to him by the emperor. “I was born a merchant and I will die a merchant,” Tretyakov explained his refusal. However, he gratefully accepted the title of honorary citizen of Moscow. This title was awarded to him by the City Duma as a sign of high distinction and gratitude for his high merits in preserving Russian artistic culture.

History of the museum

An important milestone in the history of the Tretyakov Gallery was the appointment in 1913 of Igor Grabar, an artist, art critic, architect and art historian, to the post of its trustee. Under his leadership, the Tretyakov Gallery became a museum of European level. During the first years of Soviet power, Grabar remained the director of the museum, which was given the status of a national treasure by decree of the Council of People's Commissars in 1918.

Alexey Shchusev, who became director of the gallery in 1926, continued to expand the museum. The Tretyakov Gallery received a neighboring building in which the administration, manuscript and other departments were located. After the closure of the Church of St. Nicholas in Tolmachi, it was converted into storerooms for the museum, and in 1936 a new building, called “Shchusevsky,” appeared, which was first used as an exhibition building, but then it also housed the main exhibition.

At the end of the 1970s, a new building of the museum was opened on Krymsky Val. Large-scale events take place here all the time art exhibitions, and also houses a collection of Russian art of the 20th century.

Branches of the Tretyakov Gallery also include the House-Museum of V. M. Vasnetsov, the Museum-Apartment of his brother - A. M. Vasnetsov, the Museum-Apartment of the sculptor A. S. Golubkina, the House-Museum of P. D. Korin, as well as the Temple Museum St. Nicholas in Tolmachi, where services have been resumed since 1993.

Museum collection

The most complete collection of art from the second half of the 19th century is unparalleled. Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov was, perhaps, the main buyer of the works of the Itinerants from their very first exhibition. Paintings by Perov, Kramskoy, Polenov, Ge, Savrasov, Kuindzhi, Vasiliev, Vasnetsov, Surikov, Repin, acquired by the founder of the Tretyakov Gallery himself, are the pride of the museum. Truly collected here best samples golden age of Russian painting.

The art of artists who did not belong to the Itinerants is also well represented. Works by Nesterov, Serov, Levitan, Malyavin, Korovin, as well as Alexander Benois, Vrubel, Somov, and Roerich took pride of place in the exhibition. After October 1917, the museum’s collection was replenished both due to nationalized collections and thanks to works contemporary artists. Their canvases give an idea of ​​the development of Soviet art, its official movements and the underground avant-garde.

The Tretyakov Gallery continues to replenish its funds. WITH beginning of the XXI century the department has been operating the latest trends, in which works are collected contemporary art. In addition to paintings, the gallery has a large collection of Russian graphics, sculpture, and a valuable archive of manuscripts. A rich collection of ancient Russian art and icons is one of the best in the world. It was started by Tretyakov. After his death it amounted to about 60 items, and in this moment has about 4000 units.

The Tretyakov Gallery is the most visited museum in the country. The gallery was founded in late XIX century by famous merchants and philanthropists - Pavel and Sergei Tretyakov, who donated their collections to the city. The gallery is located in the former estate of the Tretyakov brothers on Lavrushinsky Lane. The museum's fund has expanded significantly since October revolution 1917 by meetings of wealthy noble and merchant families. The spacious halls of the Tretyakov Gallery display ancient Russian icons and paintings of the Russian school of painting. Moving through the chronologically arranged halls of the museum, you can study Russian in detail art from the 17th century to the beginning of the 20th century.

The Tretyakov brothers lost their father when the eldest, Pavel, was seventeen years old, and the youngest, Sergei, was fifteen. They turned out to be entrepreneurs from God. Very soon the brothers expanded the business from ordinary trade in shops to their own big store linen, paper and woolen goods on the famous merchant street Ilyinka. They organize trading house"P. and S. Tretyakov brothers.” In the mid-1860s, they acquired the Novo-Kostroma linen manufactory, which they later made one of the best in Russia. Historian of the Moscow merchants P.A. Buryshkin named the Tretyakovs among the five richest merchant families in Moscow

The Tretyakovs were famous donors and philanthropists. Pavel Mikhailovich was a trustee of the Arnold School for the Deaf and Mutes, provided financial assistance to research expeditions, and donated money for the construction of churches. Sometimes Tretyakov's donations exceeded the cost of purchasing paintings. Sergei Mikhailovich actively participated in the public life of Moscow. He was a member of the Moscow City Duma and the mayor. In this position, he did a lot for Moscow. Thanks to Tretyakov, Sokolnicheskaya Grove became the Sokolniki city park: he bought it with his own money.

In 1851, the Tretyakovs purchased an estate in Lavrushinsky Lane from the merchants Shestovs with a two-story mansion decorated with a classic attic and an extensive garden. Alexandra Danilovna was the full-fledged mistress of the house, and the Tretyakov brothers focused on trade. It was rare in merchant environment an ideal family and business union. At the same time, the Tretyakovs had different characters. Pavel was reserved, he liked to work and read in solitude, and could spend hours looking at and studying paintings and engravings. Sergei, more sociable and cheerful, was always visible and loved to show off.

One day, Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov came to St. Petersburg on company business and ended up in the Hermitage. He was so amazed by the wealth art collection, that he definitely wanted to start collecting. He soon acquired nine paintings by little-known Western artists. “The first two or three mistakes in such a difficult matter as determining the authenticity of old paintings turned him away forever from collecting paintings by old masters,” wrote I.S. Ostroukhov after the death of the collector. “The most authentic painting for me is the one that I personally bought from the artist,” Tretyakov liked to say.” Soon Tretyakov becomes acquainted with the collection of F.I. Pryanishnikov and decides to collect paintings by Russian artists.

In the Tretyakov Gallery, the founding year of the museum is considered to be 1856, when Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov acquired the first two paintings “Temptation” by N.G. Schilder and “Clash with Finnish Smugglers” by V.G. Khudyakova. Today they hang side by side in the same room. The condition by which Pavel Mikhailovich selected paintings for his gallery can be found in his words addressed to the artists: “I don’t need rich nature, magnificent composition, spectacular lighting, no miracles, give me at least a dirty puddle, but so that It really was poetry, and there can be poetry in everything, it’s the work of the artist.”

But this does not mean that Tretyakov simply bought all the paintings he liked. He was a bold critic who did not recognize other people's authorities, often made comments to artists, and sometimes sought corrections. Usually Pavel Mikhailovich bought a canvas before the opening of exhibitions, right in the studio, when neither critics, nor spectators, nor journalists had yet seen the painting. Tretyakov had an excellent understanding of art, but this was not enough to choose the best. Pavel Mikhailovich possessed a unique gift of a seer. No authorities could influence his decision. The case described by S.N. is indicative. Durylin in the book “Nesterov in life and work”:

“At the preliminary, closed, vernissage of the XVIII Traveling Exhibition, where a few selected friends of the Wanderers were allowed, Myasoedov led V.V. to “Bartholomew.” Stasova, tribune-apologist of Itinerant Movement, D.V. Grigorovich, secretary of the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, and A.S. Suvorin, editor of the newspaper “Novoye Vremya”. All four judged the picture the last judgment; All four of them agreed that it was harmful... Evil must be uprooted. We went to look for the Moscow silent artist at the exhibition and found him somewhere in the far corner, in front of some painting. Stasov was the first to speak: this painting ended up in the exhibition due to a misunderstanding, it had no place at the Association’s exhibition.

The objectives of the Partnership are known, but Nesterov’s picture does not answer them: harmful mysticism, the absence of the real, this ridiculous circle around the old man’s head... Mistakes are always possible, but they should be corrected. And they, his old friends, decided to ask him to abandon the picture... A lot of smart, convincing things were said. Everyone found a word to brand poor “Bartholomew.” Pavel Mikhailovich listened silently, and then, when the words ran out, he modestly asked them if they had finished; when he learned that they had exhausted all the evidence, he replied: “Thank you for what you said. I bought the painting in Moscow, and if I hadn’t bought it there, I would have bought it here now, after listening to all your accusations.”

Sergei Mikhailovich Tretyakov began collecting his collection fifteen years later than his brother and managed to acquire only about a hundred works. However, his collection was one of a kind, because he was interested in modern Western painting– J.-B. C. Corot, C.-F. Daubigny, F. Miele and others. Pavel Mikhailovich, unlike his brother, who collected paintings for himself, sought to create a publicly accessible museum of national art. Back in 1860 (and he was then only twenty-eight years old), he drew up a will, according to which he bequeathed one hundred and fifty thousand rubles for the establishment of an “art museum” in Moscow. Pavel Mikhailovich persuaded his brother to do the same.

In 1865, Pavel Mikhailovich’s wedding took place with Vera Nikolaevna Mamontova - cousin famous philanthropist Savva Ivanovich Mamontov. The Tretyakovs had six children - four daughters and two sons. Everyone in the family loved each other. Pavel Mikhailovich wrote to his wife: “I sincerely thank God and you from the bottom of my heart that I had the opportunity to make you happy, however, the children have a lot of blame here: without them there would be no complete happiness!” Sergei Mikhailovich married much earlier than his brother, in 1856, but his wife died soon after the birth of their son. Only ten years later, Sergei Mikhailovich entered into a second marriage.

Pavel Mikhailovich adhered to traditional merchant views on raising children. He gave the children wonderful things home education. Of course, artists, musicians and writers, who visited Tretyakov almost every day, played a significant role in the formation of children. In 1887, Pavel Mikhailovich’s son Vanya, everyone’s favorite and his father’s hope, died of scarlet fever complicated by meningitis. Tretyakov painfully endured this bereavement. The second son Mikhail suffered from dementia and could not become a full-fledged heir and continuer of the family business. Daughter Alexandra recalled: “From that time on, my father’s character changed a lot. He became gloomy and silent. Only his grandchildren made the former affection appear in his eyes.”

For a long time, Tretyakov was the only collector of Russian art, at least on such a scale. But in the 1880s he had a more than worthy rival - Emperor Alexander III. There are many legends associated with the confrontation between Tretyakov and the Tsar. Pavel Mikhailovich literally stole paintings from under Alexander’s nose several times by artists who, with all due respect to the august person, preferred Tretyakov. Alexander III, who was called the “peasant king,” became furious if he visited traveling exhibitions, saw on best paintings marks “property of P.M. Tretyakov".

But there were cases when representatives of the emperor simply outbid Tretyakov. For example, after the death Alexandra III his son Nicholas II offered an incredible sum for those times for the painting “The Conquest of Siberia by Ermak” by V.I. Surikov - forty thousand rubles. The newly-minted emperor did not want to skimp in memory of his father, who dreamed of purchasing this painting. Surikov already had an agreement with Pavel Mikhailovich, but he could not refuse such a lucrative deal. Tretyakov simply could not offer more. As a consolation, the artist gave the collector a sketch for the painting, completely free of charge, which still hangs in the museum.

In 1892, Sergei Mikhailovich died. Long before his death, the Tretyakov brothers decide to donate their collections to Moscow. In his will, Sergei Mikhailovich donated to the city half of the house on Lavrushinsky Lane, all the paintings and the amount of one hundred thousand rubles. Pavel Mikhailovich gave his huge collection(more than three thousand works) Moscow during his lifetime, together with his brother’s collection. In 1893, the Moscow Gallery of Pavel and Sergei Tretyakov was opened, and the collection Western art hung next to paintings by Russian artists. On December 4, 1898, Tretyakov died. His last words were: “Take care of the gallery and be healthy.”

After Tretyakov's death during 1899-1906 main house was converted to exhibition halls. The façade, designed according to a drawing by V.M. Vasnetsov, became the emblem of the Tretyakov Gallery for many years. The central part of the facade was highlighted by a chic kokoshnik with a relief image of St. George the Victorious - the ancient coat of arms of Moscow. At that time, artists showed interest in the forms of ancient Russian art. Luxuriously decorated portals, lush window frames, bright patterns and other decorations - all this speaks of Vasnetsov’s desire to turn the Tretyakov Gallery into an ancient Russian fairy-tale tower.

In 1913, the artist I.E. became a trustee of the Tretyakov Gallery. Grabar. The reworking of the exposition began according to a scientific principle, as in best museums peace. The works of one artist began to hang in a separate room, and the arrangement of paintings became strictly chronological. In 1918, the Tretyakov Gallery was nationalized and transferred to the People's Commissariat of Education. It was at this time that the museum was significantly replenished with huge collections of P.I. and V.A. Kharitonenko, E.V. Borisova-Musatova, A.P. Botkina, V.O. Girshman, M.P. Ryabushinsky and collections from estates near Moscow.

In the 1980s, a grandiose reconstruction of the gallery took place. The project involved “the creation of a large museum complex, including storage facilities, an extensive exhibition space, a conference room due to the development of courtyards and the refurbishment of an old building while preserving its historical appearance" Unfortunately, the new building, built at the intersection of Lavrushinsky and Bolshoy Tolmachevsky lanes, turned out to be alien architectural ensemble old buildings of the Tretyakov Gallery. The reconstruction resulted in the actual destruction of the monument. The new corner building turned out to be outside the traditional connections with the surroundings.

As a result of reconstruction, the exhibition area of ​​the Tretyakov Gallery increased by one and a half times. In 1998, the first permanent exhibition of twentieth-century art, built according to historical, chronological and monographic principles, opened in the new building of the museum on Krymsky Val. The museum's collection now numbers about one hundred and fifty thousand works. Pavel Mikhailovich's collection has increased more than fifty times. The Tretyakov Gallery is a huge educational and Cultural Center, engaged in scientific, restoration, educational, publishing, popularization and other types of activities.

In one of the letters to the artist Vasily Vasilyevich Vereshchagin P.M. Tretyakov wrote: “Your indignation against Moscow is understandable; I myself would be indignant and would have long ago given up my goal of collecting works of art, if I meant only our generation, but believe me, Moscow is no worse than St. Petersburg: Moscow is only simpler and seemingly more ignorant. Why is St. Petersburg better than Moscow? In the future, Moscow will be of great, enormous importance (of course, we will not live to see that).” A true patriot and the noblest man was Pavel Mikhailovich Tretkov. And then he turned out to be a real seer.

Every time we come to the gallery, we remember its great creator, not only because there is a monument to Tretyakov in front of the entrance (a wonderful monument, by the way). Pavel Mikhailovich is not just a collector, the founder of the museum, he, along with artists, created Russian fine art, and Tretyakov’s role here is objectively greater than the role of any of them. I.E. Repin (and he knew a lot about this) once said: “Tretyakov brought his work to grandiose, unprecedented proportions and carried on his shoulders the question of the existence of an entire Russian school of painting.”

The Tretyakov Gallery is another sight Moscow, which every tourist must visit. The largest collection of paintings in Russia is located here. Now the mansion on Lavrushinsky Lane, the façade of which is decorated with stucco, is a famous gallery, but in the 19th century it was a merchant’s house. In 1851, this mansion was bought by a philanthropist, the owner paper spinning factories and art collector Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov. Initially, the house was bought for living and only much later it turns into a gallery.

In 1854, Tretyakov acquired 9 canvases and 11 sheets of graphics by ancient Dutch masters and placed them in his mansion. According to historians, this was the reason for the creation of the famous gallery. However, the official year of its foundation is 1856. This year for his collection P. M. Tretyakov acquires two paintings - V. G . Khudyakov “Skirmish with the Finnish smugglers" and N. G . Schilder "Temptation".

Together with Pavel, his brother Sergei is also involved in purchasing paintings by famous painters. For some time, only a narrow circle of people can admire the collection of the Tretyakov brothers. But in 1867 it became available to the general public for the first time. By this year, the collection of the Tretyakov brothers already consisted of 471 drawings, 10 sculptures and 1276 paintings. The vast majority of works were by domestic artists.

Time passed. The collection kept growing. Additional extensions had to be made to the house. New halls appeared. In 1892, Pyotr Mikhailovich Tretyakov donated the gallery to Moscow. In 1904, the building of the art gallery acquired the famous Vasnetsov facade. The sketch of the facade was created by the famous Russian painter V. M. Vasnetsov (the façade was named after him), and was designed by V. N. Bashkirov.

Every year the collection of the Tretyakov Gallery increased, it was necessary to organize it. Igor Emmanuilovich Grabar, having become first a trustee and then director of the gallery in 1913, first introduced in Russia the arrangement of paintings in chronological ok .

After the revolution, it was decided to transfer the neighboring buildings to the Tretyakov Gallery. First, a house in Maly Tolmachevsky Lane (the former property of the merchant Sokolikov) was assigned to it, and then the Church of St. Nicholas in Tolmachi. In order to extend the gallery's operating hours, it was electrified in 1929.

In 1941, the collection was evacuated, and the building itself was seriously damaged. However, by 1945, most of the halls of the Tretyakov Gallery had been restored, the exhibits were returned to Moscow, and tourists could once again admire the works of Russian masters.

In 1986, the gallery building was closed for major renovations, which lasted almost 10 years. Part of the exhibition was located in one of the buildings on Krymsky Val. The same year is also the moment of formation of the All-Russian Museum Association, which received the name “ State Tretyakov Gallery ". Today in the composition State The Tretyakov Gallery, in addition to these two buildings, also includes the house-museum of P. Korina, museum-church of St. Nicholas in Tolmachi, house-museum of V. Vasnetsov and the museum-apartment of A. Vasnetsov, as well as the museum-workshop of A. Golubkina. Since 1995, the building of the merchant Tretyakov has housed a collection of exhibits dating back to the beginning of the last century. Works from the 20th century are located exclusively in the building on Krymsky Val.

Now the collection of the Tretyakov Gallery includes over 55 thousand exhibits. There are not only paintings here, but also icons, sculptures, and works of decorative and applied art. An excursion to the Tretyakov Gallery will be very interesting and will bring a lot of impressions.