Translation. Region: Russian Federation –
Source: Moscow Government – Moscow Government –
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The Museum of Moscow's exhibition "Volga. Moscow. Neva. Saratov Symbolists in Moscow and Leningrad in the 1920s-1940s" will open on December 19 in the Worker and Kolkhoz Woman pavilion at VDNKh. It will be a continuation of the series international and national projects based on city museums, announced by Sergei Sobyanin.
The exhibition was prepared with the support of the capital Department of Culture by a curatorial tandem of Soviet art historians: Ksenia Guseva, senior researcher at the Museum of Moscow, and Nadezhda Plungyan, an independent researcher and candidate of art history.
"The exhibition will introduce Muscovites and visitors to the capital to the Saratov school of painting—a vibrant and distinctive phenomenon in Russian art. Visitors will be presented with over 200 sculptures, graphic works, and paintings, most of which will be shown to the general public for the first time. The works for this unique exhibition were collected from across the country: 14 Russian museums participated in its creation," noted the Moscow Government Minister and Head of the Moscow Department of Culture.
The Saratov school of painting had a significant influence on the artistic traditions of Moscow and Leningrad in the first half of the 20th century. The exhibition is structured chronologically: visitors will be able to trace the path of Saratov artists, from the Scarlet Rose and Blue Rose associations of the turn of the 20th century to the radical innovations of the avant-garde era, Soviet fresco projects, and the search for a new painting in the 1930s–1950s. This approach will allow visitors to gain insight into the history of early Soviet art through the lens of the Saratov school.
The exhibition will center on works from the A.N. Radishchev Saratov State Art Museum. The museum has loaned works by artists Viktor Borisov-Musatov, Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin, and Pavel Kuznetsov.
For the first time, viewers will see contemplative, lyrical paintings by Pyotr Utkin's students, dedicated to Volga landscapes, as well as avant-garde experiments from the early 1920s, which were conducted under the direction of Valentin Yustitsky at the Saratov Free Workshops (Svomas).
Separate halls are dedicated to the innovative Four Arts group and its member, Saratov native Alexei Karev, who taught at the Petrograd Academy of Arts from the 1920s and influenced Leningrad landscape painters of the 1930s to 1950s, whose works will also be featured.
The exhibition will also feature works by the founders of the Blue Rose group: Pavel Kuznetsov, Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin, Martiros Saryan, Pyotr Utkin, and Alexander Matveyev. All these masters were at the forefront of Russian Symbolism, and after the Revolution, they developed their own original teaching systems and significantly expanded the geographic reach of their influence.
The exhibition will be open until May 17, 2026.
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