One of the major attractions of St. Petersburg tour is the State Russain Museum, which you can find its headquarter, MIkhailovsky Palace on the Art Square. This fantastic museum has several branches, and it took several days to explore its fine arts. Still, since there are lots of other major attractions in St. Petersburg, you need to limit your time inside this museum and other major attractions so you won’t miss any critical place during your travel to Russia. If we have to pick our top choices among the Russian museum’s arts, this would be our list.
Suvorov Crossing the Alps - Vasily Surikov
One of the paintings that you should not miss during your tour to St. Petersburg and visiting the State Russian Museum is the <Sovorov Crossing the Alps> or <March of Suvorov through the Alps> which is one of the masterpieces of well-known Vasily Surikov. Surikov had depicted one of the historic scenes of Russian history. General Suvorov, one of the heroes in the Russian military, had decided to cross the Alps via a dangerous path. Surikov had amazingly depicted the soldiers’ emotions and how they had felt during this dangerous mission via the expressions on the faces. You can also find General Suvorov on the left side of the painting, encouraging his soldiers to move. This fantastic painting is one of the Russian historical heritage, which you can find in the State Russian Museum. You can also find a sizeable mosaic painting of this picture alongside the mosaic art of < Suvorov’s departure for the campaign of 1799> on the exterior walls of The Alexander Suvorov Memorial Museum on tour to St. Petersburg. Vasily Surikov wanted to show the selfless courage of the soldiers and the leader in this picture, which, by visiting this painting on your tour to Russia, you can tell that he had succeeded.
Portrait of Princess Olga Orlova - Valentin Serov
The Portrait of Princess Olga Orlova is one of the excellent works of Valentin Serov, who had commissioned to paint the elegant wife of General Orlov. This painting that you can see during your tour to Russia is one of the masterpieces that you should visit in the State Russian Museum. It took about two years for Serov to complete the painting. Although Princess Olga Orlova wasn’t blessed with the natural beauty, it has been said that she was the most elegant woman in St. Petersburg. Although some called Serov’s work a masterpiece, others criticized the painting. In the end, people’s opinions convinced the princess to donate the painting to the Russian Museum. However, today, most people who have seen this painting during their Russia tour had admitted that they had found this painting as one of the masterpieces inside the museum rather than being a sarcastic work of art.
The Icon of the Archangel Gabriel
Icons are an essential part of Eastern Christianity, and you can find several significant examples of them in Russian museums. Up until the October Revolution, many artists were commissioned to paint icons for churches and people’s homes. However, during the Soviet era, most of those icons were destroyed and churches and cathedrals, but you can still find multiple examples of those icons in Russian museums. For example, the Icon of Archangel Gabriel, which was part of the Iconostasis of the Transfiguration Cathedral in Tver, is currently in the hands of the State Russian Museum. You can visit it during your tour to Russia. This icon was painted in the Mid- 15th century, and you can find it inside the room four of the Mikhailovsky Palace during your travel to St. Petersburg.
The Ninth Wave - Ivan Aivazovsky
One of the paintings that you should not miss the chance to see during your travel to Russia is the most famous work and the masterpiece from the marine artist Ivan Aivazovsky. The Ninth Wave is another one of many works of Aivazovsky about the sea. Since he was a marine artist, it was only logical for him to dedicate most of his work to the sea. Ivan Aivazovsky had depicted the morning after the storm in the Ninth Wave. You can see multiple sailors clinging to debris from a wrecked ship to survive a wave of an incredible size that comes after a succession of incrementally more massive waves. Many believe that the Ninth Wave is the best-known work of Aivazovsky, which you can find in the State Russian Museum during your tour to Russia. He had painted this amazing picture in the mid-19th century.
Barge Haulers on the Volga - Ilya Repin
Ilya Repin is one of the realist painters and the most well-known artists of the 19th century of Russia. Many masterpieces of Repin are displayed in the top art museums in Russia, and several have shown in abroad museums. He had played a significant role in bringing Russian art into European culture. The State Russian Museum also has a few examples of work of this renowned artist, including one of the most famous Barge Haulers on the Volga. He had painted this magnificent painting during one of his travel to the Volga River. This painting depicts several men physically dragging an enormous barge on the banks of the Volga River. Repin’s goal was to show the suffering of these haulers, who, due to their poverty, have to endure inhumane treatment. If you visit the Russian museum during your tour to Russia and see this painting up close, you can see the amount of details Repin had used to show their exhaustion. During its time, this painting drew a lot of attention to the lack of rights for workers. That’s one of the reasons behind its fame. Although Barge Haulers on the Volga is not the only painting that you can see in the State Russian Museum from Ilya Repin. You can also find the famous <Reply of the Zaporozhian Cossacks> and <Sadko> in this museum’s rooms when you visit it during your travel to St. Petersburg.
Among the other paintings that you should not miss during your tour to St. Petersburg in the State Russian Museum, we can mention The Last Day of Pompeii by Karl Bryullov, Knight at the Crossroads by Victor Vasnetsov, and Vasily Surikov’s Taking a Snow Town. You can also learn about other attractions of St. Petersburg and other major attractions inside the State Russian Museum on our weblog and many tips and useful information about how to travel to Russia.
