Tretyakov Gallery

Portrait of young Tolstoy

Our primary visit today was the Tretyakov Gallery with a collection of a 1000 years of Russian art. We concentrated on the art from the 18th and 19th century. This museum started as a private collection in 1856. Tretyakov concentrated his collection on portraits of contemporary nobles and artisans as well as historic Russian works. Pavel Tretyakov became the biggest patron of the arts in his time. He paid to have portraits done of Tolstoy and Dostoevsky, and his tastes in art actually influenced the art of the time (he liked dark works with little sunshine). He actually built a museum next to his house for his collection and donated it to the city in 1892.
Russian art changed significantly during the time of Peter the Great. Previously Russian art was religious icons, where originality was discouraged. Peter saw the oil paintings of the Dutch masters and encouraged arts to learn these methods. Elizabeth I established the first art academy in 1757, later Russians learned from the Italians and French, starting a true school of Russian art in the mid-19th century.
In the evening we went to the new Moscow Circus. The communists created circus schools and circus building throughout the country. Most families take their children regularly to the circus. What we saw was a cross between traditional circus and Cirque du Soleil. Laser lights and both rock music and traditional circus music played by an orchestra. The acts were animal: dogs, cats, donkeys, alligators, lizards, and monkeys; human: trapeze, rope acrobatics, high bar gymnasts, and clowns; and it all finished with a walrus act in water. All on the one ring stage. It was thoroughly enjoyable.