Russian culture abroad: Russian Museum collection exposition opened in Florence

A wide scope of the Russian painting is presented at the exposition “From icons to Malevich” from the St. Petersburg State Russian Museum collection, which opened February 7, 2011. Works by great Russian artists of the past are exhibited in the Palazzo Pitti of Florence and in the halls of the Modern Art Gallery.

The exposition “From icons to Malevich” is one of the major events of the Year of Russian culture and Russian language in Italy, which forestalls its official opening in Rome mid February. It is organized by the Russian Ministry of Culture in cooperation with the Russian Museum and the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage. The exposition will be open through April 30, 2011.

On the whole, 40 works dating to 16-20th centuries, were exported from St. Petersburg to Florence.

The authors of the exposition had especially focused on the works by Russian artists of 18th century. There are also some authors well known to Italians: Karl Brullov, Orest Kiprensky, Silvestr Shchedrin, who came to Italy in early 19th century to improve their skill and who had been painting a lot on the order of Italians.