July 11, 2023
“AZ — That's Me”: AZ Museum in Moscow
Private museum of Anatoly Zverev opened in 2015 in Moscow. This cozy three-story mansion with a yellow balcony is located on 2nd Tverskaya-Yamskaya Street. The core of the collection was formed from the holdings of Georgy Kostaki, Natalia Opaleva, Alexander Rumnev and the Gabrichevsky family. The idea to create the museum belongs to patron Natalia Opaleva and art curator Polina Lobachevskaya. The concise name of the museum encodes the artist's initials.
Anatoly Zverev was a controversial figure of the Soviet avant‑garde. His biography resembles an adventure novel and a solitary rebellion against the system. The artist was born and raised in a poor family, worked as a house painter, and led an antisocial lifestyle: he was registered at a psychiatric hospital, wore rags, had no permanent residence, frequently changed women, and drank. The meaning of his life was art: the artist often paid for lodging, food and alcoholic drinks with his drawings. He was especially good at portraits.
Zverev is traditionally classified among the nonconformists and expressionists, but some researchers compare his art to tachisme: an “unconscious” avant‑garde painting style. He painted quickly, expressively and in series, until he ran out of paper, paints and ink. If those ran out, he painted with improvised materials: vegetables and fruits, jam, a shoe brush… The artist left a rich legacy — more than 30,000 works.
The AZ Museum's collection holds about 1,500 works by Zverev. In addition to the master's works, the storerooms contain documents related to Anatoly Zverev's life and work; works by other unofficial artists and the 'sixtiers' and creations by contemporary authors have also been collected. The museum has no permanent exhibition: shows constantly change and complement each other.
The museum regularly holds guided tours and thematic master classes on working with various artistic materials, and runs educational programs for children. There is also a bookshop where you can buy Zverev's well‑known “Tractate” in prose and verse. The standard ticket price is 400 rubles; the discounted fare is 200 rubles.
