For those who have been to many places, who have visited all the permanent museum displays, and for those who won't spend all their free time at fairs and ice rinks (which are also wonderful in St. Petersburg), I present a personal selection of ten worthwhile exhibitions.
1. "From Darkness into Light" — a jeweler Ilgiz Fazulzyanov's exhibition at the Fabergé Museum. Very beautiful, heartfelt, and thoughtful.
Open until January 8.
2. "Repin.Details" at the Museum of the Academy of Arts. Also take time to visit the Academy walls, admire the sphinxes and the panorama of the Neva from the windows.
Repin's estate "Penaty" is under restoration; many items from there are laid out spaciously and thus have become more noticeable. There are also paintings in a modest but sufficient number.
Read the texts, watch the films and the 3D tour of Penaty.
3. "Landscape of the Soul. Caspar David Friedrich and Russia" in the Nicholaevsky Hall of the Hermitage. Calling the exhibition large is an understatement. This is a true retrospective. In addition to the largest collection of the artist outside Germany, works by contemporaries, teachers, and students are shown, historical events are illuminated, and many details are given about how the collection ended up in Russia (spoiler: it was collected by Empress Alexandra Feodorovna).
4. "Fiery Stronghold" in the General Staff Building. Another retrospective. Thanks to the Hermitage for making exhibitions for people who have already seen a lot and for whom it's difficult to be satisfied with a mere selection of works, however complete and varied. If you are one of those people, you will definitely like it.
5. "The Meyerhold Case, or 'The Government Inspector' Is Always Wanted." The best event organized in the anniversary year of the great director. Held at the Theatre Museum on Ostrovsky Square. If you can get into a curator-led tour, you'll learn many additional interesting things.
6. Petrov-Vodkin at K-gallery. This celebrant missed Roerich and Meyerhold by five years — they turned 150 this year. The exhibition is intimate, cozy, and fairly comprehensive in presenting the artist's bold work. The gallery also offers good coffee and croissants.
7. "Animalistics" — an exhibition in the MISP halls. An interesting inter-museum project. Perfect for the holidays. Fish, cats, dogs, crows, horses, cows, sheep depicted in paintings, sculptures, and other objects. The exhibits from the Darwin Museum are wonderful!
8. "A Book Not for Reading." At the Mikhail Shemyakin Center. The exhibition tells about the artist's project "Imaginary Museum," after visiting which it becomes clear that work on creating artificial intelligence began long ago and involved some of the most creative people.
9. "Earth Time. Dima Filippov" at the Anna Nova gallery. Only if you want something very unusual. The artist's project is essentially a study of landscape, territories, and spaces. The gallery holds very subtle echoes of that. But everything is beautiful, contemporary, and there is an excellent view from the windows. You should go on days when the third floor is open. Usually that's Sunday, but check for holiday hours.
10. "...but the winter here is too long." A new exhibition opened at ROSPHOTO on December 24. To balance the sparkle of the fairs — just what you need. Photographs of winter St. Petersburg by our legendary photographic artists.
Have you chosen something for yourself?
