NGHM|ART OF THE 20TH CENTURY

About museum

In 2020 the exhibition complex became part of the Nizhny Novgorod State Art Museum (NGHM). The building was restored. In 2022 a permanent exhibition, “Art of the 20th Century. 1900–1920: From Symbolism to the Avant‑Garde,” was installed in the building.

For the first time in NGHM’s history, the art of the 20th century has been given a dedicated museum space. A concept for the presentation of the exhibition was developed accordingly.

It is well known that the museum space has a strong influence on exhibition principles. In the enfilade rooms on the second floor it became possible to zone the space thematically and to highlight stylistic and monographic blocks of the exhibition (Russian Cézannism and Symbolism; art of the revolutionary years; the most radical strands of the Russian avant‑garde – cubo‑futurism, suprematism, non‑objective art, etc.).

Thus, moving from room to room, from one object to another, visitors will be able to feel the atmosphere of the era of the “great experiment” and become acquainted with works by famous masters created between the 1900s and 1920. First of all, these include a number of brilliant names of the Russian avant‑garde that made it famous worldwide: V. V. Kandinsky, K. S. Malevich, M. F. Larionov, N. S. Goncharova, A. V. Lentulov, P. P. Konchalovsky, I. I. Mashkov, A. V. Kuprin, A. M. Rodchenko, V. V. Rozhdestvensky, O. V. Rozanova, L. S. Popova, R. R. Falk, and others. Equally internationally renowned are the names K. S. Petrov‑Vodkin, P. V. Kuznetsov, M. S. Saryan, S. A. Sorin, N. I. Feshin, S. V. Chekhonin, and others.

Alongside them, the new exhibition presents a number of works by lesser‑known and sometimes undeservedly forgotten authors such as M. N. Fokin, P. S. Naumov, A. N. Savinov, A. A. Arapov, and others. Some works were previously shown only at exhibitions or were kept in the museum’s storage. In total, the new exhibition includes about 70 works by more than 40 authors (primarily paintings, supplemented by several sculptural pieces).

For the first time in museum practice the painted collection of the Russian avant‑garde is presented in full, as NGHM currently owns it. This collection is one of the most significant among regional museums in our country. Today it is well known not only to specialists but also to the general public in Russia and abroad through numerous exhibitions and publications.