Exhibition 'Arkhip Kuindzhi. The Illusion of Light'

About exhibition

'Arkhip Kuindzhi. The Illusion of Light' is a large-scale exhibition of Arkhip Kuindzhi, one of the most vivid and enigmatic painters in the history of Russian landscape art. For the first time in many years in St. Petersburg, the genius of the master will be presented to the public in such a comprehensive scope that it will be possible to trace the milestones of his creative path — from his earliest works to the most famous pieces from the Russian Museum's collection, such as 'Moonlit Night on the Dnieper', 'Lake Ladoga', 'Rainbow' and 'Night'. The Russian Museum owns the largest and most representative collection of Arkhip Kuindzhi's works in the world — 202 works that reflect all periods of the artist's life and work. At the core of the exhibition is the Russian Museum’s own exceptionally rich collection, supplemented by works from the country's leading museums that have not previously been shown at the Russian Museum. 'Arkhip Kuindzhi. The Illusion of Light' is the Russian Museum's tribute to a master who traveled the thorny creative path from a self-taught artist to a teacher. More than 200 works will be exhibited in the Benois Building of the Russian Museum. His contemporaries called the landscape painter a genius-inventor. 'The illusion of light was his god,' Ilya Repin declared, 'and there was no painter equal to him in achieving this miracle of painting. Kuindzhi is a painter of light.'