Painting of the XIX-XX centuries, Room 2

The St. Petersburg Artel of Artists, an association of the 'rebels' and their sympathizers, was short-lived. Its ideological inspiration, Ivan Kramskoy, later attributed this to the fact that not all artists were firmly committed to their beliefs. Following the innovative path of Impressionism, the 20th century gave rise to a wave of artistic innovation. Post-Impressionism emerged, driven by the vision and creativity of artists like Van Gogh and Cezanne. These pioneers of self-expression dared to transcend traditional representation, expanding the boundaries of form and color to convey their inner emotions and perspectives.

Older colleagues of the 'rebels' returned from their Italian trips, making it apparent that there was a need for independent exhibitions by this new union of artists. In 1870, the Ministry of Internal Affairs officially approved the charter of the Society for Traveling Art Exhibitions. They were called 'traveling' because their goal, as stated in the charter, was "to provide residents of the provinces with the opportunity to become acquainted with Russian art," meaning the art was transported from city to city.

"…A society of young artists with a new outlook and needs arose and separated itself. Its main slogan was: nationality and realism," writes Vladimir Stasov, a witness to the events. Nationality was understood as an awareness of belonging to the history and culture of one's people and country, as opposed to the academic traditions of continuously turning to the history and art of ancient Greece and Rome. Realism was seen as a contrast to the illusory, fantastical images of historical (no one can know for sure how ancient events looked) and mythological compositions.

In all European Academies of Arts, there was a hierarchy of genres. Historical painting (including works on mythological and literary themes) was considered the highest genre. Portraits, still lifes, landscapes, genre scenes, and animalistic themes were seen as lower genres. Guided by the idea of prioritizing the national and realistic, the Wanderers during this period focused mainly on landscapes and genre scenes. The landscape was meant to highlight the unique beauty and grandeur of native nature (rather than distant Italian shores). In the genre scene, social issues were more sharply addressed, with particular attention paid to the uniqueness of the Russian people.

In the second half of the 18th and early 19th centuries, children were sent to become artists by their parents' decision at the age of 7 to 10. By the second half of the 19th century, enrollment in the Academy increasingly became a conscious decision of adult artists, hence a much greater independence and decisiveness. "All of them came here of their own volition and brought their ideas," IlyaRepin would later write. Moscow artists often entered the Academy after graduating from the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture, and many then returned to Moscow - thus forming the Moscow School.

Less than a decade later, new tendencies began to penetrate the academic educational system. For example, Vladimir Makovsky, the younger brother of Konstantin Makovsky, one of the participants in the "revolt of the fourteen," combined (as did Vasily Perov) the titles of academician of the Academy of Arts and a member of the board of the Society for Traveling Art Exhibitions. Sometimes the Wanderer masters returned to academic values: Konstantin Makovsky himself returned to historical painting in the late 1880s and received the grand gold medal at the World Exhibition in Paris for his canvases. The artistic life of Russia in the last quarter of the 19th century became increasingly rich and diverse. No longer feeling academic coercion, the masters reinterpreted mythological and literary themes - the historical genre was developing. Paintings by the Makovsky brothers, Konstantin, Nikolai, and Vladimir, can be seen in this hall.

Many academic masters never joined the Wanderers. These include, in particular, landscape medalists of the Academy of Arts Yuly Klever, Alexey Kivshenko, and Sergey Vasilkovsky and marine painters (from the Latin "marinus") Ivan Aivazovsky, Alexey Bogolyubov, and Lev Lagorio, whose works are presented in the hall. These artists consistently developed traditional views of landscape painting and were recognized as masters of their time.

Ivan Aivazovsky (1817-1900), the greatest academic marine painter, did not belong to the Wanderers but largely shared their approach to the tasks of art. Even before Artel's initiative, he began transporting his works from city to city, astonishing and inspiring viewers with his remarkable seascapes that evoked strong feelings: trepidation, ecstasy, and boundless admiration for the element of the sea.

The highlights of this hall are the paintings "The forest road" by Ivan Shishkin and a female portrait by Ilya Repin. Ivan Shishkin (1832-1898), the author of the famous painting "Morning in a pine forest" (State Tretyakov Gallery), head of the landscape workshop at the Academy of Arts, and founder of the Society for Traveling Art Exhibitions, was an artist of special talent. His works are filled with light and warmth; nature breathes with vitality and energy, which is transmitted to the viewer.

Since 1944, the Academy of Arts has been named after Ilya Repin. Ilya Repin (1844-1930), one of the greatest Russian masters, came to enroll in the Academy of Arts in the significant year of 1863, the year of the "revolt of the fourteen." The following year, 1864, he became an auditor and then a student. His diploma work "The Resurrection of Jairus's Daughter" on a biblical theme was written in academic traditions, but it is not a detached depiction of ancient events, but an image full of emotions, and personal experiences related to the death of the artist's sister: despair, anxiety, hope, and faith. Ilya Repin, a regular participant in the traveling exhibitions and a teacher at the Academy of Arts from 1894 to 1907, proved through his work that any theme, close to the artist and reflecting his concerns and feelings, could become the basis for a great work, draw attention to society's problems and deficiencies, or introduce the viewer to the beautiful, sublime, and eternal.