Искусство

Today was my day to go to the Hermitage. It was supposed to rain today, so I figured it would be a perfect opportunity to spend the day at a museum. There are going to be a lot of photos in this post.

I don't think I've ever been to a museum where it was so clear that the building was on display as much as the paintings. But the buildings are pretty astounding. The museum is actually housed in five or six buildings, though there are three main ones, which are all connected on the second floor, which is where I spent my day. These include the Winter Palace, the Small Hermitage, and the Large Hermitage. Here are some pictures I took of the rooms themselves.

This is the room where the museum's Da Vincis are on display.


This is a replica of the Raphael loggias at the Vatican. After visiting there, Catherine the Great liked the loggias so much, she had some done for herself. Nice souvenir.


All the red fabric on the walls in this room was made by Cartier in Paris.

That is gilt you see on the walls and ceiling. This was essentially a room that was 95% covered in gold.

My pictures really don't do the rooms justice. It was beautiful, and everything was over the top. As I walked around I just kept thinking that it really was not surprising that there was such a violent revolution in the end. I'd be pretty mad at my leaders too, if this was the way they were living while I lived in a shack. Obviously many of the rooms are used to hang pieces, but some, like the gilt one, are not, as the room and the art would be competing. They've done a nice job of displaying both the buildings and the collection.

The Hermitage collection includes over 3 million pieces, which means only about five to ten percent of the collection is ever on display at a given time. Catherine the Great, who was apparently an avid art collector really began the collection. There is a story that she convinced the grandson of the first British prime minister to give her fifteen paintings of her choice from the Walpole collection, which was supposed to become the foundation of Britain's national gallery, in exchange for a portrait of herself. She chose fifteen Van Dycks. And apparently got away with it. However, after the Russian Revolution, the collection more than tripled in size, as the state nationalized all of the private collections in Russia. There are also a number of rooms, that have apparently been a special exhibition since about 1995 when they were first opened, full of paintings by Monet, Degas, Renoir, Picasso, Cezanne, and Matisse that the Red Army looted from German collections at the end of World War II. Most of these had never been publicly displayed until 1995 when they were first shown here. I wasn't allowed to take any pictures of those paintings. There was some controversy about whether they should be returned to Germany or not, but it appears Russia has decided to hold onto them.

I'm posting pictures of some of my favorite things that I saw, with the caveat that these are the things that I saw that I was also able to get a decent picture of. There were plenty of other remarkable pieces and lots of pieces that I loved that I'm not posting a picture of here. In addition to these there were pieces by Da Vinci, Raphael, a Michelangelo sculpture, countless works by Poussin, Titian, Veronese, Van Dyck, Rubens, Seurat, El Greco and on and on. The French 19th-20th century collection is especially huge. The paintings here also only represent one of MANY works by each artist. It really was an amazing place to spend the day.

Descent from the Cross - Rembrandt
I had to take this picture at an angle so there wouldn't be too much of a glare. This was one painting out of two HUGE rooms dedicated to Rembrandt. The other really standout piece was The Prodigal Son (my photo of that one is not so great). I remember talking about this painting in Humanities as an example of chiaroscuro. It is interesting to look at the painting and think about the sources of the light and how the light is cast on the people around the cross. It was a pretty stunning thing to see in person, and caught me by surprise, as I didn't know it was here at all.

The Childhood of Christ - Gerrit von Hontorst
I have no idea who this artist is. I had never heard of him before, but I loved this depiction of Christ as a child, working with Joseph and learning his trade. I appreciate the use of light in what is essentially a dark canvas. It is interesting to think about Christ's childhood, since we know so little about it. I found myself thinking about D&C 93, and Christ continuing "from grace to grace, until he received a fullness," just as we "shall receive of his fullness" and "receive grace for grace."

The Birth of St. John the Baptist - Tintoretto
I've just really liked Tintoretto ever since I went to Venice and saw so much of his work, especially in the Doge's Palace. Nothing deep to say here.

Haystack at Giverny - Monet

Thatched Cottages - Van Gogh
This is perhaps one of my favorite paintings by Van Gogh that I have ever seen, and I'm not sure what it is about it. Maybe it's just because I really like green?

Eternal Spring - Rodin
One of six or seven Rodin sculptures. Several of them, like this one, I thought were very cool just because of the way they seemed to rise out of the marble so naturally. I liked that he hadn't taken away the base of the rock, but just chiseled out the figures from it.

Infant (Nativity) - Gaugin
I'm generally not a fan of Gaugin. This was again, one of probably thirty paintings by him. This one jumped out at me. What I think I especially like is that in the background, there is what looks like a small nativity. This painting seems to reflect the individual miracle of every child born and connects each person with the miracle of Christ's birth. It seems to emphasize the importance of the individual in a way that I thought was very profound.

Music
Dance - both by Matisse
These next two are massive paintings. I knew they were going to be there before I went, but didn't necessarily expect to love them, but seeing them in person was very cool. They're about eight and a half feet tall and almost thirteen feet wide. They hang opposite each other, and I liked that effect - the feeling that the dancers are responding to the musicians. "Dance" ended up being one of my favorite pieces of the day.


Friendship - Picasso
I just liked it. There were other Picassos there that I also really loved, especially one called "Two Sisters."

It was a long, but rewarding day at the museum.

After going home to rest my tired legs for a little bit, I went back to the same place as the night before to watch the US and England play. This is a picture I snapped on my way. What does it look like at 1030 pm where you are? Because here it looks like this: