Tag Archives: st. petersburg

Impressionism at the Hermitage

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The Hermitage is full of beautiful artworks, and the building itself, both interior and exterior, is beautiful. Out of the thousands (number) of pieces of art in the museum, what most caught my attention was the French Impressionist collection. I definitely appreciate Rembrandts and Da Vincis, but I have always been partial to art made after 1860, especially Van Gogh and Matisse.  When I was little I had a book of Monet paintings, and I would spend time flipping through its pages, then trying to replicate the way he caught light on ocean waves, only with watercolors on office paper.
Some photos I took of a few of my favorite paintings from the collection –

Vincent Van Gogh, Thatched Cottages

Vincent Van Gogh, Thatched Cottages


Paul Cezanne, Still life with Drapery

Paul Cezanne, Still life with Drapery


Henri Matisse, Seville Still life

Henri Matisse, Seville Still life


Henri Matisse, Still life with Blue Tableclothe

Henri Matisse, Still life with Blue Tableclothe


Paul Gauguin, Tahitian Pastorals - detail

Paul Gauguin, Tahitian Pastorals – detail


I was particularly interested to learn about the source of this collection that provides such a bright, colorful, sometimes tropical (Gauguin) contrast to the gray weather of St. Petersburg.  These paintings at one point belonged to the Russian merchants Sergei Shchukin and Ivan Morozov. Our tour guide highlighted the fact that the two were always in competition with each other, and when one started to acquire Impressionist paintings (signs point to Shchukin), the other decided that he had to acquire an even better collection. Thanks to their rivalry, visitors to both the Hermitage in Petersburg and the Pushkin museum in Moscow can enjoy some of the gems of French Impressionism.
An overview of the Shchukin and Morozov collections that I highly recommend.
 

Beauty of Peterhof

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Considering what the builders of St. Petersburg have been able to achieve working with water and stone, what the architects, sculptors, and engineers who lived in Peterhof created comes as no surprise. Peterhof is often called St. Petersburg’s most beautiful suburb, and when we visited it last Saturday I could understand why.

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a view of the Grand Palace


Peter the Great chose this spot in the early 18th century, and in only ten years two parks (Upper and Lower) and three palaces (Monplaisir, Marly, and the Grand Palace) were completed, along with an amazing collection of fountains and sculptures. People often draw comparisons between Peterhof and Versailles, but we learned from our tour guide that there is a key difference between the fountains at each palace complex. While the fountains of Versailles spew water thanks to pumping from nearby water sources, the fountains of Peterhof depend only on gravity and pressure. Many of the fountains feature wonderful sculptures, and some of them are “trick” fountains that will spray you when you least expect it. (Apparently Peter the Great liked to play pranks.)
Triton

Triton


Rastrelli's Oak fountain - nearby a hidden trick fountain sprayed tourists

Rastrelli’s Oak fountain – nearby a hidden trick fountain sprayed tourists


I first learned about Peterhof in our Conversation class at MSU. The parks and fountains seemed totally beautiful, and seeing them in real life was even better than I had expected.
A collection of short clips of some of the fountains in motion (plus the Baltic Sea), with Reinhold Glière’s Hymn of St. Petersburg, which played while the Grand Cascade was turned on: