Priceless art from Hermitage travels to Madrid
One good turn deserves another. Russia`s State Hermitage Museum has sent almost 200 priceless masterpieces from its collection to the Prado, the top cultural sight of the Spanish capital and one of the world`s greatest art galleries.
The head of the Hermitage and curator of the display, Mikhail Piotrovsky says this is the St. Petersburg museum`s biggest project ever realized abroad. Let your imagination go for a moment and think what it takes to move dozens of priceless art objects, including Caravaggio`s Lute Player or Tiziano`s Saint Sebastian overseas! Not even mentioning that all of them need very special temperature and humidity conditions?
The display covers a vast period of art history from the 5th through the 20th century and follows its development through different mediums.
Divided into thematic sections, it showcases portraits of Russia`s great monarchs with a collection of ancient Greek gold, and a section of works dedicated to the city of St. Petersburg.
However the real jewels lie in the painting, sculpture and drawing section. Among the greats on display are Caravaggio, El Greco, Velázquez, Veronese, Rubens, Monet, Gauguin and many more.
Russia`s 20th century avant-garde is also represented by heavyweights including Vassily Kandinsky`s Composition 6, and Kazimir Malevich`s famed Black Square.
The display is part of the Russia-Spain cross-cultural year. Earlier this year, the Hermitage hosted 66 paintings from the Prado collection, which featured Bosch, El Greco, Goya, Rubens and Velazquez.
The display in the Prado will be on through March 25, 2012.
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