Gallery of European and American Art

The building where the gallery is located used to be the left wing of the Golitsyn estate built in the 17th-19th centuries. The estate has maintained its original master plan, but all of the buildings have been rebuilt many times over the centuries. Various architects worked on it at different times, including Savva Chevakinsky, Ivan Zherebtsov, and Matvey Kazakov. At the end of the 19th century, architect Vasiliy Zagorskiy rebuilt the left wing as a lodging house, which received the name ‘Princely Yard’.

Here, Vasiliy Surikov, Ilya Repin, Alexander Scriabin, and Leonid Pasternak stayed repeatedly for long periods of time. This house changed owners many times throughout its history and underwent a complete reconstruction for the Department of Private Collections. The Gallery of 19th and 20th century European and American Art is now located here.
The exposition includes works by prominent representatives of the key European art movements of the 19th century: Friedrich, Goya, Gericault, Delacroix, Ingres, Corot, Courbet, Millet, and Daumier.

The Department is also proud to exhibit paintings by French impressionists, post-impressionists, and artists of the early 20th century, including Monet, Cézanne, Gaugin, Matisse, and Picasso. The middle and second half of the 20th century are represented by Chagall, de Chirico, Kandinsky, and Kent.
The main holding of the Department includes artworks from collections of famous Moscow philanthropists: Ilya Ostroukhov, Pavel Kharitonenko, Dmitry Botkin, and Sergey Tretyakov (the brother of Pavel Tretyakov, the famous founder of the State Tretyakov Gallery).

It is impossible to imagine the history of Moscow philanthropy without Ivan Morozov and Sergey Schukin. They came from rich merchant families and were the first to start collecting pieces of contemporary French art. Their collections quickly joined the ranks of the world’s most famous. Their connections with renowned Parisian trading houses and their personal acquaintance with painters helped them to choose the best artworks with flawless instinct. When purchasing pieces of art, Ivan Morozov took advice from his friends – artists Sergey Vinogradov, Konstantin Korovin, and Valentin Serov. His personal acquaintance with the Nabi group and his passion for art resulted in a unique ability to create a decorative collection in his house.