Russia’s Most Famous Artists Meet Munch

Image: Mikhail Vrubel, The Swan Princess (1900). Copyright: The Tretyakov Gallery

Art lovers will have a rare opportunity to view works by some of Russia’s most famous artists alongside works by Edvard Munch and several other popular Nordic artists, when the exhibition The Swan Princess. Russian Art 1880–1910 opens at the Munch Museum.

The Munch Museum’s international status has enabled it to negotiate a unique collaboration with the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow. Through this collaboration, the Museum has secured access to some truly iconic Russian works of art, and has assembled an exhibition that testifies to the power of the ideas of national identity that prevailed in both Russia and Norway in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. 

Mikhail Vrubel, The Swan Princess (1900). Copyright: The Tretyakov Gallery

– Against the background of the expressive power of the fine arts, we very much look forward to the collaboration and the exchange of works for exhibition, which we believe can be very important to good relations at a human and cultural level between our two peoples, says the Munch Museum’s director, Stein Olav Henrichsen.

The Swan Princess. Russian Art 1880–1910 is the first of three major exhibitions at the Munch Museum that will feature Russian art. The second and third exhibitions will take place at the new museum in Bjørvika. The collaboration also involves a major exhibition of almost 100 works by Edvard Munch at the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow. 

– This collaboration gives us the opportunity to present a broad range of works by Edvard Munch at one of Russia’s most prestigious galleries. At the same time, we will present a broad selection of Russian art to the Norwegian public. Both aspects of the collaboration will contribute to improving knowledge, understanding and relations between neighbouring countries at a tense time when the news media are focused on distance and differences, says Henrichsen.

The title of the exhibition is taken from an iconic painting by Mikhail Vrubel and reflects the interest of both Russian and Nordic artists in subjects derived from myths, fairytales, landscapes and peasant culture. The exhibition will comprise a total of 140 works: 110 works from the Tretyakov Gallery, and 30 works by Nordic artists. The Russian artists include Ilya Repin, who is considered to be one of Russia’s most famous and influential artists. Other famous Russian names include Mikhail Vrubel, Valentin Serov, Konstantin Korovin and Vasily Polenov. The exhibition will also include 13 works by Edvard Munch, as well as works by classic Nordic artists such as Erik Werenskiold, Gerhard Munthe and Theodor Kittelsen. The works by other Nordic artists have been loaned by the Gothenburg Museum of Art, the Norwegian National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design, and KODE in Bergen. This exhibition will provide a unique opportunity to view works by some of Russia’s foremost artists and to learn about these artists in a Nordic context. 

A richly illustrated catalogue will be published in connection with the exhibition, containing approximately 150 reproductions and three essays written especially for the publication by art historian and Munch Museum curator Kari J. Brandtzæg, political scientist and director of the NOVA research institute Iver B. Neumann and Tretyakov Gallery curator Galina Churak.

Curator: Kari J. Brandtzæg.

Exhibition dates: 22 February – 21 April 2019.