From Russia

Exhibition at the Royal Academy showing modern masterpieces drawn from Russia’s principal collections.

This was a superb exhibition and I may well try to go again. Split into two halves the first showed French works which had been collected by Russians and the second half the effect on Russian art of having these pictures on display in the country.

It was really as case of name a French artist of the late C19th/early C20th and they were there, Monet, Renoir, Cezanne, Matisse, Picasso and more. A real visual feast, but also a look at the trends in collecting which seems to be a recurring theme in exhibitions t the moment.

How to pick a favorite when Matisse’s Dance II was there dominating the main room? As ever I seem to be drawn to the portraits of women from that of Nadezhola Polovtsova by Carolus-Duran in the first room, with stunning contasts of a black dress against a red chair to that of Anna Akhmalova by Altman, this time a contrast in yellow and blue. Throw in a wonderfully tactile Van Gogh portrait and just heaven.

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