From Gothic to Goya. Spanish Paintings from the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts
On 6 March 2024, the exhibition 鈥淔rom Gothic to Goya. Spanish Paintings from the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts鈥� begins its run in the Twelve-Column Hall of the New Hermitage.
Chronologically, the display spans a period from the late 15th century to the early 19th 鈥� from the late Gothic to the 鈥淕olden Age鈥� of Spanish painting. The exhibits include works by Luis de Morales, El Greco. Francisco de Zurbar谩n, Bartolom茅 Esteban Murillo, Antonio Pereda, Diego Velazquez and Francisco Goya. These artists continued the traditions of the masters of the past and initiated a new stage in the history of Western European art, forming an independent national school.
The foundation upon which art developed in Spain was direct observation of the world around. That determined the freshness of the devices used by Spanish artists and the national character of their painting. They rarely turned to mythology. Their main subjects were predominantly Gospel episodes and the lives of the saints. Genre painting, landscape and the still life played more of a subsidiary role than an independent one. The sole secular genre that developed extensively was portraiture.
The particular flourishing of culture came in the 17th century, which has become known as the Golden Age, when Spanish painting held one of the leading places among the European schools. Surprisingly, this coincided with a time of political and economic decline. In contrast to other countries, there is less consistency and stylistic unity in the overall picture of the development of Spanish art. Strict restraint and asceticism coexist with unbridled sumptuousness, hidebound practices with artistic boldness, and an archaizing tendency with innovative approaches that were ahead of their time.
The exhibition features eighteen paintings from the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts and four more from the State Hermitage鈥檚 own collection of Spanish paintings. Some of the works were once in the picture gallery of the Imperial Hermitage and formed pairs. Between 1924 and 1930, those pairs were separated. They include Velazquez鈥檚 Portrait of the Count-Duke Olivares (Pushkin Museum) and Portrait of Philip IV (Hermitage); Antonio Pereda鈥檚 Flight into Egypt (Pushkin Museum) and Crucifixion (Hermitage); Murillo鈥檚 Girl with a Basket of Fruit (Pushkin Museum) and Boy with a Dog (Hermitage). The exhibition provides a unique opportunity to see these companion pieces hung next to one another as they were 200 years ago.
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On 6 March 2024, the exhibition 鈥淔rom Gothic to Goya. Spanish Paintings from the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts鈥� begins its run in the Twelve-Column Hall of the New Hermitage.
Chronologically, the display spans a period from the late 15th century to the early 19th 鈥� from the late Gothic to the 鈥淕olden Age鈥� of Spanish painting. The exhibits include works by Luis de Morales, El Greco. Francisco de Zurbar谩n, Bartolom茅 Esteban Murillo, Antonio Pereda, Diego Velazquez and Francisco Goya. These artists continued the traditions of the masters of the past and initiated a new stage in the history of Western European art, forming an independent national school.
The foundation upon which art developed in Spain was direct observation of the world around. That determined the freshness of the devices used by Spanish artists and the national character of their painting. They rarely turned to mythology. Their main subjects were predominantly Gospel episodes and the lives of the saints. Genre painting, landscape and the still life played more of a subsidiary role than an independent one. The sole secular genre that developed extensively was portraiture.
The particular flourishing of culture came in the 17th century, which has become known as the Golden Age, when Spanish painting held one of the leading places among the European schools. Surprisingly, this coincided with a time of political and economic decline. In contrast to other countries, there is less consistency and stylistic unity in the overall picture of the development of Spanish art. Strict restraint and asceticism coexist with unbridled sumptuousness, hidebound practices with artistic boldness, and an archaizing tendency with innovative approaches that were ahead of their time.
The exhibition features eighteen paintings from the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts and four more from the State Hermitage鈥檚 own collection of Spanish paintings. Some of the works were once in the picture gallery of the Imperial Hermitage and formed pairs. Between 1924 and 1930, those pairs were separated. They include Velazquez鈥檚 Portrait of the Count-Duke Olivares (Pushkin Museum) and Portrait of Philip IV (Hermitage); Antonio Pereda鈥檚 Flight into Egypt (Pushkin Museum) and Crucifixion (Hermitage); Murillo鈥檚 Girl with a Basket of Fruit (Pushkin Museum) and Boy with a Dog (Hermitage). The exhibition provides a unique opportunity to see these companion pieces hung next to one another as they were 200 years ago.
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