In September 2020 the Museum of Russian Impressionism will present the exhibition ‘Sergey Vinogradov. Painted Life’, dedicated to the brilliant Russian painter from the circle of Konstantin Korovin and Valentin Serov as well as an influential art consultant of the early 20th century. This large-scale personal exhibition will assemble more than 60 of the master’s works, from all over Russia. For the first time in many years, viewers will be able to see paintings from the Baltic countries, where Sergey Vinogradov moved in 1924.

The remarkably light-hearted and joyful subject matter of Sergey Vinogradov’s paintings runs counter to dramatic events in the first third of the 20th century, as if the artist depicted another life that is partly real, but also partly imagined or desired. During the Revolution the master diligently avoided any hint of changing circumstances in his own life or the destiny of the country as a whole. Vinogradov poeticises everyday life and looks at it from the outside: his landscapes are full of colour, the Moscow side-streets flooded with sunlight, and bright, pure colours conceal indications of poverty in the surrounding world. 

This is the most comprehensive presentation of Sergey Vinogradov’s oeuvre so far. For the exhibition at the Museum of Russian Impressionism the master’s works will be supplemented by his memoirs, and previously unpublished photographs. 

The artist belonged to the Moscow creative intelligentsia and greatly influenced the balance of power in the history of Russian art, as an organiser and active participant of the Union of Russian Artists’ exhibitions and the first Russian Art Exhibition in the USA in 1924. 

Sergey Vinogradov was acquainted with Konstantin Korovin and Valentin Serov, he went fishing with Fyodor Chaliapin, stayed with the Mamontov family at the Golovinka estate and played cards with Leo Tolstoy. The exhibition will include the works ‘At K.A. Korovin’s’, ‘Playing. 1914’ and ‘House in Yasnaya Polyana from the Terrace’, as a reminder of the artist’s close relationship with prominent figures in Russian culture.

It was largely thanks to the taste, broad outlook and instinct of Sergey Vinogradov that paintings by outstanding foreign masters such as Paul Cézanne, Auguste Renoir, Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, Vincent Van Gogh and others first appeared in Russia. He encouraged Mikhail and Ivan Morozov to collect art, and later curated their collections. Many of these works now adorn the expositions of the main state museums in Russia.

The Museum of Russian Impressionism continues to work closely with regional museums. This time the geography of the exhibition is particularly extensive: in addition to works from museums in Moscow and St. Petersburg, the exhibition will include pictures from private collections and museum collections in Irkutsk, Arkhangelsk, Omsk, Kazan, Petrozavodsk, Barnaul and other Russian cities. There are also plans to show paintings from Belarus, Lithuania and Estonia.

The theme of the estate, which is especially important in the work of Sergey Vinogradov, will be emphasised in the architecture of the exhibition.

Curators: Director of the Museum of Russian Impressionism Yulia Petrova and Exhibition Department Specialist Olga Yurkina.