English
On the occasion of Spain-Russia Dual Year 2011, the city of St. Petersburg hosted from February until May, the exhibition “Prado at the Hermitage”. A total of sixty-six paintings, Spanish, Italian and Flemish schools, gave proof of the importance of the Spanish museum in the incomparable setting of the Hermitage, one of the largest and most spectacular museums in the world.
And now, continuing with this unprecedented exchange of collections, Prado Museum is honored to receive the State Hermitage Museum from St. Petersburg. This exhibition, opens on the 8th of November and will be open until the 25th of March, 2012 and is curated by Mikhail Piotrovsky which is also the director of the Russian Museum.
Visitors will enjoy the one hundred and seventy works from the Hermitage including paintings, sculptures, decorative art objects and antiquities, among others, dating from the century V a. C. until the twentieth century. A variety of art collections gathered in one place, the Prado Museum in Madrid.
Thus, ´Eternal Spring´ by Rodin (sculpture), ´Seated Woman´ by Picasso (oil painting), ´The Month of Mary´, Gauguin (oil painting), ´Conversation´ by Matisse (oil painting) and ´The lute player ´by Caravaggio (oil painting) are some of the works to be exhibited at the exhibition.
Among the objects of decorative art is a sword that in the eighteenth century gave the Indian ambassador to the Tsar, a magnificent decorated with rubies, diamonds and silver, as well as the ´Glass Flowers´, by Carl Faberge, made in glass rock, diamonds and gold.
The Madrid museum is named after the street where it is located, which the Paseo del Prado. This beautiful boulevard, one of the most important of the Spanish capital, and was born in the Plaza de Cibeles, reaching the round point of Atocha. In this place we can find the Botanical Gardens, the National Library and, of course, the Prado Museum.
Anyone wishing to admire art and culture, should visit, condition sine qua non, the Hermitage in St. Petersburg. The Russian Museum is located in the center of the city, including the incomparable setting of the River Neva and the Palace Square. And, the Hermitage is situated in a spectacular architectural ensemble of five interconnected buildings, among which is the Winter Palace, which once was the residence of the czars.
The collections in the Hermitage, were gathered on the Russian monarchs interest in acquiring works of art. Peter the Great started this practice, with paintings by Rembrandt, among others. However, it was Catherine II who gave the greatest boost to the future museum after receiving 225 paintings from a Berlin dealer on account of some debts.
That was the beginning of what is now the Hermitage, with collections ranging from the Egypt of the Pharaohs, Siberian culture, ancient Greece and Rome, through the Renaissance and neoclassical sculpture, painting up to the Gauguin, Kandinsky and Picasso. For more information http://www.museodelprado.es/exposiciones/info/en-el-museo/tesoros-del-hermitage/
If you happen to be in the Spanish capital, do not miss the unique opportunity of enjoying this extraordinary cross-section of two institutions, the Russian Hermitage Museum and the Prado Museum in Madrid. But above all, remember to rent apartments in Madrid
Translated by: Hans
