Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
SIGHTS
TOP SIGHTS
ERARTA MUSEUM & GALLERIES OF CONTEMPORARY
ART
This fantastic new contemporary art museum has suddenly made this far-flung
and otherwise totally dead area of Vasilyevsky Island a destination in itself.
Opened in 2010 and housed in a superbly converted Stalinist building, the mu-
seum divides neatly into two parts, spread over five floors. On the left-hand side
is the permanent collection of some 2000 works of Russian art produced
between the 1950s and the present day, while on the right-hand side the same
number of floors house temporary exhibits, where the work is usually for sale.
Your ticket includes entrance to the entire permanent collection and the first
three floors of the temporary exhibits, but those on the 4th and 5th floors are an
extra R150 each.
The permanent collection is an excellent survey of the past half-century of
Russian art, and is particularly strong on late Soviet underground art. One nice
curatorial touch is the frequent inclusion of objects depicted in paintings in real
life - a bowl of apples will sit, for example, in front of a painting entitled
Apple
Picking
. It's all terribly sleek, beautifully presented and the best place in St
Petersburg to get a feel for contemporary Russian art. To get there from the
metro, cross the road and take bus 6.
DON'T MISS
ยป
A Plank Bed,
Savely Lapitsky
