In St. Petersburg — watch: what interesting things the museums of the Northern capital have prepared for the new year

St. Petersburg is an open-air museum in itself, but going to the city on the Neva, and even more so being a resident of it, it would be strange to ignore the most interesting exhibitions taking place here. Moreover, there is plenty to choose from during the New Year holidays in Northern Venice. Details can be found in the Izvestia article.

"All Benoit — all Benoit"

The Manege

This is not the first time that the Manege Central Exhibition Hall team has presented a complex blockbuster exhibition to St. Petersburg residents and guests. And there is no doubt that the main character of the new project, Alexander Nikolaevich Benois (1870-1960), a world—famous set designer, and this is just one of the facets of his talent, would appreciate the scope, drama and design of the exhibition, the originality of its curators, and would be amazed by the new technologies. For example, with the help of artificial intelligence and with the participation of current Mariinsky stars, it was possible to "revive" the dance of Nijinsky and Pavlova in the ballet Armida Pavilion, for which Benoit created librettos, costumes, sets and stage effects at the beginning of the last century. The recording is projected onto a huge wall separated by a curtain, and this is the first thing that even sophisticated visitors are surprised by.

Photo: vk.com/Центральный exhibition hall "Manege"

The Benois family, closely connected with St. Petersburg, was not only variously gifted, but also numerous. At the exhibition, you can learn about 40 of its representatives — architects, sculptors, artists and other art figures, including Nikolai, Leonty and Albert Benois, Eugene Lanceret, Zinaida Serebryakova and even the British actor, playwright and director, two-time Oscar winner Peter Ustinov, who was the son of the artist Nadezhda Leontievna Benois. The history of the glorious artistic dynasty is illustrated by more than 600 objects located on two floors, obtained from 60 museums, libraries, archives of the country, including the main and largest, and from private collections.

On the second level, from which they propose to begin the inspection, there is a spacious glass maze, where Alexander Nikolaevich is represented as an artist, art critic, ideologist of the Mir Iskusstvo association and keeper of the Hermitage. The heart of this exhibition is an installation that reproduces Benoit's imaginary study. And the continuation of the maze is the "ABC" space, which goes to the first floor. The sheets from the famous picture book, created by A.N. in 1904 for his son, are wittily and boldly accompanied by various artifacts at the exhibition, mainly paintings by family members and their contemporaries, but not only. The letter R is represented by life—size mounted knights, and the letter I is represented by various folk toys. There is even a wooden shed with numerous holes.: Once inside, you can see the starry sky as an illustration to the letter Z.

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"Last closed meeting. The Kunin Collection"

KGallery

The word "closed" is by no means an advertising trick. Never before in the 100 years of its existence has this private collection been fully presented to everyone. Even now, having survived all kinds of historical cataclysms, including the siege of Leningrad, when the paintings almost died, it remains private and integral. In four years, from 1918 to 1922, businessman Yakov Kunin and his first wife Alexandra, being middle-class people, collected an excellent collection of 40 paintings and 190 graphic works, mostly by artists of the Mir Iskusstvo association. Even the enumeration of names is impressive: Alexander Benois, Mstislav Dobuzhinsky, Boris Grigoriev, Mikhail Vrubel, Konstantin Somov, Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin, Nikolai Roerich, Martiros Saryan and others. The Kunins were actively assisted by the owner of the commercial gallery "Art Bureau" with the speaking surname of Dobychina. Nadezhda Evseevna, who mined rarities, is considered the first Russian professional gallery owner. Her portrait by Somov is also on display at the exhibition.

Photo: vk.com/KGallery

One of the main masterpieces, "Self—Portrait in Red" by Zinaida Serebryakova, entered the collection as Alaverda: in 1921, to support the artist and her family in cold Petrograd, Kunin sent her firewood, and in return he suddenly received this canvas with a thank-you note.

Of course, the chamber exhibition cannot compete with the large—scale exposition of the Benois family at the Manege, but about a third of the Kuninsky collection contains theatrical sketches by Alexander Benois for "Petrushka" and "The Merchant of Venice" and gives an idea of his work.

The impression of the works is enhanced by a historical audio performance recorded by Veniamin Smekhov. The voice of the famous artist delicately accompanies tourists in the halls of the gallery, stylized like an old St. Petersburg apartment.

"The art of portraiture. Personality and epoch"

The State Hermitage Museum

"A similar portrait is a portrait that is internally similar, which gives an idea of the spiritual essence of a given person," said the painter Boris Kustodiev.

The exhibition, opened in the Nikolaevsky Hall of the Winter Palace, allows us to trace how the genre of portrait has changed over 4 thousand years — from the Ancient East and Antiquity to the present day — and in what ways it has remained unchanged. Among the more than 750 carefully selected works there are statues of Egyptian pharaohs, marble busts of Roman emperors, icons, ceremonial portraits of nobles, chamber images of ordinary people. Faces from different eras and countries are also represented on banknotes, coins, pottery and theater posters. Classic easel portraits are juxtaposed with photographs and video art. The names of the artists range from Rembrandt and Rubens, Serov and Kramsky to Matisse, Picasso and Bacon. For example, Andy Warhol exists in two guises — both as the author of the portrait of Jacqueline Kennedy, and as the person being portrayed — his photo was taken by Dennis Hopper.

Group portrait of the Amsterdam Shooters Corporation. Dirk Jacobs, c. 1497-1567.

Photo: hermitagemuseum.org

Two works by the modern St. Petersburg architect Nestor Engelke, made using the author's "axe painting" technique, are very popular (a rare visitor does not point his smartphone at them): not entirely realistic and at the same time very recognizable images of Leo Tolstoy and Fyodor Dostoevsky are made on wooden boards using an axe. These pieces of wood perfectly embody one of the objectives of the exhibition — to show that portrait remains a relevant genre in modern art, giving an idea of the human essence.

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"Alexey Bogolyubov. On the 200th anniversary of his birth"

The Russian Museum

Along with the current best-selling exhibition in the Russian Museum "Arkhip Kuindzhi. The illusion of light", which does not need additional information "illumination", pay attention to the project representing the work of a hereditary nobleman, grandson of Alexander Radishchev, a remarkable marine and landscape painter, academician of painting Alexei Petrovich Bogolyubov (1824-1896).

In such a quantity — 120 paintings and graphic works from 15 museums — the Bogolyubov heritage is rarely exhibited. This anniversary exhibition was first shown at the Tretyakov Gallery, and then moved to Northern Venice, to the Mikhailovsky Palace.

Photo: IZVESTIA/Andrey Erstrem

Bogolyubov traveled constantly, which could not but be reflected in his work, the artist was even called "the most European of Russian landscape painters." At the exhibition, you can take a kind of promenade through ancient European cities: "Paris. Seine", "Embankment in Velay", "Houses in Antwerp", "Harbor in Amsterdam. Noon", "The fish market in Scheveningen" or "The earthquake in Menton on the carnival night of February 23, 1887". He created large—scale battle canvases that can be used to study history — the former naval officer depicted battles so reliably and documentarily, from composition to ship rigging.

"Victor Tsoi. The legend"

Sevkabel Port

It's worth coming here to immerse yourself in the atmosphere of the 1980s, and in the life and work of one of the brightest Russian rock musicians. The biopic exhibition, monument exhibition, and attraction exhibition, which opened in Viktor Tsoi's hometown last year, will continue to operate until the end of February 2026, because, firstly, there is steady demand, and secondly, the implementation of a new such large-scale project is very expensive and it is unknown when and who would do something like that.

Photo: tsoylegend.ru

More than 300 exhibits are presented in 13 halls on 3 thousand square meters of the cultural cluster. But the point is not even that rare personal items and artifacts are on display — concert costumes, guitars, song drafts, archival photographs, posters, videos, the first drawings and paintings by an already mature artist, but how it was done. An immersive walk through a specially constructed maze takes place with audio accompaniment — in headphones and with a special audio guide cassette, allowing you to emotionally experience certain episodes of the legend's biography. There is even an installation with a mountain of real coal, reproducing the boiler room at the hostel, the very "Kamchatka" where 24-year-old Tsoi worked as a stoker and which became for him an island of creative freedom.