Highlights from the Russian Museum

The art in St Petersburg is mainly divided between two galleries: the Russian Museum for Russian art, and the Hermitage for everything else. Russian art is very different in its early and later periods. The collection of early art in the Russian Museum consisted mainly of Orthodox Christian icons. It was really interesting to see their depiction of God as a young angel (usually with golden curly hair) and the frequent portrayal of the "old testament trinity" (which I looked up later: the word, the wisdom, and the spirit). Then there was a period where Russian artists just copied Western Europe. And then in the 20th century things diverged again (I especially liked Vrubel).

And the above paragraph is why I should keep all of my thoughts short. So short thoughts:

I enjoyed Nicolas Francois Gillet's (1709-1791) plaster sculpture titled "Painting." I thought that was very ironic.

19th Century Aivasovsky painted some of the best maritime scenes I've ever seen. Two paintings in particular stood out: "The Wave" and "The Ninth Wave." They stood next to each other, though, and there seemed to be something lacking. Maybe seven other paintings?

Ivanov liked painting naked boys too much. Otherwise he was a good painter.