The "Cherry Orchard" on the Arbat

The very title of this project recalls Russian literary and artistic masterpieces. Its quaintly-staged exhibition included paintings, graphic works and sculptures by such famous Russian artists as Alexander Burganov, Natalya Nesterova, Irina Starzhenetskaya, Olga Gretchina, Maria Burganova, Igor Burganov, Sergei Geta, Dmitry Ikonnkikov, Alexander Zhernokluev, Dmitry Alekseev, Pavel Sherbaum, Julia Smolenkova, and Anastasia Golikova. These works of art created expressly for the exhibition transform modern ideas about the current generation of Russian intellectuals' involvement in the roots of their national self-awareness and in the great traditions of Russian culture, endorsing its lasting moral strength, as well as its polyphonic richness of content.

Natalya NESTEROVA. Viennese Chairs. 2005
Oil on canvas. 90 by 95 cm

The "Cherry Orchard" exhibition was accompanied by a theatrical performance with musical improvisations, which accentuated a special festive atmosphere of poetic harmony with the surrounding world.

For many generations in world culture, Chekhov's "Cherry Orchard" has personified the spiritual beauty of the Russian people, offering an inexhaustible source of artistic interpretation and personal understanding of the many-sided aspects of the play.

Irina STARZHENETSKAYA. The Cherry Orchard. 2004
Oil on canvas. 120 by 110 cm

The "Burganov House" museum's initiative to hold this art festival exemplifies the spiritual renaissance of Russia, stimulating the public's artistic imagination and broadening its aesthetic horizons.