Blue Rose

The exhibition of Russian symbolism, “The Blue Rose", which opens in early March 2006 at the Tretyakov Gallery, was initially part of the “Europalia 2005" festival in Belgium, shown in Brussels from October 10 2005 through to February 5 2006. It was meant to introduce European viewers to one of the most important periods in early 20th-century Russian art. Russian symbolism reflected general European traditions, while at the same time it brought its own colour and national features into the general stream of this artistic trend, showing traces of Russian folklore in its bright ornamentation. Its images are characterized by a soft lyricism and dreaminess typical of both the Russian spirit and Russian nature.

FLOURISHING IN THE LATE 19TH-EARLY 20TH CENTURIES, SYMBOLISM ASPIRED TO CONVEY IN ART INTUITIVE INSIGHTS INTO DIFFERENT REALITIES - THE REALITY OF DREAM, REVERIE, MEMORY, FAIRY TALE, LEGEND, OR THAT OF A DIFFERENT, HIGHER WORLD. THIS NEW WORLDVIEW, REPLACING POSITIVISM, BECAME ONE OF THE FEATURES OF THE CULTURAL SILVER AGE IN RUSSIA, AND EMBRACED ALL AREAS OF CREATIVE ENDEAVOUR, INCLUDING LITERATURE, RAINTING AND MUSIC RUSSIAN WRITERS AND POETS SUCH AS ALEXANDER BLOK, ANDREI BELY AND VY-ACHESLAV IVANOV, AND THE RELIGIOUS PHILOSOPHERS VLADIMIR SOLOVIEV, PAVEL FLORENSKY AND SERGEI BULGAKOV BECAME EVANGELISTS AND INTERPRETERS OF THE NEW MOVEMENT: THEY PREACHED ABOUT THE MYSTICAL AND EVEN DIVINE ESSENCE OF ART WHICH WAS BOUND TO TRANSFORM THE WORLD.