Salvador Dali

There are few places outside Spain itself where people have as deep and thorough an appreciation of Spanish culture, literature, drama, fine arts, cinema, philosophy and aesthetics as in Russia. As for the visual arts, some remarkable scholarly publications by Russian historians, art experts and critics dedicated to the masters of Spanish painting and drawing deserve to be particularly remembered. Among them are Igor Golomshtok's and Nina Dmitrieva's monographs on Picasso, Oleg Prokofiev's works on Goya's prints, Alexander Yakimovich's works on the portraits of Velázquez, as well as the first monograph on Salvador Dali's art published in Russian, "Salvador Dali: Myths and Reality" by Alexander Rozhin - the former King of Spain Juan Carlos honoured that work with a special acknowledgement - and many other equally worthy publications.

The exhibition “The Collective Unconscious: Graphic Works of Surrealism from de Chirico to Magritte” opened at the beginning of March 2011 at the State Historical Museum of Russia, Moscow. Initiated by InArtis Project, the exhibition gave a rare opportunity to get acquainted with the art works of Giorgio de Chirico, Max Ernst, Salvador Dali and René Magritte from private collections from Europe and the USA, and aimed to show the development of the visual concept of Surrealism - the story of the emergence of the images of Surrealism and their further development as a distinct phenomenon. The graphic works at the exhibition show the viewer not only different works by acknowledged masters that are stylistically different in themselves, but also illustrate the development of Surrealism itself.
The first exhibition of Surrealist artists took place in 1925 in Paris, its participants including painters as diverse as Giorgio de Chirico, Paul Klee, Max Ernst, Joan Miro, and Pablo Picasso. In the opinion of Andre Breton the new art had to express the secret desires and needs of all people; to grasp this art, viewers only had to have a receptive mind and the spontaneity of a child.

The Spanish Collection -
Picasso, Dali, Miró, Gris, Clavé, Tàpies,
at the Pushkin Fine Arts Museum

The collections of artists' books amassed by Boris Friedman and George Gens are probably the fullest of their kind in Russia. There comes a point in the life of many collectors when they feel the urge to make the riches at their disposal available to the public. Such were the motives of Friedman, when he approached the Pushkin Fine Arts Museum with a suggestion for cooperation. The museum was pleased to accept: the material on offer was of extremely high quality, and such projects have undoubted educational value. On show from February to the end of March 2012, it was the first an exhibition of its kind in Russia.