Painting Genres. The Evolution of Ideas About the World and Man

Section leader - Olga Georgievna Makho, Senior Researcher, State Hermitage

The program of this section is devoted to painting: the distinguishing features of its specific language, the special possibilities for expression that painting presents. The system of genres is a type of set of coordinates that established itself in the classical period. However, the very fact that this system seems so permanent and self-evident makes it useful to try to look into its essence and understand what really is going on behind the well-known genres of painting. Moreover, it is especially interesting to look at painting from before the time when genres as such were formed, or, in the opposite case, today in contemporary art when the genre system has essentially collapsed.

The very rich collection of Western European painting in the State Hermitage makes it possible to view works from different ages and national schools of art, often juxtaposing them in a manner that is unfamiliar to the visitor and bringing together in a single commentary attention both to classical and to contemporary art.

The orientation of genres towards thematic unity of works enables us to understand the distinctive peculiarities of the artistic language of different countries and different ages, and consequently to have a deeper appreciation of the world view and experience of different ages. This in turn allows us to bring out the specific qualities of the nonverbal language of the fine arts. This type of task is especially valuable since our Russian culture has traditionally been closely associated with a verbal foundation formed by literature and philosophy while on the other hand in our contemporary culture visual elements assume an ever more important role. It is precisely in the context of our modern cultural situation that it is so important how you phrase your question about the uniqueness of a work of art, the way its very existence cannot be repeated, and the inexhaustible nature of its content.

Therefore one distinguishing aspect of the work of this section is our striving to use to the maximum extent the unique opportunities which the Hermitage affords us - by holding all of our meetings directly in the museum's exhibition rooms.

The work of the section goes beyond study of the permanent collections of the Hermitage. This is directly complemented by our acquaintance with the many and diverse temporary exhibits which substantially add to and broaden our possibilities of talking about art, especially painting of the 20th century.

The sessions are conducted in the format of a free-flowing conversation.

St. Valentine's Day party. A scene from the literary and musical composition The Book of Love

Thoughts about Classicism

At an evening class