A day of art and music in St. Petersburg

Friday, August 17, 2018

Our last day of touring in St. Pete. Once again, we have beautiful weather, though today will pretty much be an inside day as we finally make our visit to the Hermitage.

The Hermitage is the second largest art museum in the world, and actually consists of 5 buildings. It was founded in 1764 by Catherine the Great, who built a small museum to house a collection she bought. Initially, it was for her enjoyment only; she wrote in her diary that "...the works were seen only by her and the mice".

The new building was eventually open only to a select few, hence the name "hermitage" from "hermit" meaning "people who live alone". This building was directly connected to the Winter Palace in which she lived. So the first part of the visit is actually a walk through several rooms of this palace, with the focus on the ornate rooms rather than the few pieces of art found therein.

Here are some of them:

This is actually part of a 6' high clock dating from 1781, with many moving pieces;

for example, the peacock's head moves up and down. Today, they only run the clock for

1 hour at 1 pm on Wednesdays.  

In this gallery are 329 paintings of Russian generals

from the Napoleonic War. They were painted by

the English artist George Dawe and his students.

The empty (green) spaces represent the generals who were killed in battle. Since there

was no photography in those days, there was no way for the artist

to know what they looked like to paint them! 

The room where Nicholas II and Alexandra were married.

After walking through a dozen or so palace rooms, we eventually got to the more "ordinary" rooms which house the bulk of the art on display. Note that only about 5% of the 3,000,000 items in its holdings are available to view.

The Crouching Boy", the only piece by Michelangelo

in the museum's collection

And works by many Old Masters:

"The Lute Player" by Caravagio

"Portrait of an Actress" by Goya

"Danae" by Rembrandt

As we were walking through we suddenly thought "why are we taking photos here when we don't take them when we visit our own incredible Art Institute in Chicago?" Vacation mindset!!!!!

Outside is the Palace Square, dominated by the Alexander Column.

Across the impressive square is the General Staff Building.

From the internet, as the roof is currently undergoing repairs.

Having such a prosaic, utilitarian sounding name, it is hard to believe that the General Staff Building houses a fantastic collection of Impressionist art work. And, unlike the 50,000 visitors per day at the Hermitage, very few people actually come here (the cruise ship folks do not!). So ironically, this collection hearkens back to Catherine's original idea of a semi-private gallery.

Here are some of its treasures:

"Forgot to Write Down the Title" by Monet

"Port of Marseilles" by Signac

"Pastorales Tahitiennes" by Gaugin

"Thatched Cottages" by van Gogh (note: the bright blue

is actually a reflection off the glass from the window opposite.

For some reason the glass they used was NOT non-glare (though

many paintings were not glassed at all)

A wonderful painting by an artist we had never heard of: Charles Hoffbauer (1875 - 1957).

It is called "In London, 1907". Note there a two couples in the painting. Our guide told us

that many believe they are actually the same couple. In the foreground, they are young and

clearly in love (and her dress literally shimmers). In the background they are much older and,

while still in love, they are remembering their younger days.  

"Musical Instruments" by Picasso

"Bouquet (Vase with Two Handles)" by Matisse

A view of the Hermitage from the 4th floor of the General Staff Building:

Obviously, one could easily spend days at these two museums. We spent a little over 4 hours. On the one hand, as we were guide led, we only stopped at the works that she felt were most worthy, so we missed many more. On the other hand, we did get the benefit of her extensive knowledge in the description of those works and their artists.


Dinner tonight was in one of the hotel's dining rooms. Every Friday night is Tchaikovsky night, where the hotel provides live entertainment during dinner. There was a string quartet plus piano, and, rotating on and off, a tenor and a soprano (sometimes as a duet), and male and female ballet dancers. Only a couple of the pieces they played were Piotor's; there were other popular favorites by Strauss and Verdi. All of the performers were excellent.

We are all packed now and ready for an 8 am departure to catch our train to Moscow. We have really enjoyed our time in St. Petersburg, and wish we could stay longer. Although, from what we've heard, we would certainly not want to linger into winter.

Love, w&w