Moscow through the eyes of great artists: the Russian Museum’s exhibition at VDNKh welcomed its 100,000 th visitor

The exhibition features 115 works brought from the State Russian Museum, including paintings by Apollinary Vasnetsov, Vasiliy Surikov, Vasiliy Vereshchagin, Valentin Serov, Ilya Repin and other masters.

Since the beginning of September, more than 100,000 people have visited the exhibition “The Image of Moscow in Russian Art from the Collection of the State Russian Museum”. Over the period of two months, almost 800 excursion tours within this exhibition were conducted, attended by 10,000 city residents and tourists. The news was announced by Natalia Sergunina, Deputy Mayor of Moscow. The exposition is being held in Pavilion No. 1 (the Central Pavilion) at VDNKh until February 2026.

“The exhibition is popular both with city residents and visitors. The number of visitors has already exceeded 100,000 people,” Natalia Sergunina says.

The exhibition features Apollinary Vasnetsov, Vasiliy Surikov, Vasiliy Vereshchagin, Valentin Serov and Ilya Repin, as well as masterpieces of icon painting by masters of the Moscow art school, such as Andrei Rublev, Daniil Cherny and Simon Ushakov.

Nearby, one can see paintings made by French artist Gerard Delabart from the late 18 th century, dedicated to the iconic sites of pre-fire Moscow, and portraits of prominent 20 th-century city residents, including famous cultural figures such as Konstantin Stanislavski, Svyatoslav Richter, and Boris Yakovlev.

The image of Moscow in art. See the exhibition of the Russian Museum at VDNKhHow masterpieces from the Russian Museum were transported to VDNKh for exhibition

Olga Bushueva from Vologda became the 100,000 th guest visited the exhibition. In the capital she met her daughter, who lives in St. Petersburg. The woman shared her opinion and said that seeing Moscow through the eyes of great artists was especially valuable to her. The ancient city, she says, is being transformed into a modern one-it’s a fascinating sight.

In total, the exhibition features 115 works brought from the State Russian Museum.

“What sets this apart is, primarily, the number of works introduced by great artists — true Russian geniuses. Such exhibits can only be found in the permanent collections of the most prominent museums,” Alla Manilova, General Director of the State Russian Museum, emphasized.

Lyudmila Koloyarskaya, a VDNKh tour guide, remarked that visitors to the exhibition are introduced to masterpieces of fine art and simultaneously observe how Moscow’s streets and embankments have changed over the centuries. They ask a lot of questions about portraits, such as, for example, Valentin Serov’s “Portrait of Zinaida Yusupova”. People often ask questions about the paintings with views of Moscow — a painting by Gerard Delabart and one of the claim to fame of the Pavilion No. 1 (the Central Pavilion) — the high relief “Glory to the Banner Bearer of the World, to the Soviet People!” by Yevgeny Vuchetich.

Visitors also often ask questions why the Kremlin walls are white in Gerard Delabart’s paintings and which street is depicted in Apollinary Vasnetsov’s painting “Ancient Moscow. A Street in Kitai Gorod at the Beginning of the 17 th Century”.

The exhibition is open from 11:00 a. m. to 9:00 p. m. every day except Monday. Detailed information and the rules for visiting are published on the exhibition complex VDNKh website.