The Radishchev Museum in

Saratov Saratov (, ; rus, Сара́тов, a=Ru-Saratov.ogg, p=sɐˈratəf) is the largest city and administrative center of Saratov Oblast, Russia, and a major port on the Volga River upstream (north) of Volgograd. Saratov had a population of 901,36 ...

opened to the public on June 29, 1885. It is supposed to have been Russia's first major public art museum outside Moscow or St. Petersburg. It was founded by Alexey Bogolyubov and named after his grandfather, the 18th-century revolutionary writer Alexander Radishchev. The naming of the museum after the "first Russian revolutionary", Alexander Radishchev, was a direct challenge to the authorities: Bogolyubov had to endure a legal battle to get permission. It was the first art museum in Russia open to everybody. It was opened to the general public seven years earlier than the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow and fifteen years earlier than the Russian Museum in Saint Petersburg. It includes work by

Camille Corot Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot ( , , ; July 16, 1796 – February 22, 1875), or simply Camille Corot, is a French landscape and portrait painter as well as a printmaker in etching. He is a pivotal figure in landscape painting and his vast o ...

Auguste Rodin François Auguste René Rodin (12 November 184017 November 1917) was a French sculptor, generally considered the founder of modern sculpture. He was schooled traditionally and took a craftsman-like approach to his work. Rodin possessed a uniqu ...

, Ivan Kramskoy, Vasily Polenov,

Ilya Repin Ilya Yefimovich Repin (russian: Илья Ефимович Репин, translit=Il'ya Yefimovich Repin, p=ˈrʲepʲɪn); fi, Ilja Jefimovitš Repin ( – 29 September 1930) was a Russian painter, born in what is now Ukraine. He became one of the ...

, Ivan Shishkin,

Fyodor Vasilyev Fyodor Alexandrovich Vasilyev (russian: Фёдор Александрович Васильев, 1850 – 1873) was a Russian Imperial landscape painter who introduced the lyrical landscape style in Russian art. Biography Fyodor Vasilyev ...

, Aleksandra Ekster, Pavel Kuznetsov,

Aristarkh Lentulov Aristarkh Vasilyevich Lentulov (russian: Аристарх Васильевич Лентулов; 15 April 1943) was a major Russian avant-garde artist of Cubist orientation who also worked on set designs for the theatre. Biography Aristar ...

, Robert Falk, Pyotr Konchalovsky, Martiros Saryan, Fyodor Rokotov and others. Early donors included Pavel Tretyakov and Pauline Viardot.Saratov Region History
, retrieved 2007-08-06Doctorow, Larisa

Moscow Times, 2002-09-13, Issue 2522, Page VII. Retrieved 2007-08-06Museum web site
, retrieved 2007-08-06 During the Great Patriotic War, future Director of the Belarusian National Art Museum,

Alena Aladava Alena Vasileŭna Aładava ( née Puk; Belarusian: Алена Васілеўна Аладава; 22 May 1907 – 29 May 1986) was a Soviet art historian and curator, who was Director of the Belarusian National Arts Museum from 1944 to 1977. Ala ...

, worked there.

References

Art museums and galleries in Russia Art museums established in 1885 Museums in Saratov Oblast 1885 establishments in the Russian Empire Cultural heritage monuments in Saratov Oblast Objects of cultural heritage of Russia of federal significance {{Europe-art-display-stub