Reason and Sentiment
September 10 - November 16, 2025

Curated by Anna Romanova

The exhibition explores the metaphysical narrative in the evolution of Russian art. A joint project of the Ekaterina Cultural Foundation and the Prometheus Foundation, it spans five decades of Russian art - from the second half of the 20th century to the beginning of the 21st.

The metaphysical agenda in Russian art first came to the fore in the second half of the 20th century, amidst a crisis in art caused by the exhaustion of established artistic forms. Excluded from the contemporary art process and working within the hermetic environment of Soviet art, Russian artists found inspiration in classical art and Western modernism of the early 20th century. Each artist developed a personal symbolic system, yet the interest - shared by many of them - in metaphor, allegory, and subjects rooted in "cultural tradition" allows us to trace a distinctive line in the evolution of Russian art. Many figures of the "second wave of Russian avant-garde" also focused on the "metaphysics of light" - a theme that remained central for a wide range of artists up until the late 1980s.

The show featured three painting series produced by the artist over the past 15 years, as well as the most comprehensive retrospective of her video art to date.

Tobreluts is the only - and possibly the last - artist of her generation who is much more captivated by clouds and the sky than by what lies beneath her feet.

She has an extraordinary ability to cast aside all trivial and fleeting things, overcome obstacles and barriers, and embrace challenges and seemingly unattainable goals. A visionary artist of remarkable talent and versatility, she was the first, back in the early 1990s, to foresee the meteoric rise of new media in art, and the first to commit herself to traditional painting techniques, just like those taking religious vows commit themselves to a monastery. During the 1990s, she audaciously experimented with video and photography, developing a brand-new artistic vocabulary inspired by digital technology. Today, these works are owned by major museums and important private art collectors worldwide. However, Tobreluts has dedicated the last 15 years to traditional painting, focusing on three large-scale projects. While they may appear unrelated at first glance, each is deeply rooted in the artist's personal reflections and experiences, and collectively they co-exist in a complex and dynamic dialogue. As of now, the most important of her ongoing projects comprises more than 240 paintings, some of which will be on display at the show organized by the Foundation.

The exhibition invited visitors to rediscover and try to reinterpret the First Russian Insurance Society tenement building on Kuznetsky Most, 21/5, which is considered one of the iconic addresses of pre-revolutionary Moscow. The building was constructed in 1906 on a street famous for its many fashionable stores and banks.

Curated by Anton Uspensky, the exhibition was divided into several sections showcasing contemporary works of art that rejuvenated the previous functions of the building, which, over the years, used to house establishments such as the First Russian Automobile Club, the Steamship Trade Society, Pavel Ovchinnikov's jewelry store, and Philip Morris's department store. The pieces included in the exhibition created a multilayered context, highlighting not only the history of luxury consumption but also the evolution of accompanying images and ideas.

The exhibition CREATION OF MYTH brought together over 80 artists and explored myth-making as an act of creating a new reality. Each participating artist created their own myth - and their own universe - using various techniques, from painting, drawing, and printmaking to sculpture, new media, and installation. The exhibition represented a polyphonic dialogue of mythologies originated by artists across generations. The show included works by contemporary art titans such as Ilya Kabakov, Konstantin Zvezdochetov, Nikola Samonov, Timur Novikov, Georgy Guryanov, Egor Ostrov, Olga Tobreluts, Arkady Nasonov, Aidan Salakhova, Vladimir Dubossarsky, Andrey Khlobystin, and Ivan Razumov, alongside pieces by younger artists, including Egor Koshelev, Ivan Plyushch, Daniil Arkhipenko, Natalia Gudovich, Irina Petrakova, Tornike Bendeliani, Anna Lapshinova, Irina Drozd, Kirill Manchunsky, Nastya Antipova, Vova Perkin, Elene Metreveli, and many more.

Myth is a profound source of human culture, uniting art, religion, and philosophy. The revelations of pioneers, visions of the future, and flashes of alternative worlds that invade our dreams all originate within the "magic circle" of myth. Fantasies, chimeras, horrors, and illusions - whether in dreams, broad daylight, or moments of madness - emerge from the unconscious, from the uncharted depths into which the social consciousness dreads to descend.

The Soviet statesman who had the talent to be boss of Ford or GM

Russia Beyond the Headlines / November 24, 2016

A new exhibition of photographs in Moscow is dedicated to Soviet reformer Prime Minister Alexei Kosygin. Favored by Stalin, Khrushchev and Brezhnev, Kosygin was responsible for the introduction of dramatic reforms in the 1960s, attempting to bring elements of a market economy into the Soviet system years before perestroika...

Oleg Tselkov: la liberté du prisonnier

La Dame de Pique / June 30, 2014

«Prisonnier.» C'est le mot qu'Oleg Tselkov emploie pour parler du rapport à son art. Il se sent prisonnier dans sa création. Et ce constat, il le fait tout sourire. C'est un prisonnier heureux, accompli, libre. Cette prison, il a commencé à la bâtir lui-même en 1960 lorsque le premier de ses personnages s'est invité dans son œuvre, pour très vite ne plus laisser place à d'autres thèmes, à d'autres inspirations, à quelque intrus que ce soit. Aujourd'hui, il n'a plus vraiment le choix. Inlassablement, il peint ces étranges figures...

• Adult — 400 rubles
• Preferential — 100 rubles
• Child — 100 rubles

Every Thursday admission free.

During exhibitions:
Tuesday - Sunday — 11:00 - 20:00 (11:00 am - 8:00 pm)
Ticket office is open untill 19:30 (7:30 p.m.)

Open daily except Mondays.

Moscow, Russia, 21/5 Kuznetsky Most, porch 8

Entrance from Bolshaya Lubyanka street
5 minutes walk from the metro station "Kuznetsky Most" or "Lubyanka"