Magazine “Vreme”
Magazine “Vreme”
The Only Exhibition of Original Russian Classics Outside Russia
October 31, 2025, 18:40
S. Ć.
The exhibition “Constellation of Famous Russian Artists of the 19th and 20th Centuries from the Collection of Vladimir Pesic” is the only opportunity to see original works of Russian classics outside Russia. It has opened at the Salon of the Museum of the City of Belgrade.
The exhibition “Constellation of Famous Russian Artists of the 19th and 20th Centuries from the Collection of Vladimir Pesic” is the only opportunity to see original works of Russian classics outside Russia. It is open at the Salon of the Museum of the City of Belgrade until November 9.
Thirty-six paintings and eight icons are on display, created by academicians of painting and recognized artists who received their education and artistic formation in Moscow.
The Collection
The exhibition press materials state that 36 years of collecting experience and work, together with the careful selection of works by Russian masters of painting, have placed Vladimir Pesic among the most significant collectors of Russian art outside the borders of Russia. In terms of its scope, this collection surpasses the usual achievements of collecting endeavors, and due to the impeccably conceived selection of artists and their works — for some of which Vladimir Pesic searched patiently for years, even decades — it could more accurately be described as a museum collection of the most important trends in Russian fine art of the second half of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century.
For “Vreme,” Vladimir Pesic says that “the central places in the exhibition are occupied by the masterpieces ‘Stream’ by Stanislav Zhukovsky, one of the most important Russian landscape painters, and the exhibited painting belongs to the peak of his creative work, as well as ‘Suprematist Composition’ by Ivan Kudryashov, an outstanding student of Kazimir Malevich. Both paintings are being shown to the public for the first time.”
The Mysterious Portrait
Pesic says that a special place in the exhibition is occupied by the mysterious portrait of Princess Mafalda of Savoy, granddaughter of King Nikola I Petrović-Njegoš, painted by Stepan Kolesnikov, a great artist whom the Serbs came to love and regard as one of their own. He also notes that two more of Kolesnikov’s works are included in the exhibition — the exceptional landscape “Spring 1946” and “Pavilion of the Ministry of Social Policy. Exhibition of Disabled Workers.”
Two miniatures are also on display. “Their creation requires supreme mastery, which is why they are rarely encountered in fine art. These are masterpieces by Adolf Charlemagne and Ivan Vinberg,” Pesic states.
“After 95 years, a watercolor by Stepan Uvarov is being exhibited in Serbia. Art lovers were able to see it for the first and only time in 1930 at the Cvijeta Zuzorić Pavilion at Kalemegdan during the outstanding exhibition ‘The Great Exhibition of Russian Art,’” says Pesic.
In 1933, Filipp Malyavin held a solo exhibition in Belgrade — the work “Two Lives” from that exhibition is now also displayed here. During his stay in Belgrade, Malyavin painted a portrait of Queen Maria Karađorđević, which is kept in the National Museum of Serbia.
Among the exhibited works, Vladimir Pesic also highlights “Girl with Flowers” by Nikolai Kuznetsov, “Portrait of an Infant” by Boris Pastukhov, and “Portrait of Tamara Biba,” a relative of Vladimir Pesic, painted by Alexander Tolstoy.
Icons
The exhibition also features works by Konstantin Kuznetsov, Mikhail Suzdaltsev, Alexander Lazhechnikov, Ippolit Mayakovsky, Dmitry Marten, Vasily Golikov, Alexander Tumanov, and Leonid Brailovsky and Rima Brailovskaya.
The icons are especially attractive to the local audience. They are painted on wood and, unlike Serbian icons, are set in gilded and silver-plated covers. They are preserved in reliquaries.
The exhibition is the central event of the Days of Moscow in Belgrade, which the Serbian capital is organizing again after a nine-year pause.
https://vreme.com/kultura/jedina-izlozba-originalnih-ruskih-klasika-van-rusije/
