Art treat from Russia

From 1871 to 1923, the group did 48 exhibition tours, covering such cities as Kiev, Kharkov, Kazan, Moscow and St. Petersburg.

P.M. Tretyakov (1832-98) was an avid supporter and collector of the Wanderers' artworks. In 1892, he donated his renowned collection of 2,000 works to the Russian nation, to establish the State Tretyakov Gallery, according to Tatiana Gorodkova, from the painting department of the gallery.

Today, the gallery is recognized as the leading depository of Russian fine art, with a collection of 130,000 exhibits.

The exhibition in Shanghai marks the first collaboration between the two museums, Tregulova says.

The exhibits were carefully picked to showcase diverse styles, subjects and emotional connotations.

"We hope the exhibition will help visitors to appreciate the beautiful landscape of Russia in different seasons, and understand the Russian spirit and moral power from the portraits of great Russian authors such as Tolstoy," she says.

She says that she hopes that by presenting "the most glorious chapter in Russian art history", the exhibition will become an example of Sino-Russian cooperation.

The exhibition presents the development and achievements of the Wanderers in six chapters. Among the exhibits are portraits of Russian artists and authors such as Leo Tolstoy and Ivan Turgenev, and composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, as well as narrative and dramatic scenes of duels, weddings and hunting.

The most popular exhibited work is arguably Portrait of an Unknown Woman by Ivan Nikolaevich Kramskoy (1837-87).

Gorodkova says that the woman in black, sitting in an open carriage is not mentioned in any written material so people know nothing about her. Yet visitors always linger in front of the painting wondering about her identity and story.