The Museo del Prado presents “The Hermitage in the Prado” an exhibition on view until to 25 March 2012.
Comprising 179 works from the Hermitage’s celebrated collections of paintings, drawings and sculptures in addition to a large and remarkable groups of archaeological items, examples of the decorative arts, furniture and court dress, The Hermitage in the Prado will be open every day of the week for an exceptional four-and-a-half months. It thus marks the conclusion of a unique exchange of collections between these two great museums that are not only of equal importance but have similar origins as repositories of the former royal collections of their respective countries. Both exhibitions fall within the framework of the bi-lateral Spain Russia Year 2011.
Pablo Picasso, Absinthe Drinker, Oil on canvas. 73×54 cm<, The Hermitage
As was the case with the exhibition of works from the Prado held in Saint Petersburg earlier this year, this exhibition will occupy almost all of the Prado’s temporary exhibition galleries. It will offer visitors the chance to see one museum inside another given that it includes not only many of the Hermitage’s most famous works of art and archaeological items but also objects that relate to the Museum’s own history. With this aim in mind the exhibition opens with portraits of Peter the Great, Catherine the Great and Nicholas I and with paintings of the interiors of the Winter Palace and its surrounding area. This presentation of the origins of the Hermitage as an imperial palace will be completed with a selection of pieces of furniture and examples of court dress, on display in another room.
With regard to the large and highly important selection of paintings, drawings and sculptures in this exhibition, particularly notable works include Saint Sebastian by Titian, The Lute Player by Caravaggio, Saint Sebastian by Ribera, Three Men at a Table by Velázquez, and two works by Rembrandt from the important group of the artist’s paintings in the Hermitage, namely Portrait of a Scholar and Haman accepts his Fate. Among the drawings on display will be works by Dürer, Rubens, Watteau and Ingres, while sculptures include the terracotta model by Bernini for The Ecstasy of Saint Theresa, and The Penitent Magdalen, one of Antonio Canova’s masterpieces in marble. Moving forward in time, the exhibition also features notable works from the Hermitage’s celebrated holdings of Impressionist and Post-impressionist paintings by artists such as Monet, Cézanne, Renoir, Gauguin and Matisse, the latter represented by Game of Skittles and Conversation. There are three works by Picasso, including Seated Woman and The Absinthe Drinker, while this section of the exhibition concludes with two great icons of Russian avant-garde art, Composition VI by Kandinsky and Malevich’s enigmatic Black Square. – www.museodelprado.es