Villa of a Russian Patron. Exhibition at the Stroganov Palace

The late 19th and early 20th centuries were the golden age of Russian patronage. The Morozovs, Ryabushinskys, Mamontovs, Tretyakovs, Stroganovs, and many others built luxurious villas and mansions, assembled vast art collections, and invited the finest architects and artists. The exhibition shows what these private “temples of art” looked like.

The display features furniture, interior objects, paintings, photographs of villas, and archival documents. Visitors can see the surroundings in which the people who effectively financed the Russian Silver Age lived. Special emphasis is placed on how patrons influenced the development of art: who commissioned works from whom, which styles they preferred, and how their tastes shaped entire movements in Russian culture.

The exhibition is both sumptuous and informative. It vividly conveys the spirit of a time when wealth and taste went hand in hand, and private collections became the foundation of future museums.

If you are in St. Petersburg this summer, it is worth visiting the Stroganov Palace. It is an especially fitting place to experience the atmosphere of that era, when Russian patrons sought to create their own version of the European Renaissance.

Sources: The State Russian Museum, official website (May 2026). Stroganov Palace.