putting the dream into action: The Art Issue: The Hermitage

Shai and I were both most excited about coming to St. Pete's because of the Hermitage Museum. A little info on the museum:

-It is one of the oldest and largest museums in the world
-It was founded by Catherine the Great (the same Catherine that brought the Germans over)
-It comprises over three million items: 16,000 paintings, 600,000 drawings and prints, 12,000 sculptures, over 250,000 works of applied art, 700,000 archeological exhibits, and 1,000,000 coins and metals. Woah, just woah.
-It's holdings are displayed in 9 buildings
-seven of which are recognized as architectural and historical landmarks. (more info here and here)

Needless to say, we barely scratched the surface, even after spending multiple days and hours. Here are some highlights:

Vincent van Gogh, 1889, Portrait of Madame Trabuc

Claude Monet, 1874, The Grand Quai at Harve
I like this one because it is different from his most known works of gardens. He was known for his water scenes . Did you know that he was married twice, had six children, and when asked where his studio was answered: he had no studio, that he couldn't imagine painting in a room. The world was his studio.

Honore Daumier, 1850-1853, The Burden (The Laundress)

I didn't get names or dates for the statues. Sorry ya'll. There were SO many. I love the homoeroticism of this one.

The Peacock Clock by Ukhtomsky, Konstantin Andreyvich.
There was a video showing next to this piece showing that each of the pieces moved, the peacocks head, a dragonfly, an owl, as seconds tic by. Amazing.

Many of the rooms themselves were works of art. I mean look at this. The chandeliers, the pillars, the ceilings. I would have been in awe even if there wasn't any art at all.

Abraham Mignon, 1640-1679, Fruits
(Sorry for the glare)

Melchior de Hondecoeter, 1686, Birds in a Park

Another ceiling detail

Mermaids!

Can you imagine looking into this puppy to get ready in the morning. I think the wooden babies/cherubs might be a bit distracting.

The floor.

A ceiling

Scales, a little small for the amount of wealth around it, don't you think?

There was a lot of this as we moved from room to room.

More floor detail.

Furniture done by someone. This would be considered an applied art.

A historical library of one of the rich peoples that lived there at one time. We were loosing steam at this point so the info is lacking.

Another Melchior de Hondecoeter, 1686, Birds in a Park

For an art break at the cafe we found an explosion. A cake explosion.

More ceilings.

Okay, look closely friends.
I love the Greeks.

Pigeon, griffon, owl. <3

Getting a splinter.

Ceiling

Holding up the building.

Do you see what I see? This could be wrestling or "wrestling".

5th Dynasty Egypt. Really really old.

Roughly 4,300 years ago. Amazing.

Meow.

Horus 16th Dynasty Egypt

Hey Macarena!

SO That was one of the days and about four hours of wondering around. For a break in the art photos here are just photos from the trip .

Some random lamp post on the street.

Walls of a lunch place.

Russians are serious, and also serious about their sugar. Most often in the form of cakes and chocolate.

Wax Museum, I presume anyway.

Flood lit buildings on a walk in search of the Vodka museum.

Ice cream vending machine.

Love locks

This happened in Saratov too. Some line broke or was being repaired and the liquid (water? sewage?) coming out is warmer than the air, making it impossible to see. I like how it covers the building.

Awe snuggles.

Meow

A lot of Russian stacking dolls.

Random building detail

After an hour of tromping the snow, we never found the Vodka museum. Later we found out we were a few blocks over from it wondering around taking pictures of buildings. Oh well. We did find this pretty tho.