brothers
TRETYAKOV

Merchant and philanthropist Pavel Tretyakov had been interested in art for his entire life, but he himself did not paint. As a young man, he began collecting illustrated books and engravings. He made his first purchases at the Sukharevsky market where he liked walking on Sundays.

To me, a person who sincerely and fervently loves painting, there cannot be a better desire than to establish a public collection of artwork for everyone’s benefit and pleasure.

Sergei, the youngest of the Tretyakov brothers, got interested in collecting art much later than his brother. In the early 1870s, he began collecting contemporary western paintings, most of them French, which cost more than Russian ones. Sergei bought artworks according to his own taste and sometimes upon Pavel’s advice. After the sudden death of Sergei in 1892, his collection was handed over to the city, as set forth in his will.

Sergei fervently loved painting, and he collected foreign artworks while I collected Russian ones. He left money to purchase Russian paintings. He was a better man than I. Whenever I left town, I knew that whatever would happen in my absence, he would do the same thing I would have done.

Pavel wrote his first will at the age of 28. He was going to travel abroad to learn about linen weaving at factories in Western Europe. According to the laws of that time, he had to write a last will and testament. He left 150,000 silver roubles to establish an art museum in Moscow.

My idea from my early years was to make money and then return this money to the public in the form of some useful institutions.

I have never liked anything that was “too much:” too loud, too bright, too intricate, too luxurious. In other words, anything that goes beyond moderation.

The history of the Tretyakov Gallery began on 22 May 1856. On this day, Pavel Tretyakov purchased Vasily Khudyakov’s painting “Finnish Smugglers.”

Russia’s salvation lies in its talented people who do not get in each other’s way, but rather help each other.