The Hermitage is the set of buildings that Catherine the Great founded and let build during the second half of the 18th century to house her growing collection of art. Today, it’s one of the world’s largest art museums, filled with pieces ranging from sculptures from ancient Siberia to French impressionists. It is an impressive building, both inside and out.
There is simply not enough time to cover the entire collection in a day, and we didn’t even have that at our disposal. So we focused on the rooms dedicated to showcasing interior design for the czar family through the ages.
It was insane, the degree of luxury in these chambers. The gold! Jade! Silk! On floors, walls and ceilings!
Even the actual floors were amazing. On the upper floors, all wood, and most of the time laid out in these incredibly intricate patterns. Mind, this is not painted. It is different types of wood, cut out and put together to create this pattern in color and texture. Mind-blowing. People really should pay more attention to their ceilings and floors.
We did also see plenty of art. Paintings, statues, tapestries. Plenty of naked women and horses being eaten by dogs. You get full after a couple of hours, though. You can only watch that much oil on canvas.
In the rather inconspicuous Staff building next to the Winter Palace, where the main art collection is, the Hermitage has placed the late 19th and 20th century portion of its collection. Monet, Degas, Matisse, Van Gogh.
The Wassily Kandinsky room was my favorite among the modern exhibitions. I like the way he uses color, especially in this painting. All soft and pastels.
Most of all, the newly renovated Staff building was very modern in itself. Quite interesting – but also, very hard to find your way in. Just so incredibly big and empty.
Katja Malmborg 