Saint Petersburg · Since 1764 · An encyclopedic museum in the Winter Palace

The Hermitage Museum preserves more than three million works and objects of world culture in an architectural ensemble dominated by the Winter Palace.

The Hermitage considers 1764 its founding year, when Catherine II acquired an important set of paintings from the Berlin merchant Johann Ernst Gotzkowsky. The imperial collection was quickly enriched by the purchase of brühl, Crozat, Walpole and other great European enthusiasts. The public museum opened in the 19th century and developed into an exceptional ensemble: Winter Palace of Rastrelli, Small Hermitage, Grand Hermitage, Quarenghi Theater and New Hermitage. After 1917, the nationalized collections of aristocratic families and the modern complexes of Shchukin and Morozov partly joined the museum. Today, more than three million paintings, drawings, sculptures, art objects, archaeological pieces and coins cover world history. The selected works span four traditions. Rembrandt concentrates the Descent from the Cross in dramatic chiaroscuro. Gauguin simplifies a scene tahitian through flat areas and rhythm. Raphaël builds a Holy Family of balanced harmony. Toulouse-Lautrec finally captures a woman with an umbrella in the familiar space of a Parisian garden. The "Hermitage Museum" selection notably compares Descent from the Cross - Rembrandt and Scene of Tahitian Life - Paul Gauguin. His reading favors light.

The Hermitage is both a collection and a history of power: works from around the world pass through rooms where imperial architecture itself remains a museum object.