Works by famous Russian artists exhibited at the National Museum of Tajikistan in Dushanbe

Works by famous Russian artists Ivan Aivazovsky, Ivan Shishkin, Ilya Repin and Boris Kustodiyev have been exhibited at the National Museum of Tajikistan.  

These paintings are part of the gift of the State Tretyakov Gallery of Russia to Tajikistan  The paintings were handed over to Tajikistan in the 1950s.  

More than fifty gifts intended for Tajikistan’s Museum of History and Local Lore and Museum of Fine Arts named after Kamoliddin Behzod reportedly include paintings by Kramskoy, Repin, Vereshchagin, Surikov, Levitan, Kustodiyev, Polenov, Vasnetsov, Makovsky, Servo and Shishkin.  

Employees of the National Museum of Tajikistan told Asia-Plus in October 2017 that works by famous Russian and Western artists have been kept in depositories of the National Museum of Tajikistan

According to some local media, works by famous Western artists such as Rafael Santi, Wilhelm Amberg, Giovanni Bellini and Gustave Courbet are also being kept in depositories of the National Museum. 

For the first time, Asia-Plus raised the issue in 2000 asking why the works by famous artists are not exhibited.  The Museum managers noted at the time that no one museum in the world displays all its exhibits at once.

Eleven years later, they said that the paintings will be exhibited in the new building of the Museum.  

The historical review titled “Stalinabad the Capital of Tajikistan” that was released in 1959, in particular notes that Moscow and Leningrad donated works by famous Russian artists such as Kramskoy, Repin, Aivazovsky, Surikov, Levitan, Polenov, Vasnetsov, Makovsky, Shishkin and Serov to the Tajik capital.

Besides, some local media reported in 2017 that works by famous Western artists such as Rafael Santi, Wilhelm Amberg, Giovanni Bellini and Gustave Courbet are also being kept in depositories of the National Museum.