May 22, 1856
Twenty-three-year-old merchant and industrialist Pavel Tretyakov purchased two paintings: "Temptation" by Schilder and "Skirmish with Finnish Smugglers" by Khudyakov. Thus began the history of the Tretyakov Gallery.
For me, a true and ardent lover of painting, there can be no better desire than to establish a public, universally accessible repository of fine arts, bringing benefit to many and pleasure to all. I would like to leave behind a national gallery, that is, one consisting of paintings by Russian artists.
Pavel and his brother Sergei owned a linen factory in Kostroma. Both collected art: Pavel by Russian artists, Sergei by European ones. Pavel decided early on that the art he collected should belong to the people.
What is acquired from society must be returned to society.
The core of the museum collection was formed between the 1860s and 1880s. Tretyakov eagerly purchased works by the Itinerants—Perov, Shishkin, Savitsky, and Kuindzhi. He supported then-little-known artists like Vasnetsov and Makovsky. Kramskoy helped him select works for future exhibitions.
I don’t need rich nature or a magnificent composition… give me at least a dirty puddle, but so that there is truth in it, poetry, and poetry can be in everything
Tretyakov opened his estate on Lavrushinsky Lane to the general public in 1867. At that time, it housed 1276 paintings by Russian artists, 84 by foreign artists, 471 drawings, and 10 sculptures. In 1874, Tretyakov built a two-story building for the gallery. It was subsequently expanded numerous times. In the early 1890s, the gallery received the status of a national museum, making it free to visit.
Russia's salvation lies in the fact that its talented people do not interfere with each other, but help each other.
In 1898, after Tretyakov's death, his mansion was reconstructed for exhibition purposes. In the early 1900s, the entire complex of buildings was united by a common façade in the form of a tower, designed by Vasnetsov. This is the Tretyakov Gallery as it is known to visitors today. Its collection contains 180000 works of art created between the 9th and 20th centuries.