Moscow State Art Gallery of People's Artist of the USSR A. Shilov

The Moscow State Picture Gallery of the People’s Artist of the USSR A. Shilov opened its doors in May 1997, where the collection of paintings and graphic works of the master, donated to the state a year earlier, is located. By unanimous resolutions of the State Duma of the Russian Federation and the Government of Moscow, it was decided to establish a gallery in the old mansion number 5 on Znamenka Street - a building erected in 1829 by architect Evgraf Dmitrievich Tyurin. The location of the mansion allowed the gallery to organically enter the circle of nearby attractions, and soon it became a real cultural center of Moscow. The opening of the gallery, which received the name of the artist, during his lifetime is an extremely rare phenomenon and extremely significant for the cultural life of the city. High skill and ability to study psychology and express the inner world of the characters depicted allowed Alexander Shilov to become a popular and popular artist. The popularity and relevance of Alexander Shilov’s work reached incredible volumes: queues for the master’s exhibitions stretched for kilometers, and after exhibitions held not only in Moscow, but also in other cities of Russia and the world, grateful spectators left a huge number of reviews with a request to open a permanent exhibition. Fans, imbued with the work of the master, wanted to be able to constantly observe their favorite works, as well as learn about the appearance of new works. By 1996, Alexander Shilov made a decision that influenced his entire subsequent life: a collection of 355 works of the master will be donated to his native city. The opening of the gallery in May 1997 was attended by the most famous people of Moscow, such as artists Yuri Nikulin and Sergey Shakurov, singers Mahmud Esambayev and Joseph Kobzon, the mayor of the capital Yuri Luzhkov and many others. On the opening day, they all emphasized the importance, relevance and significance of the event. Then Alexander Shilov solemnly promised to annually give the city his new works, and, after 18 years of the gallery’s existence, the number of paintings exceeded the mark of a thousand works donated by the artist of Russia – to this day Alexander Shilov works tirelessly, striving to create a picturesque chronicle of his Motherland. Today, the gallery has 22 halls and 1441 works of pastel, graphic and paintings, one of which is entirely dedicated to the heroes of the war and makes up the exhibition “They fought for the Motherland!”.

Due to the huge increase in funds, there was a need to expand the exhibition space, so in 2003 a new gallery building was built and opened for visitors. It was built according to the project of the architect M.N. Posokhin and made a single architectural and artistic complex with an old mansion of 1829. The exhibition of the gallery presents the best works of the artist. The work of A.M. Shilov is one of the outstanding phenomena in modern fine art. Based on the best traditions of classical realistic art, it at the highest level of skill affirms eternal moral values – the ideals of goodness and spiritual beauty of a person, which acquires special relevance and significance in the modern culture of our country. In the portrait gallery of contemporaries, created by the artist over the years of his work, a picture of the life of Russia in the last third of the XX - early XXI century was reflected. The range of works by A. Shilov is extremely wide – folk images, acute social canvases, portraits of representatives of the creative intelligentsia, participants of the Great Patriotic War, clergy, beautiful female images, as well as landscapes and lyrical and philosophical still lifes for many years cause a deep response among the audience, a vivid sense of belonging and empathy. “Portrait is a historical genre, it is judged on whole generations – it is history in faces,” says Shilov.

The beauty and harmony of architecture, painting and classical music sounding in the halls create a special unique atmosphere of spirituality and beauty in the gallery. Today, the Alexander Shilov Gallery is one of the unique and popular cultural centers of Moscow.