“Artists of Estonia in Russia, Russian Artists in Estonia”

Any museum can display to the public only a part of the masterpieces in its keeping. At any one time there is a huge quantity of artworks in archives and storerooms. Sometimes they are shown to the world in this or that exhibition – but many paintings, sculptures, and pieces of decorative art are fated never to enter into a relationship with a spectator; to be at best an object of interest to specialists.

Such a situation arises for purely objective reasons: any museum has limited space. An attempt can be made to extend it by creating virtual rooms in which electronic copies of the works from the closed archives can be accommodated.

The project “ Artists of Estonia in Russia, Russian Artists in Estonia” came about thanks to the European Union’s “Baltic Sea Region INTERREG III B Neighbourhood Programme: INTERREG IIIA Priority North”. Alongside representatives from various Estonian organisations, experts from the Russian Museum also took part in the project. They accomplished significant investigative work and brought to light from the museum’s archives over 150 works connected in some way with Estonia, some of them unknown even to specialists. This co-operation between Russian and Estonian experts allowed the works to be described and biographical details about their creators to be assembled.

For the “Mart” studio’s virtual exhibition a “genuine” virtual museum – six exhibition rooms and a hall – was created, on the walls of which the artworks were displayed. You can walk through the rooms, note how the paintings and sculptures are displayed, and, if you wish, receive detailed information about each work and study parts of them in close-up.

Included in the exhibition are works from artists of the eighteenth century, examples of academic painting and realism, pictures from the beginning of the twentieth century, and a room devoted to sculptures. There is a separate display of works by Russian artists produced at various times on Estonian soil.

In accordance with the conditions set by the financing body, the programme was produced in an edition of 250 copies, intended for distribution free of charge. All rights in the programme are the property of the Oil-shale Museum, Kohtla-Järve, Estonia.