The Institute of Russian Realist Art (IRRA)

The Institute of Russian Realist Art (IRRA) is a private institution which brings back the social traditions of Russian artistic patronage. The IRRA museum and exhibition centre was opened in December 2011. The IRRA art collection is widely regarded as one of the best collections of the Russian realist school of painting of the 20th century. Three floors of exhibition space totaling over 4,500 square meters offer approximately 500 works of Russian and Soviet art. The halls of the third floor display one of the most important sections of the museum collection, Soviet art from the first half of the 20th century, including works by outstanding figures such as Arkady Plastov, Sergey Gerasimov, Alexander Deineka, Yury Pimenov, Georgy Nissky, Isaak Brodsky and other painters. The second floor of the Institute of Russian Realist Art displays the Soviet art collection of the second half of the 20th century. At its centre are works by the major painters of the 1960s including “National Artists”, and full members of the Russian Academy of Arts Gely Korzhev, the brothers Sergey and Alexey Tkachev, Viktor Ivanov, Petr Ossovsky, Dmitry Zhilinsky and Tair Salakhov. The painters of this generation have continued the traditions of Russian artistic culture, and many of them, like Viktor Popkov, have dedicated their works to dramatic events in the contemporary life of Russia, with all of its difficulties and contradictions. The halls of the first floor familiarise viewers with the present-day life in Russia, including works by such famous members of the Moscow school of painting as Viktor Kalinin, Alexey Sukhovetsky, Vladimir Telin, Nikolay Zaitsev, Vyacheslav Stekolschikov, Nikolay Solomin; the works of outstanding Leningrad painters Andrey Mylnikov, Yevsey Moiseenko, Boris Ugarov, Vyacheslav Zagonek; and artists from Vladimir, including Kim Britov, Vladimir Yukin, and Mikhail Izotov. Works by artists from Kostroma, Yaroslavl, Vologda, Vyatka, Sergiev Posad, Krasnoyarsk, Nizhny Novgorod and other Russian towns are also on display. The IRRA museum and exhibition facilities occupy one of the old buildings of the former cotton-printing factory located in the Zamoskvorechye district of Moscow near the Novospassky Monastery. After a renovation of the walls and remodelling of the industrial premises built at the close of the 19th century, the museum rooms are now supplied with cutting-edge utilities and a special climate control system needed for preservation of works of art. Presently the technological infrastructure at the IRRA building conforms to the most advanced standards accepted at the largest museums of the world.