Russian avant-garde is among the most interesting periods in the history of art because it started out as a revolution not only in art but also in social terms, National Gallery’s director László Baán told the press. For a few years, it seemed that artists enjoyed unprecedented freedom in their work but very soon avant-garde art got banned in Stalin’s Soviet Union, he added.

The history of the collection is also interesting, Baán said. During the time of the revolution, small collections were put together from works by contemporary artists and shown in art centres set up to educate the public. A collection was sent to Yekaterinburg featuring all of the important artists of the time and this has stayed together ever since, he added.

Director Nikita Koritin of the Ekaterinburg Museum of Fine Arts said the museum is currently closed for a revamp project and this has made it possible to lend such a large number of works to Budapest. The collection will not travel anywhere else, it will return to Yekaterinburg once the revamp is completed, he added.

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MTI photo: Szilárd Koszticsák