Savitsky Museum: accidental impulse
Museum of Art named after Savitsky has become unprecedentedly famous far beyond not only the city, but also the country. It was named after the great Russian artist who once worked in Moscow. “And what does it have to do with Nukus” - tourists will ask. Here is the answer.
In the middle of the last century, Savitsky moved to live in Nukus, and after a while he was appointed as a director of the museum. Due to such a significant position, he was given the opportunity to purchase exhibits for the museum. And if initially Savitsky was interested in archeology, later his attention was drawn to a new, forbidden at that time fruit. Namely these were the works of his contemporaries of the avant-garde genre. At that time they were considered banned. That is, the present collection, represented in the museum, Savitsky collected in parts, constantly looking for new works of art. And thus his activity was essentially risky. The majority of the paintings he collected belonged to avant-garde painting.
Finally, Savitsky managed to collect more than 50,000 paintings created during the Soviet period. The idea of an adventurous artist was possible largely due to the fact that Nukus, as a territorial unit, did not attract special attention of the authorities.
Savitsky Museum today
Naturally, the collection has significantly expanded over the period of time. Currently it includes more than 90,000 exhibits. In addition to vivid examples of avant-garde painting, pictures of Uzbek painters, samples of applied art of Karakalpakstan, copies of the Louvre artworks, works of Khorezm artists were also moved here.
Who will enjoy the Savitsky Museum?
Coming here it is not necessary to be an expert in painting. The museum amazes with its scale even those who do not understand anything in art. And this is not in vain. The whole world has long conferred the Savitsky Museum an unspoken title of the most important art museum in Central Asia.
