Exhibitions

Hermitage Rooms Archive: 2000-2007

The Hermitage Rooms are no longer operating as an exhibition space. The Friends of the Hermitage facilitate collaborations between the Museum in St. Petersburg and institutions throughout the UK, including those based in Somerset House.



France in Russia: Empress Josephine's Malmaison Collection
25 July - 4 November 2007





Malmaison was the country retreat of Empress Josephine, where she lived with her husband Napoleon Bonaparte. The château was decorated and furnished in the latest antique taste providing a luxurious setting for Josephine's burgeoning art collection. Many of the works she collected were gifts from Napoleon which he had acquired during his various military campaigns in Europe.

After her death, Tsar Alexander I bought an important part of the Malmaison paintings and sculpture collection and shipped it to St Petersburg to be installed in the Winter Palace. This exhibition brought together, for the first time in Britain, a significant part of the The State Hermitage Museum's Malmaison collection.
Further information

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The Triumph of Eros: Art and Seduction in 18th Century France
24 November 2006 - 9 April 2007

This exhibition brought together a wide range of material from the Hermitage's rich collections, including paintings, drawings, furniture and a recently discovered group of prints depicting scenes from the education of Eros to explore the theme of art and seduction in 18th century French culture.
Further information

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The Road to Byzantium: Luxury Arts of Antiquity
30 March to 3 September 2006

This major exhibition brought to London for the first time an extraordinary collection of classical Greek, Roman and Byzantine luxury artworks from The State Hermitage Museum, including finely decorated silver and gold, Athenian red-figure vases and exquisite cameos.
Further information

The Exhibition Guide (474KB .pdf file)
left-click to open, right-click to download

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Gainsborough to Turner:
British Watercolours from the Spooner Collection
17th November 2005 - 12 February 2006




The remarkable Spooner collection of early British watercolours is one of the finest of its kind. This was a rare opportunity to see 80 of the most exquisite watercolours in the intimate setting of the Hermitage Rooms. The collection, which now belongs to the Courtauld Institute of Art Gallery, includes outstanding works by Thomas Gainsborough, Paul Sandby, Thomas Girtin, John Constable and J.M.W. Turner.
Further information

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Circling the Square: Avant-garde Porcelain from Revolutionary Russia
Extended to 30 September 2005



This absorbing exhibition celebrated an extraordinary period in the history of 20th century art and design and presents, for the first time in Britain, a comprehensive survey of the porcelain produced at the world-renowned State Porcelain Factory in St Petersburg (formerly Imperial now the Lomonosov Porcelain Factory), during the years following the Russian Revolution of 1917.
Further information

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Heaven on Earth: Art from Islamic Lands
Islamic Art from The State Hermitage Museum and The Khalili Collection
25th March - 3rd October 2004

This dazzling exhibition of art from Islamic lands was the most significant exhibition of its kind to be held in London since the Festival of Islam at the Hayward Gallery in 1976. Heaven on Earth: Art from Islamic Lands drew on the collections of The State Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg and the Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art, London, both of which will be lending more than 60 works.
Further information

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Peter Paul Rubens: A Touch of Brilliance
Oil Sketches and Related Works from The State Hermitage Museum and The Courtauld Institute Gallery
20th September 2003 - 8th February 2004

This Rubens exhibition was the first project to result from the alliance between the Courtauld Institute of Art and The State Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg. The exhibition drew on the two celebrated and complementary collections of the sketches that have long been regarded as one of the most compelling and remarkable aspects of Rubens’ work. With the addition of loans from British collections, the exhibition comprised some 40 oil sketches supplemented by ten related drawings and a small number of finished paintings.
Further information

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St Petersburg: A 300th Birthday Tribute
People and Palaces in Photographs around 1900
14th June - 10th August 2003

To mark the 300th anniversary of St Petersburg, home of The State Hermitage Museum, the Hermitage Rooms at Somerset House offered free admission to an exhibition of some 200 photographs from the Hermitage collection, presenting a profile of this rich and thriving city when it was still the capital of Russia.
Further information

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Painting, Passion and Politics:
Masterpieces from the Walpole Collection
28th September 2002 - 30th March 2003

The exhibition presented 34 masterpieces from the Walpole collection, most returning to England for the first time in over 200 years. Among these are works by Rembrandt, Rubens, Van Dyck, and Poussin.
Further information

Generously supported by the Open Russia Foundation

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The Genius of Caspar David Friedrich:
German Romantic Art for Russian Imperial Palaces
20th April - 18th August 2002

This exhibition brought twelve masterpieces by Caspar David Friedrich from the State Hermitage Museum's collection in St Petersburg, together with work by his German contemporaries.
Further information

Generously supported by Donald and Jeanne Kahn

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French Drawings and Paintings from the Hermitage:
Poussin to Picasso
3rd November 2001 - 10th March 2002

This magnificent exhibition offered visitors the opportunity to view a selection from one of the world's least known collections of master drawings.
Further information

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Treasures of Catherine the Great
25th November 2000 - 23rd September 2001

This dazzling exhibition of jewels, decorative art and paintings inaugurated the Hermitage Rooms at Somerset House. More than 500 works of art from the State Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg recreated the imperial splendour of the Winter Palace and offered visitors a unique window on Russian art and history.
Further information