Morozov collection fantastic works by great icons of modern art
French and Russian art masterpieces in the Morozov collection
Portrait of the Actress Jeanne Samary, Paris, 1877, Oil on canvas, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Coll. Ivan Morozov, November 26, 1904, Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts Moscow
Morozov collection was created in Russia
The Morozov collection was created in Russia, when the country was in the twilight years of imperial rule during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Self-Portrait, Moscow, 1911, Oil on canvas, Ilya Machkov, State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow
From 1890 to 1914, and as the ruling Romanov dynasty was faltering, there was a period of artistic renaissance that saw the flourishing of visual, literary and performing arts.
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This “Silver Age” witnessed the rise of arts and culture in Russian cities such as Moscow, well-funded by rich industrialists and philanthropists.
Corner of the Garden at Montgeron, Montgeron, 1876, Oil on canvas, Claude Monet, Coll. Ivan Morozov, May 14, 1907, State Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg
It was during this time that great and grand art collections were amassed. Amongst some of the most renowned are the fabulous collections of Sergei Shchukin and Mikhail and Ivan Morozov.
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In 2016, the Shchukin collection was exhibited at the Fondation Louis Vuitton in the first of their Icons of Modern Art series.
![Paul Cézanne
Smoker, Aix-en-Provence, [1891-1892]
Oil on canvas
Coll. Ivan Morozov, September 2, 1909
State Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg, Morozov Collection](https://culture-hongkong.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Paul_Cezanne_Smoker_Aix-en-Provence-Morozov-icons-of-modern-art-web.jpg){kind=icon}
Smoker, Aix-en-Provence, [1891-1892], Oil on canvas, Paul Cézanne, Coll. Ivan Morozov, September 2, 1909, State Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg
This exhibition highlighted the passionate collector whose vision and foresight created a collection of pioneering works by contemporary French artists.
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Indeed, these artists were considered avant-garde for their time, and who would eventually become icons of impressionist, post-impressionist, fauvist, and cubist works.
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In their latest exhibition, the Fondation Louis Vuitton is featuring the second of their Icons of Modern Art series with the presentation of The Morozov Collection.
![Paul Cézanne, Still Life with a Curtain,
[1892-1894], Oil on canvas
Coll. Ivan Morozov, October 5, 1907, State Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg, Morozov Collection](https://culture-hongkong.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Paul_Cezanne_Still_Life_with_a_Curtain-Morozov-icons-of-modern-art-web.jpg){kind=icon}
Still Life with a Curtain, [1892-1894], Oil on canvas, Paul Cézanne, Coll. Ivan Morozov, October 5, 1907, State Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg
The presentation features over two hundred masterpieces of French and Russian modern art works from the Morozov collection of the brothers Mikhail and Ivan Morozov.
French and Russian modern art masterpieces
This is a landmark showing of these works, which have not travelled outside of Russia since the collection was created at the turn of the twentieth century.
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It was organized by the Fondation Louis Vuitton in partnership with the State Hermitage Museum (Saint- Petersburg), the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts (Moscow) and the State Tretyakov Gallery (Moscow).
The Prison Courtyard, Saint-Rémy, 1890, Oil on canvas, Vincent van Gogh, Coll. Ivan Morozov, October 23, 1909 Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow
The Morozov Collection includes astonishing discoveries and memorable moments, with a unique design that evokes historical references and highlights the timeless nature of works that exemplify the emerging artistic modernity of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
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The show brings together a selection of works by renowned French artists including Manet, Rodin, Monet, Pissarro, Toulouse-Lautrec, Renoir, Sisley, Cézanne, Gaugin, Van Gogh, Bonnard, Denis, Maillol, Matisse, Marquet, Vlaminck, Derain and Picasso.
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The exhibition shows the French works alongside those by Russian masters including Repin, Vrubel, Korovin, Golovin, Serov, Larionov, Goncharova, Malevich, Mashkov, Konchalovsky, Outkine, Saryan and Konenkov.
Still life with The Dance, 1909, Oil on canvas, Henri Matisse, Coll. Ivan Morozov, Commissioned May 12, 1909, State Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg © Succession Ivan Morozov
This exhibition pays tribute to the Morozov brothers, who participated in forging a new economic, social and cultural world in which modern Russian and Western art played a pivotal role.
Morozov brothers played pivotal role in forging new economic world
The Morozov brothers belong in the tradition of the great families of Muscovite collectors, who dominated Moscow’s cultural life at the turn of the twentieth century.
Portrait of Mika Morozov, Moscow, 1901, Oil on canvas, Valentin Serov, Coll. Mikhaïl Morozov, 1901, State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow
They stood out for their unwavering patronage of contemporary European and Russian art, and their story is a marvellous illustration of the role of collectors in promoting and shaping the taste for modern works of art.
In a Boat, Moscow region, 1888, Oil on canvas, Konstantin Korovin, Coll. Mikhaïl Morozov, 1903, State Tretyakov, Gallery, Moscow
Mikhail Abramovitch Morozov (1870-1903) and Ivan Abramovitch Morozov (1871-1921) were born into a wealthy family in Russia.
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Their family fortune was founded by their ancestor, a former serf and peasant, who worked and saved to free his entire family, and who would go on to create a textile dynasty.
Pond at Montgeron, Montgeron, 1876, Oil on canvas, Claude Monet, Coll. Ivan Morozov, September 28, 1908, State Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg
The brothers inherited a huge fortune and worked in the family business, receiving substantial incomes.
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The Morozov brothers were contemporaries and friends of Sergei Shchukin and were at the heart of a circle of highly influential Muscovite patrons who were friends of artists and passionate about the most innovative art.
White Night. Aasgardstrand (Girls on the Bridge), 1903, Oil on canvas, Edvard Munch, Coll. Mikhaïl Morozov, 1903, Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow
They were quick to respond to the Parisian art scene, where a new world was being born.
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Their collection of canvases by Manet, Monet, Renoir, Degas, Cézanne, Gauguin, Van Gogh, Bonnard, Denis, Matisse and Picasso, and sculptures by Rodin, Claudel and Maillol, form an exemplary set of masterpieces.
Woman Holding a Fruit; Where Are You Going? Tahiti, 1893, Oil on canvas, Paul Gauguin, Coll. Ivan Morozov, April 29, 1908, State Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg
The elder, Mikhail, who died young, constituted his ensemble in about five years, with a rather eclectic but bold approach bringing in remarkable works by Monet, Toulouse-Lautrec, Renoir and Degas, alongside Van Gogh and Gauguin. Mikhail passed on the baton and his passion to Ivan.
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In a fraternal tribute after Mikhail died, Ivan took over his brother’s project of collecting modern French art, steadily giving it exceptional scope. Ivan made regular trips to Paris to buy paintings at the spring and autumn salons.
Self-Portrait in Gray, Abramtsevo, Moscow region, 1911, Oil on canvas, Pyotr Konchalovsky, State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow © Succession Piotr Kontchalovski
In 1903, he purchased the first work by Sisley, which marked the start of Morozov’s interest in Impressionism.
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His taste began to sharpen on repeated contact with leading art dealers and on visits to other private collections.
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His acquisitions thereafter included works by Pissarro, Renoir and Manet.
Seascape at Saintes-Maries, Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, 1888, Oil on canvas, Vincent van Gogh, Coll. Mikhaïl Morozov, 1901, Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow
In 1907, he vigorously devoted himself to this new art of collecting, buying three Monets, his first Bonnards and Gauguins.
Ivan Morozov devoted to collecting art from the best artists
That same year he became a convinced “Cézannist”, acquiring eighteen outstanding canvases that he hung in a secret study next to his private apartments.
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His purchases steadily increased, and their quality became admirable.
Moroccan Triptych. Zorah on the Terrace, Tangier, 1912-1913, Oil on canvas, Henri Matisse, Coll. Ivan Morozov, 1913, Commissioned in spring 1911, Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow © Succession H. Matisse
Ivan continued to expand his collection up to 1914, with some of his last purchases being bronze sculptures by Camille Claudel.
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Stuck in Russia during the First World War and the revolutionary period, Ivan protected his collection by taking the works down and moving them away from the looting and fires.
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Unfortunately, after the First World War and the October Revolution, the Morozov collection suffered the same fate as that of Sergei Shchukin.
Moroccan Triptych. View from the Window, Tangier, 1912-1913Oil on canvas, Henri Matisse, Coll. Ivan Morozov, 1913, Commissioned in spring 1911, Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow © Succession H. Matisse
In 1918, the art collection was seized, nationalized and then broken up by the Bolshevik regime.
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Ivan’s mansion was turned into a national museum devoted to Western painting, and for a short time, he was able to oversee his own collection.
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However, he was compelled to leave Moscow in 1919 and would die shortly thereafter in 1921, in exile aged forty-nine.
Portrait of Varvara Alexeevna Morozova, born Khludova, Moscow, 1884, Oil on canvas, Konstantin Makovsky, Coll. Mikhaïl Morozov, before 1903, State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow
The political turmoil that engulfed Russia had deprived him of his country, family and friends, and this art collection.
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In the subsequent years, the artwork in the Morozov collection were moved around, transported and transferred to different Russian public institutions. Some works were sold.
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Starting from the 1930s to 1948, they found their way into the collections of the Hermitage Museum, Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts and the Tretyakov Gallery.
In the Garden. Under the Trees of Moulin de la Galette, Montmartre, 1875, Oil on canvas, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Coll. Ivan Morozov, March 4, 1907, Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow
These institutions responded enthusiastically to the challenge of showing this admirable collection outside Russia for the first time at the Fondation Louis Vuitton.
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This inaugural exhibition of the Morozov collection is a milestone for its arrival in Paris as well as for the presentation of the best of French and Russian art in a single collection.
Text & Photos Fondation Louis Vuitton
