View source for The National Art Museum of the Republic of Belarus

{{Short description|Art Museum in Minsk, Belarus}}
{{More citations needed|date=November 2024}}
{{expand Belarusian|date=February 2024|topic=struct}}
{{Infobox Museum
|name         = National Art Museum of the Republic of Belarus
|image        = NAM RB - National Art Museum Ul. Lenina 20 Minsk.jpg
|established  = 1939
|location     = [[Minsk]], [[Belarus]]
|visitors     =
|director     = Vladimir Prokoptsov
|website      = {{url|http://artmuseum.by}}
|logo=|map_type=|former_name=|type=|image_upright=1.23}}
The '''National Art Museum of the Republic of Belarus''' ({{langx|be|Нацыянальны мастацкі музей Рэспублікі Беларусь|Nacyjanaĺny mastacki muziej Respubliki Bielaruś}} ) is the largest art [[museum]] in [[Belarus]] and is located in its capital, [[Minsk]]. The museum comprises more than thirty thousands works of art which make up twenty various collections and constitutes two main ones: the one of national art and the other of art monuments of various countries of the world. It was formerly known as the '''State Art Gallery'''.
== History ==
An important precusor of the museum was the [[Vitebsk Museum of Modern Art]] which existed from 1919 to 1925, in the early years of the [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] era. The Vitebsk art scene was vibrant due to the presence of important artists including [[Kazimir Malevich|Malevich]], [[Marc Chagall|Chagall]] and [[El Lissitzky|Lissitzky]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Walther |first1=Ingo F. |last2=Metzger |first2=Rainer |date=2000 |title=Marc Chagall: Painting as Poetry |location=Cologne |publisher=[[Taschen]] |page=44-46 |isbn=3822859907}}</ref> The remaining paintings in this museum were transferred to the Vitebsk Regional Museum in 1925.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Шишанов |first=В.А. |date=2018 |title=Витебский музей современного искусства в полемике и практике художественных течений 1918–1922 гг. |url=https://rep.vsu.by/bitstream/123456789/16687/5/111-119.pdf |journal=Ученые записки |volume=26 |pages=111–119 |access-date=7 November 2024}}</ref> In 1939, most of these would be relocated to the newly founded State Art Gallery in Minsk.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Исаков |first=Г.П. |date=2001 |title=Из истории коллекции Витебского музея современного искусства (1919–1941 гг.) |url=https://rep.vsu.by/bitstream/123456789/9136/5/53-58.pdf |journal=Веснік Віцебскага дзяржаўнага ўніверсітэта |volume=19 |issue=1 |pages=53–58 |access-date=7 November 2024}}</ref>
The gallery was created on January 24, 1939 under the Resolution of the [[Council of People's Commissars of Belarus]]. The gallery took 15 halls of Graduate Agricultural School, former Minsk Girls Gymnasium. Besides divisions of painting, sculpture, and graphics, a separate division of art industry was created by a special order.{{Citation needed|date=November 2024}} At this time, the gallery was led by prominent Belarusian painter-ceramist [[Mikalai Mikhalap]].<ref name="sovremennost"/>
At the beginning of 1941, the State Art Gallery's funds and stocks had numbered nearly 2,711 artworks out of which four hundred were on display. The fate of the whole collection was unfavorable during the first days of the [[Great Patriotic War (term)|Great Patriotic War]]. In a short time it would disappear without a trace.{{Citation needed|date=November 2024}}
After the War, a small part of the works of art was returned, mainly those which had been at the exhibitions in Russia before the War. In spite of the postwar devastation, when Minsk lay in ruins, the Government of Belarus allocated sums of money for purchasing works of art for the Gallery. In August 1945, the canvases by [[Boris Kustodiev]], [[Vasily Polenov]], [[Karl Briullov]] and [[Isaak Levitan]] were obtained.{{Citation needed|date=November 2024}}
In 1993, the museum was renamed the National Art Museum of the Republic of Belarus.<ref name="sovremennost"/>
== Former directors ==
* [[Mikalai Mikhalap]] (1939–1941)<ref name="sovremennost"/>
* [[Alena Aladava]] (1944–1977)<ref name="sovremennost"/>
* {{ill|Yury Karachun|be|Юрый Аляксандравіч Карачун}} (1977–1997)<ref name="sovremennost"/>
* {{ill|Uladzimir Prakaptsou|be|Уладзімір Іванавіч Пракапцоў}} (1998–2023)<ref name="sovremennost"/>
* Ganna Konanava (2023–current)<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://artmuseum.by/events-news/interv-iu-ganny-konanavai-gazetce-kultura |title=Інтэрв'ю генеральнага дырэктара Нацыянальнага мастацкага музея Ганны Конанавай газеце “Культура” |last=Гаўрыш |first=Віктар |website=Нацыянальны мастацкі музей Рэспублікі Беларусь |access-date=7 November 2024}}</ref>
== Gallery ==
<gallery>
Image:1668. Ілья.jpg|''The Prophet Elijah''. 1668. Tempera on panel.
Image:Thomas Heeremans. Summer.JPG|[[Thomas Heeremans]], ''Summer'', 1689.
Image:Pleve by Repin.jpg|[[Ilya Repin]], Portrait of Minister of the Interior [[Vyacheslav von Plehve]]. 1902. Oil on canvas.
Image:Ля касцёла.jpg|[[Ferdynand Ruszczyc]], ''Near church''. 1899.
Image:1921. На Купалле.jpg|Mikhail Filippovich. ''Midsummer night''. 1921-1922. Oil on cardboard.
Image:V. Beklemishev. Village love.JPG|Vladimir Beklemishev. ''Village love''. 1896. Bronze.
Image:Horses of Peter Clodt.JPG|[[Peter Clodt von Jürgensburg]]. A mare with a colt, 1854.
Image:Grabar February azure study 1904 nhmrb.jpg|''[[February Azure]]'', a study by [[Igor Grabar]], 1904
Image:Ivan Aivazovsky. Morning on the sea.JPG|[[Ivan Aivazovsky]], ''Morning on the sea'', 1883
</gallery>
==References==
{{reflist|refs=
<ref name="sovremennost">{{Cite web |url=https://artmuseum.by/ru/history |title=Современность и история |author=<!--Not stated--> |website=Нацыянальны мастацкі музей Рэспублікі Беларусь |access-date=7 November 2024}}</ref>
}}
==External links==
*{{Commons category-inline}}
*{{Official website}}
{{authority control}}
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[[Category:Museums in Minsk]]
[[Category:Art museums and galleries in Belarus]]
[[Category:Art museums and galleries established in 1939]]
[[Category:1939 establishments in the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:National galleries|Belarus]]