The Peredvizhniki. Pioneers of Russian Painting

This autumn's major exhibition at the Nationalmuseum (Stockholm, Sweden) is entitled The Peredvizhniki-Pioneers of Russian Painting. Sweden's first ever exhibition dedicated to this group of artists features over 100 pieces on loan from the State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow and the State Russian Museum in St Petersburg.

Works by the Peredvizhniki have long enjoyed huge popularity in Russia but remain little known abroad. Exhibition visitors now have the opportunity to discover Russian art from the era of Tolstoy and Tchaikovsky.

The Peredvizhniki were a group of artists who came together in 1870 in protest at the conservative attitudes and dominant position of Russia's Imperial Academy of Art. Their goal was artistic freedom. Using realist techniques, group members painted nature, people and society in contemporary Russia. Poor farm labourers and political activists were portrayed with the same dedication as brooding twilight landscapes and leading intellectuals.

Some group members produced paintings containing an explicitly political message. Since freedom of expression was heavily curtailed, tackling subjects that the state might deem inappropriate was a risky business.

Date: until January 22.
Location: The Nationalmuseum. Södra Blasieholmshamnen, Stockholm, Sweden.
Opening hours: from Tuesday to Thursday from 11am to 8pm. Wednesday, Friday and Sunday from 11am to 5pm.