The Moscow State Museum "House of Burganov" is able to attract the attention of not only fans of the sculptor Alexander Burganov, but also those who first hear his name. The popular name is the museum of surrealism. It attracts attention even with its appearance, and that is located inside the museum "House of Burganov", - later in this article.
basic information
The State Museum "House of Burganov" (photo of the exhibition is presented in the article) was founded in 2001 in the building of the former workshop of the famous sculptor and art professor Alexander Nikolaevich Burganov. A huge number of his sculptures donated to Moscow are located inside or on the territory of the museum. The author himself initiated the creation of a museum of personalized art, presenting his workshop to Moscow. Subsequently, the museum was expanded - the government of the capital presented it with a neighboring building, which at that time was in critical condition and was close to demolition.
For his house-museum, Burganov independently developed the entire design structure, including a gallery ("Pegasus Gallery"), two open courtyards (Big and Small) and a museum garden. At the entrance to the museum are four arches with busts of the greatest, according to Alexander Nikolaevich, figures of Russian culture - musician Mstislav Rostropovich, dancer Rudolf Nureyev, writer Ivan Bunin and director Andrei Tarkovsky.
Alexander Burganov
Alexander Nikolayevichi Burganov was born on March 20, 1935. He studied at the Higher School of Art Crafts in Moscow, where the master sculptors were the great sculptors Georgy Motovilov and Gabriel Schulz. After training, he himself became a teacher. Burganov’s work is interesting for its novelty, and his ideas are much wider than international borders. So, it was Alexander Nikolaevich who became the author of the first monument to Alexander Pushkin in the USA, and in Russia to the American poet Walt Whitman (the monument is located on the territory of Moscow State University). Through his efforts in Baden-Baden, a monument to Vasily Zhukovsky and a monument to Pushkin and Goncharova on the Old Arbat appeared.
But of course, the main cultural achievement of Alexander Burganov is the Moscow house museum of his name. This is truly a brilliant, unique and monumental museum of authorship. Only the Catalan museum-theater of Salvador Dali can compare with it, which the Spanish artist, like Burganov, designed and created himself.
Museum Address
Where is the Moscow State Museum "House of Burganov" located? Its exact address is Bolshoy Afanasyevsky Lane, Building 15, Building 9. The most convenient way to get to the museum is from the Kropotkinskaya metro station, which is located on the Sokolnicheskaya line (red color). Below is a map with the exact location of the Burganov House Museum in Moscow.
Ticket price and opening hours
Unlike most Moscow museums, everyone can get into the unique Museum "House of Burganov" almost for free. The price of one ticket for the main exhibition is 200 rubles, and for schoolchildren, full-time students, parents with many children and senior citizens it will be only 100 rubles. Children under seven years old can see the exposition for free. The prices are monitored by the author and the owner of the museum, trying to make his art as accessible as possible for everyone. The museum is open every day from 11 a.m. Closing time on all days except Thursday, 19:00, on Thursday - 21:00.
Exposition
The permanent exhibition at the Burganov House Museum, as mentioned above, is located on four sites. This is the covered "Pegasus Gallery" and three outdoor areas: the Grand Courtyard, the Small Courtyard and the Museum Garden. In addition to the author’s sculptures and graphic drawings by Alexander Nikolaevich, the museum also contains copies and originals of engravings, African and European art objects, medieval sculptures and other world values, which allow a better understanding of the world of Burganov, which he built in his museum. The garden of the museum "House of Burganov" in Moscow - in the photo below.
Antiquity
The collection of antique works of art in the permanent exhibition of the Burganov House consists of 46 objects of sculptural and ceramic creativity, differing in place of origin, size and overall value. The time of origin of these objects varies from the thirteenth to the second centuries BC. Among the antique exhibits, unique and original ancient Greek and Roman sculptures, as well as Corinthian, Attic, Boeotian and South Italian ceramic products, are presented. All of them came to the museum from private collections. In the photo below you can see some sculptures presented at the ancient exhibition.
- Samos figure of Kuros, about 540 BC e. Made of limestone.
- Samos head of Kora, approximately 550-540 BC. e. Made of white marble.
- Greek head of a goddess, mid 4th century BC e. Made of coarse-grained marble with inlaid eyes.
- Tanagrass woman in a blindfold, approximately the second quarter of the 4th century BC. e. Made of clay and golden mica.
- Roman head of Antoninus Pius, circa 160 AD e. Made of white marble.
And in the next photo you can see some objects from the ceramic collection.
- Boeotian vessel with a lid for storing jewelry, spices or ointments (pixid), 8th century BC e. As a handle - the figures of two horses, the ornament is made of images of cranes or herons.
- Erturi jug for wine or aromatic oils (olp), the border of the 7th and 6th centuries BC e. Decorated with disproportionate or mythical animals.
- South Italian water jug (hydria), beginning of 4th century BC e. Decorated with the image of a scene with a female bathing.
- South Italian vessel for drinking with the head of an animal (rhyton), about 320 BC e. Ryton is interesting for the high detail of the dog’s head. Decorated with the figure of a flying Eros.
Graphics
The graphic composition in the museum "House of Burganov" exists in strict symbiosis with the sculptural, and it is simply impossible to perceive one without the other. However, the museum visitor will be forced to see the graphic works of Alexander Nikolaevich only after the sculptural ones, since the sculptures meet visitors at the entrance. Basically, Burganov's graphic works are divided into two series - "Italy" and "Spain". It was a trip to Italy in 1980 that inspired the creator to create the first serious graphic series - before that, he mainly drew exclusively sketches for sculptures.
For many years, Burganov has been illustrating books, and you can also see copies of his work in this area among the objects of graphic exposition. For example, this is a huge book with black pages - the ABC, which consists solely of drawings, and the Book of Letters, in which the reader should make a lot of efforts to collect letters scattered and scattered in all directions into words, lines and verses. You can see part of the graphic and sculptural exposition at the Museum "Burganov's House" below.
Sculpture
And of course, the main exhibits of the museum are sculptures. They will meet the visitor at the entrance and will accompany him throughout the trip around the Burganov House. These are fantasy images, surreal heroes, the author’s views on modern life, history, culture, war and much, much more. Most of the sculptures overlap with the ancient forms of creativity - primitive, ancient Egyptian, antique. Something reminiscent of the surrealism of Salvador Dali, something - psychedelic art of the 60-70s of the 20th century, something similar to the art deco of the beginning of the last century.
Traveling through the museum resembles a walk in some kind of dream, where the thoughts and images of objects mixed together, miraculously open a new, hitherto unseen (or unnoticed) side of familiar things. It is impossible to understand each sculpture separately - they are parts of the whole, connected with each other by one story, one mood and feeling. Simply put, in order to understand each sculpture in the museum "Burganov's House" in particular, you need to see all the work presented there as a whole - in any other way.
The main and repeating sculptural subjects are legs, hands, feet, fingers and toes, eyes, deformed objects, simplified to primitive form, mechanical in symbiosis with the living, decay into particles, lack of gaps in whole forms.
Visitors reviews
As often happens, opinions about the Burganov House museum and the author of the sculptures are completely opposite. There can be no middle ground in such an ambiguous work, and therefore some visitors enthusiastically return to the museum again and again, while others write negative reviews that the “king”, in their opinion, is “naked”. Unfortunately, not everyone going to this museum understands that surreal art is always aimed not at conscious but at subconscious perception, and therefore such art either immediately conquers or remains incomprehensible.
In general, judging by online reviews, people who are already familiar with Burganov’s work, at least from his street sculptures, go to the museum. Such viewers have only pleasant impressions from the visit.
Sculptor's workshop
Another interesting place on the territory of the museum is the current workshop of the sculptor. If you wish, you can enter there, the main thing is not to interfere with Alexander Nikolaevich if he is at work.
Master classes for children of preschool and primary school age are also held here. Beginning sculptors have the opportunity to work with special soft material and independently make reliefs. When working, children use forms created by Alexander Nikolayevich himself in different periods of creativity. Some sculptures created by him using these forms are also inside the permanent exhibition of the museum. Finished reliefs small authors take with them as a souvenir.
Burganov himself does not conduct master classes - his former or current pupils and students work. But sometimes Alexander Nikolaevich is present in the classroom, watching the first steps of future original creators, which he himself once was.