Corner of a Museum 1916

Have you ever walked into a museum and immediately felt overwhelmed? What on earth is ‘museum fatigue’? The phrase refers to the sense of being dazed and tired when faced with a huge collection of art in a museum or gallery. It might sound like a modern idea, but people have been talking about this phenomenon since the early 19th century! The Victorian reformer William Stanley Jevons (1835-1882) wrote that the South Kensington Museum (now the Victoria and Albert Museum in London) produced a ‘general mental state… of perplexity and vagueness, together with some impression of sore feet and aching heads.' It might explain why you’re so desperate to sit down after a couple of hours looking at some paintings! Personally, I’ve definitely experienced this in some large galleries. Walking into a room to see the walls stacked with painting after painting makes me feel so small! Some people find that they much prefer smaller collections. Just take a look at this painting by Konstantin Gorbatov (1876-1945)! Here, the Russian artist depicts a cosy corner of a museum in a Post-Impressionist style. Gorbatov studied civil engineering and architecture before training as a painter. This is evident in his mathematical approach to composition; he often used precise and geometrical structures. The artist eventually settled in Berlin as a Russian émigré – but when the Second World War broke out, he was forbidden to leave the country and was required to register with authorities twice per week. Upon his death in the first year of the war, he left his entire body of work to the Academy of Arts in Leningrad. 🖼️ ‘Corner of a Museum’ (1916) uses visible, blocky brushstrokes to create a sense of life and energy. The room is busy and crammed with artworks. Paintings framed in gold adorn the walls, while a majestic marble sculpture on a pedestal occupies the left side of the canvas. We can see smaller standing statues, depicting nude figures and a rearing horse. There’s also a decorative black wooden cabinet. From the window, we see a view of a grey sky and blanket of snow. The museum space offers a welcome retreat from the cold scene outside. What does the painting make you feel about this museum? Is it a place you would enjoy visiting?