Tretyakov 20thc Gallery / Gorky Park 9.12

Today, work was put off for another day, so I opted, along with two other couriers, to visit the 20th century part of the Tretyakov Gallery, a decent walk from the Pushkin museum. Crossing the river, I saw the museum, which resembled an Ikea like structure. A slightly out of the way, slightly run down sculpture garden surrounded it, and included several Soviet era statues that became obsolete and unpopular with the fall of communism. The place was strangely vacant. There might have been 10 other people in the whole museum. The gallery is devoted to Russian artists. Other than Kandinsky and Rodchenko, there are few recognizable names. The paintings ranged from abstract to expressionist to constructivist, social realist, and so on. One of my favorites was this large scale painting of Stalin on the roof of the Kremlin. I learned that Russia calls WWII the "great patriotic war." Of course, photos were not allowed, but I snuck a few anyway.

Afterwards, we crossed the street and entered the famed Gorky Park, for an admission price of 50 rubles, or about $2. Again, the place was strangely vacant. The park, or at least the amusement park through which we walked, sits on an enormous piece of land. Most of the rides were idle, as a few people--couples mostly--strolled or sat on benches drinking beer. Lots of empty beer patio gardens, with blaring techno music, exuded a residue of "has been." Games and animal keepers, such as this guy sweeping inside a chain link fence alongside a tiger, rounded out the park's contents. Granted, it was late on a weekday after the high season of summer. But, the grandness of the open spaces gave the place a very lonely feel. Of course, we were happy that it wasn't thronged with people. Truly a place out of time. From there, we crossed the Moscow river not once but twice en route to the hotel. Tired, I opted for room service: a "traditional" turkey club sandwich (complete with bacon and a fried egg) and french fries...only about $25!

I'm fading now, so will post again in another day or so. Until then.