The Taganrog Art Museum was founded in 1898 with the direct participation of Anton Chekhov. He did a lot for the development of culture in his hometown. Since 1970, the Art Museum has been located on Alexandrovskaya Street in a mansion that belonged to merchant Anton Khandrin until 1917.
Throughout his life, Anton Chekhov constantly sent books to the Taganrog library, thanks to that one of the best regional libraries in Russia was formed in the city. At the end of the 19th century, Chekhov was a famous writer. He was friends with Ilya Repin, who in 1898 became rector of the Art Academy of St. Petersburg. Chekhov asked him to send a petition to the Academy Council for the transfer of several paintings to the newly created Taganrog Art Museum. In 1902, the first 8 paintings were transferred to the museum. Among them were paintings by Julius Fedders "River Luga" and "Pine over the cliff", as well as a painting by Sergei Vasilkovsky " Zaporozhye Cossack on exploration".
In subsequent years, Arkhip Kuindzhi, Konstantin Savitsky, Pavel Iordanov presented their paintings to the Taganrog Art Museum. Later, the Academy of Arts of St. Petersburg several more times transferred paintings by famous Russian artists to Taganrog.
In 1920, paintings seized from noble estates as part of nationalization were transferred to the Art Museum. Now you can see paintings by many famous Russian artists of the 19th century here.
Nowadays, the collection of the Taganrog Art Museum has several thousand paintings and art objects. Of great interest are the interiors of the estate, which at the beginning of the 20th century was one of the most beautiful in Taganrog. After visiting the halls of the museum, go out into the courtyard. Sculptures are installed there, flowerbeds of flowers and decorative southern plants are planted.
