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The exhibit, ‘Karl Marx Forever?’ opened in St. Petersburg on October 17, 2018; featuring art pieces, documents while being the first to honor the German economist since the dissolution of the USSR in 1991.
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The State Museum of Russia is hosting the exhibition, organized on Marx’s 200 birthday anniversary, and includes paintings, drawings, household appliances, sculpture coins, archives and a variety of items somehow related to the life and ideas of the great thinker.
“At the beginning of the 20th century, when the Russian revolutionary movement was on the rise, Marx’s personality and ideas evoked interest and hopes of the creative intelligentsia,” says a statement by the museum.
The event organizers explained that no artist did a portrait of him when Marx was alive, but later painters were inspired in pictures and their own imagination to represent the author of ‘the Capital’ and ‘the Communist Manifesto,’ especially in the Soviet Union.
“For those of us who grew up in the Soviet times, Marx, Engels and Lenin were like the holy trinity. They were everywhere in public life,” said Tatania Iakovleva, a 69-year-old retired worker.
The exhibition shows different artistic styles, representations and perspectives on the philosopher, some of them satirical, and others praising him, dating from times before the Russian Revolution, such as Georgy Neroda’s Marx bust, and recent works.
“The attitude towards Karl Marx has changed several times, but the art pieces will stay forever,” said Evgenia Petrova, director of the museum, during the opening ceremony.
Even after the USSR dissolution, many squares and streets retained the names of Marx and Friedrich Engels, and their statues remain in their positions through towns and cities.
The exhibit will remain at the museum until January 14, 2019.
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