The exhibition will be organized as part of a project carried out by the Tretyakov Gallery jointly with major Russian museums.

Its mission is to acquaint the public with the most important and interesting collections of graphic works in Russia.

Almost all of these works have never been shown to the general public before and are unknown either to museum patrons or to specialists. The art show will feature works of famous 19th-century masters, including portraits and genre paintings by Aleksander Orłowski, Orest Kiprensky, Vladimir Gau, Karl Bryullov, Piotr Sokolov, landscape views by Karl Hampeln, Stepan Galaktionov, Fyodor Alexeyev, works by Mihály Zichy, Adolf Charlemagne and many others.

The exhibition will uncover the rich variety of graphic works from the collection of the State Historical Museum: portraits of royalty and nobility, historical tableaux, cityscapes. One special theme of the exhibition will be works commissioned by the imperial family. A unique collection of drawings featuring interiors allows to trace the development of interior as a genre of painting in the early 19th century, its evolution over the next century and radical transformations in the early 20th century when it was largely influenced by the art nouveau style.