Valuable things and personnel: why the directors of the Tretyakov Gallery and the State Museum of Fine Arts changed

Museum castling — it is possible that the news that broke on the evening of January 14 will go down in the history of Russian art under this name. Olga Galaktionova, who headed the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, moved to the chair of the director of the Tretyakov Gallery, which was vacated by Elena Pronicheva, and the latter's sister Ekaterina headed the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts. None of the defendants and their subordinates officially comments on the appointment, except that Olga Galaktionova shared her first feelings with Izvestia: "So far I understand that I inherited a good legacy after Elena Vladimirovna!" One thing is for sure: this decision came as a complete surprise to the art community.

Two in one

A little less than a year ago, we wrote about the resignation of Elizaveta Likhacheva and the appointment of Olga Galaktionova to the State Museum of Fine Arts, and two years before that, about the dismissal of Zelfira Tregulova from the Tretyakov Gallery and Elena Pronicheva, who replaced her. Until recently, it seemed that the personnel changes were definitely completed. Suddenly, there was another surprise, and in both institutions at the same time.

The official message from the Minister of Culture Olga Lyubimova began as follows: "The heads of the State Tretyakov Gallery and the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts have been appointed."

In Russian history, it has never happened that the top management of Moscow's two main art treasures changed synchronously. Even more unexpectedly, there are only two surnames in this permutation: Galaktionova and Pronicheva. However, the directors didn't just switch places, everything is more interesting. Elena Pronicheva has resigned, and nothing has been reported about her future career prospects. Her older sister Ekaterina, who previously headed the Vladimir-Suzdal Museum-Reserve, was appointed to the State Museum of Fine Arts.

Two sisters

When Elena Pronicheva was appointed to the State Tretyakov Gallery, many museum workers did not hide their surprise: it seemed to some that it would be more logical to entrust such a responsible post to Ekaterina. Nevertheless, the younger sister got the chair in the Tretyakov Gallery, and the older one went to raise a beautiful, but still less significant regional museum complex on a federal scale.

She has achieved considerable success in this position. Despite the distance from Moscow, high-profile projects were implemented there one after another. But it is more difficult to evaluate Elena Pronicheva's activities: first of all, because of her lack of publicity. She practically did not communicate with the press, rarely attended the opening of exhibitions and press screenings, and in her infrequent statements (mainly on various forums) she maintained an emphasized flow.

It cannot be said that the museum worked poorly under her: the main event, of course, was the opening of the building on Kadashevskaya Embankment. The previous directors were also involved in its construction (the project stretches back to the 90s), but it was Pronicheva who was lucky to complete the process and put the building into operation. The situation is similar with the Kitchen Factory, a branch in Samara.

There were also worthy exhibitions, including those claiming blockbuster status. There are crowds of spectators at the Karl Bryullov retrospective right now, although the exhibition has been open for six months. But the reign of her predecessor Zelfira Tregulova generally looked brighter. However, there were more scandals then. The period of Elena Pronicheva's leadership looks neutral against this background.

In her message, Olga Lyubimova describes Pronicheva Jr. positively, and her own initiative was named as the official reason for her departure.

"We are all very grateful to Elena for the joint work. Dozens of bright expositions, the opening of several new iconic venues at once — in Moscow, Samara and Kaliningrad. The highest level of professionalism and openness. I believe that we will be happy to work together!" the official telegram channel of the minister says.

A good legacy

At the time of writing, the Tretyakov Gallery has not responded to a request from Izvestia. The press service of the Pushkin Museum confirmed the news to Izvestia and said that comments would be made later, and Olga Galaktionova was on a business trip. Olga Nikolaevna herself responded to the congratulations of the newspaper, promised to tell everything "in a month or two" and added: "So far I understand that I got a good inheritance after Elena Vladimirovna!"

Olga Galaktionova has indeed proved herself in recent years to be a more open, though certainly pragmatic, leader. Both in the status of the head of ROSIZO, and already being on Volkhonka, she gave interviews, was not afraid to make loud statements and make strong decisions. Finally, she recently presented the first major exhibition made at the State Museum of Fine Arts during her reign: "Marc Chagall. The Joy of gravity", tickets for which were instantly sold out for weeks in advance. By the way, this project became possible thanks to a partnership with the Tretyakov Gallery, which provided key exhibits in exchange for Picasso and Matisse.

After such a successful start, few people could have expected that Galaktionova would be replaced. Whether her appointment to the Tretyakov Gallery is considered a promotion is a question. These are too different museums, and each one is important in its own way.

In more than three years, four directors have already been replaced at the Pushkin Museum: in 2023, Marina Loshak made room for Elizaveta Likhacheva, in early 2025 Olga Galaktionova took over, and now it's time for Ekaterina Pronicheva. The latter's reputation in the museum and art community is excellent, and there is hope that she will be at the State Museum of Fine Arts for a long time, applying the experience of managing an equally large farm in the Vladimir-Suzdal Museum—Reserve.

In the meantime, everyone is holding their breath. Even in informal conversations, the staff of both museums refrain from evaluating and shrug their hands — the news turned out to be too unexpected and strange. And even those speakers who are traditionally ready to comment on such events refuse to make public statements at all. It's understandable: so far there are more questions than answers.

Andrey Tumanov, Valeria Chub, Julia Parker, Zoya Igumnova