June 3, 2026 — The exhibition «Konstantin and Vladimir Makovsky. Earthly Love and Heavenly Love» opened at the Fabergé Museum. The architect of this large-scale project, which united 168 works from museum and private collections in Russia and Uzbekistan, was Andrei Punin, the Head of the «Environmental and Interior Design» track at HSE Art and Design School in St. Petersburg. Students and alumni from the School of Design also participated in preparing the exhibition.
An exhibition commemorating the 180th anniversary of Vladimir Makovsky presents the largest retrospective of the Makovsky brothers' work in recent years, bringing together key pieces by two distinguished members of this renowned artistic dynasty.
Andrey Punin: «For me, it was important not just to display the magnificent paintings by Konstantin and Vladimir Makovsky, but to establish a dialogue between them within the museum space. This is particularly interesting because the interiors of the Shuvalov Palace date from the same era when the artists lived and worked. Konstantin and Vladimir Makovsky were brothers, but the artists were quite different in many ways. Konstantin leaned toward large-scale historical scenes and formal portraits, while Vladimir was interested in the everyday life of his contemporaries—their characters. I wanted to emphasize this difference in the exhibition, so Konstantin’s works are presented in the most grand space of the palace, whereas for Vladimir, intimate rooms were chosen to allow visitors to immerse themselves in the worlds of his paintings.This resulted in a sequential narrative that, in my opinion, offers an excellent cross-section of their work through the difference in scale and exhibition approaches. I believe we managed to create a cohesive story that illustrates not only the differences between the two artists but also their belonging to one great artistic tradition.»
Andrey Punin notes that at the School, the journey doesn’t end with receiving the diploma; after graduation, curators invite top students to participate in their professional projects. For instance, Anastasia Martynova, a graduate of the «Environmental and Interior Design» program, participated in the exhibition design, while Mikhail Punin, a first-year student in the Master’s program «Art Direction of Cultural Institutions,» created the graphic design elements for the exhibition, developed the navigation, signage, and explanatory texts.
