NeWestMuseum
Museum of Modern Western Art

In spring Sergey and Pyotr Shchukin purchased paintings by Camille Pissarro from the gallery of Paul Durand-Ruel, to which they had probably been introduced by their younger brother Ivan. Pyotr chose Place du Théâtre Français (Hermitage Museum; at a price of 4,000 roubles which, at an exchange rate of 1 franc to 38 kopecks equalled 15,200 francs). Sergey’s choice rested on Avenue de l’Opéra. Effect of Snow (Pushkin Museum).
For 6,000 roubles Pyotr Shchukin acquired Alfred Sisley’s Villeneuve-La-Garenne, then known as Village by the Seine.
Even more expensive was Edgar Degas’s pastel Woman Brushing her Hair (Toilet), which cost a princely 14,000 roubles. Also purchased from Durand-Ruel, this painting was not to go on public show: Pyotr intended it for his private apartments.
The same fate awaited Auguste Renoir’s Nude, a painting that had caused a scandal when shown at the Second Impressionist Exhibition. Sergey Shchukin helped his brother purchase ‘la belle Anne’ (the name of the model), writing to him: ‘In accordance with your wishes I went to Durand-Ruel to ask him for the price of the nude woman… Durand-Ruel declared first that this is one of Renoir’s best works, which is quite true… Its price is 15,000 roubles. He is not prepared to take less.’

Initially Sergey Shchukin experienced difficulty orienting himself on the Paris art scene, having only recently changed direction and parted with Russian works by the Wanderers in order to pursue the Western proclaimers of new horizons. He did not immediately identify the road towards the future of French art and was initially tempted by standard moonlight effects or the misty qualities of second-rate Symbolism by now forgotten artists such as Charles Guilloux and Firmin Maglin. But he soon caught on.
His own business sense told him that he needed to make use of specialist advisers and he found them first in Paul Durand-Ruel and a little later in Ambroise Vollard.
In November Ivan Shchukin reserved for his brother Sergey Claude Monet’s The Rocks at Belle-Île, which was with Durand-Ruel. The dealer travelled to Giverny where he bought eight of Monet’s canvases from his Rouen Cathedral series. This may have included the Cathedral that Sergey Shchukin was perhaps to buy from him four years later. 

Now Mikhail Morozov started to compete with the Shchukin brothers. Considerably younger, he was more daring and effective in his approach. He acquired Edgar Degas’s pastel Woman Drying Herself (After the Bath), a work that was not only superbly executed but of considerable historic importance: it had been shown at the last Impressionist exhibition in 1886.
In March 1898 Ambroise Vollard received a new painting by Paul Gauguin sent from Tahiti. There was almost no demand for these works so when Mikhail Morozov visited the gallery he was presented with an incredible choice.
He selected Tarari maruru. Landscape with Two Goats, for which Vollard demanded just 500 francs. The price perhaps reflected the fact that the painting was by no means the most attractive of those on offer, being somewhat dark and hard to see. It was just the kind of work, however, to appeal to someone with a taste for the twilight images of Symbolism. Did not Sergey Shchukin, for instance, buy the dark brown paintings of Eugène Carrière? Moreover, the picture contained a mystery: the Tahitian title, Tarari maruru, has never been truly understood.