The Russian Museum will display over 200 works by the artist to mark the 210th anniversary of his birth.
To mark the anniversary of Ivan Aivazovsky, the Russian Museum will open an exhibition featuring over 200 works by the artist, including «The Creation of the World» and «The Great Flood». The display will be enhanced with navigational instruments, ship models, flags, and archival documents. For the first time after a comprehensive scientific restoration, visitors will also see the famous «The Ninth Wave».
Work on the 1850 painting commenced in May 2026 and took approximately four months. For the first time in over 120 years in the museum’s collection, the canvas underwent comprehensive restoration. The intervention was necessitated by the deterioration of the paint layer and the darkening of the varnish.
Specialists have consolidated the soil and paint across the entire surface, eliminated delamination, and levelled the varnish coating. After the removal of the darkened varnish, the sky above the sea regained shades closer to the artist’s original intent. Research also revealed that Aivazovsky altered the position of the mast during the painting process. Restorers preserved the final version of the composition.
Simultaneously, the historic gilded frame of the painting was restored. Specialists recreated over 100 lost carved fragments, crafting new details from lime wood and covering them with gold leaf. During the restoration, museum visitors could watch the specialists at work through a glass partition.
The anniversary exhibition will open on 16 October 2026 in the Benois Wing of the Russian Museum in Saint Petersburg. It will bring together the paintings of Aivazovsky and items that reveal the history of seafaring, with the restored «The Ninth Wave» as one of the central exhibits.
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