The Museum of Modern Art is located on Rustaveli Avenue in the former Tbilisi Cadets building. For the last decade, it has been housing works of the museum's founder, Zurab Tsereteli, along with a few other exhibits from the 20th century. Omnipresent in Russia and known globally for his large-scale monuments that can be seen in Paris, London, New York, and elsewhere, Tsereteli is recognized for breaking artistic convention during the Soviet Union.
He’s said to have had a monopoly on art commissions in Moscow during the 1990s, which was perhaps a result of his close relationship with Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov. Tsereteli is the artist behind Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the Savior’s sculptural decorations, the Peter the Great Monument, the Manyezhnaya Square ensemble, and the War Memorial Complex on Poklonnaya Gora, just to name a few.
And what’s more – Tsereteli was successful in breaking the iron curtain and somehow building monuments even outside the USSR – something that was totally unimaginable in the Communist times. He is the sculptor of the Christopher Columbus monument in Sevilla, St. George’s monument in the front yard of the United Nations, and the 9/11 Tear of Grief Monument at the World Trade Center, in New York.
While the Museum doesn’t have much in common with modern art and is more the personal exhibition of its founder, provided feedback from visitors to the museum is more positive than negative. Over one hundred paintings feature the evolution of Zurab Tsereteli’s art for almost 50 years: from sketches and small genre compositions to monumental canvases. A special photo-section of the exhibition, which is presented on the third floor, is devoted to the life history of the artist, in which integral parts are meetings with ordinary people and celebrities.
For those who are interested in exploring more of Tsereteli’s monuments in Tbilisi, we suggest examining St. George’s Monument on Freedom Square, the Man and Sun Monument on the main road next to the airport, the Georgian Chronicles Mega-monument on Tbilisi Sea, and the miniature Mimino statue in Avlabari.
Entry: 3 EUR / http://www.tbilisimoma.ge/
