Published: 24 July, 2007, 10:50
Edited: 24 July, 2007, 10:50
“Three Centuries of American Art” is the most significant exhibition of American art that has ever been presented in Russia. Actors Dennis Hopper and Jeremy Irons opened the exhibition having arrived on motorcycles at the entrance of the Pushk
More than 100 canvases from the leading U.S. museums and private collections are on display. The show is organised by the Solomon Guggenheim Fund and has already taken place in Beijing and Shanghai. It can be regarded as a complete guide to American art. Portraits, landscapes, avant-garde and abstract works are presented. All schools of fine art can be found at the exhibition. And of course the exhibition of U.S. art wouldn't be complete without Pop Art paintings.
All the pictures are displayed in chronological order, from the 18th to the 21st century. The show also highlights works created just a few years ago.
“You should be able to go through the whole exhibition and get the understanding not only of artistic issues, but also political and social issues,” Nancy Mowl Matthews, curator, explained.
One of the main motifs of the artworks is the independence of the U.S.
The exhibition has attracted a great number of people and not just because of the famous actors' presence. Works by American artists are not frequently displayed in Russia.
“For me it's important that artists keep communication between each other, that's what I think is important. Politics change but art seems to be something that can communicate back and forth. I would have never been able to do any of the things that I did without my Russian influences,” Dennis Hopper noted.
The exhibition enjoys the patronage of U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. The show is on in Moscow's Pushkin Museum till September 9.
Renowned Hollywood actor Dennis Hopper and Academy-award winner Jeremy Irons who opened the exhibition, admitted it had been a long journey to Moscow.
“We started in Saint Petersburg where Dennis Hopper's exhibition was showing at the Hermitage, and I was there to see that and we motorcycled through the countryside between Saint Petersburg and here looking at some amazing buildings in Novgorod for example, some amazing icons one of the earliest in the world, enjoying the Russian scenery and hospitality. 
Jeremy Irons, actor
I went yesterday inside one of those wooden houses. I saw a babushka inside and said, can I come and look. She didn’t speak English, and I don't speak Russian, but she showed me her house,” Jeremy Irons recalled.
The actor also noted that one of the wonderful things about motorcycles is that it makes you aware of the environment you are travelling in.
“You smell the smells, you feel the rain, and you get the dust in your eyes. Anything you eat tastes wonderful and all you drink tastes wonderful. And when you get off and look at art, before all your senses have been brought to the surface, you are open to the art,” Jeremy Irons noted.
While not their first time in Russia, the two celebrities say they had never been to Moscow and looked forward to visiting the city.