Masterpieces and Master Collectors: Impressionist and Early Modern Paintings from the Hermitage and Guggenheim Museums—the inaugural exhibition at the Guggenheim Hermitage Museum—presents masterworks drawn from both institutions' holdings, building on the distinct but highly complementary strengths of their collections. For the Hermitage, the classic early Modernist works by Paul Cézanne, Camille Pissarro, Paul Gauguin, Henri Matisse, and Pablo Picasso serve as a finale to their encyclopedic collection tracing Western European art back to ancient times. In contrast, the Guggenheim collection begins with these Modern masters, the early avant-garde touchstones from which later Modern and contemporary art has progressed through the present day.

Paul Cézanne, Still Life with Drapery (Nature morte au rideau), ca. 1894-95. Oil on canvas, 21 11/16 x 29 5/16. The State Hermitage Museum