Arquivo

Invited to make a documentary on the great European masters that are on the walls of the Hermitage, the most important museum in Russia, Sokúrov surprisingly selected one of the least known of the famous names in the valuable collection: Hubert Robert, a French painter from the start of the 19th century. Happiness for the artist came to an end, as did the age in which he lived, with the collapse of the Napoleonic Empire. Robert’s life ended in disaster and tragedy. His legacy, however, remained in the nostalgic landscapes and magnificent ruins he painted, themes especially popular in Russia in the nineteenth century. This is a film on the paintings by Hubert Robert, but also, and above all, on the faith of an artist obsessed by the idea of aesthetic harmony. “I enter the Hermitage as if in a dream and nothing impedes me from drawing close to any one painting. The living phantoms of this giant palace help me to better view the paintings.”