At present the museum has the following departments:

I. Russian painting (rooms 1-3).
II. Foreign painting (room 5, 7).
III. Graphics (room 3). IV; Sculpture (room 1-2).
V. Porcelain, crystal, beads (room 4).
VI. Furniture (items are placed in rooms of other departments).
VII. Church antiquity (room 9)
VIII. Archeology (room 6).
 
1. Russian painting.
 
Secular painting in Russia arose many centuries later than in Western Europe. Despite this, Russian art, in comparison with the Western European, can not be called backward. The beginning of Russian secular painting is attributed to the time of Peter the Great, who invited teachers of painting from abroad and sent several young people there (artists Matveyev and Nikitin). The Higher Art School-Academy of Arts was opened in 1757.

It is extremely interesting to note that the end of the 18th century was marked by the appearance of the greatest talents and the greatest masters "(Levitsky, Borovikovsky, Rokotov, Venetsianov, etc.), however, influenced by artists invited from abroad (Rotary, Lampi, Lagrene In the first half of the 19th century, our painting was already very high, higher than in the following epochs: Kiprensky, Tropinin, Sylvester, Shchedrin, Alexander Ivanov-these are the names whose influence is significant even now.

Great importance for the development of Russian art was provided by the "Wanderers Society".

A characteristic feature of the Wanderers is realism. With the accuracy of photography they transmit their "stories" to the canvas. Among the Wanderers, an outstanding place belongs to the talented Eph. Repin, one of the initiators of the break with the academy, with its formalism. This break with the academy represents the largest phenomenon in the life of the Academy and the day of November 9, 1863, when the entire graduates of the Academy refused to participate in the exam competition for the academic theme "The Feast in Valhalla", far from Russian life, is a historic day.

Out on the street, finding themselves without a penny of money, the artists, led by their teacher Kramskoy, were organized into an artel.