nder the aegis of "Apollon" and the Institut français de St. Petersbourg, an exposition of French art entitled "100 years of French Art: 1812-1912" took place in Petersburg from January 17th to March 18th of 1912. Count F.F. Sumarokov-El'ston (Yusupov), who died in Paris in 1967, hosted the exhibit at his Palace on Liteiny, 42. It drew a crowd of over 34,000 admirers of la peinture française. With 979 works on display, it was the largest showing of French art outside of France at that time. Most works were culled from public museums of France and from private Parisian collectors, although a number of Russian purveyors of the Beaux-arts also contributed to the exhibit, including Nicholas II, who provided pieces from the Winter Palace and Tsarskoe Selo.

"100 Years of French Art" took place in the wake of many turn-of-the-century expositions universelles and art exhibits throughout Europe, among which the 1906 Salon d'automne featuring Russian works in Paris adumbrates its three-month successor in Petersburg. Sergei Diagilev – known for his work with Petersburg's Mir Iskusstva and whose Ballets russes were soon to grace the stages of the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris – organized the Salon d'automne. Those who visited the salon had the opportunity to view the paintings of around one hundred Russian artists, including such luminaries as L. Bakst, A. Benois, S. V. Serov, M. Vrubel' and L. Pasternak. Click here to view Bakst’s portraits of Andrei Bely and Sergei Diagilev.

Click here to view of gallery of photographs depicting four exhibit halls at the Yusupov Palace in 1912.