Tsvetaev persuaded the millionaire and philanthropist Yuriy Nechaev-Maltsov and the fashionable architect Roman Klein of the urgent need to give Moscow a fine arts museum.
The museum was originally named after Alexander III, but later the museum was finally renamed to honour the memory of Pushkin in 1937, the 100th anniversary of his death.
Grand openingThe Alexander III Museum of Fine Arts opened with grand celebrations on May 31 (June 13), 1912.
Emperor Nicholas II and the Dowager Empress Maria Fyodorovna attended the ceremony.
The gallery's history starts in 1856 when the Moscow merchant Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov acquired works by Russian artists of his day with the aim of creating a collection.
The first two paintings by Russian artists: Nikolay Shilder's "Temptation" and Vasily Khudyakov’s "Skirmish with Finnish smugglers".