Art is cool, museum tells sweltering Muscovites

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Art lovers drift slowly through the exhibition halls of the Pushkin Museum, pausing to peer at vibrant works by Claude Monet and Vincent van Gogh.

The Muscovites are happy to see the art, but they also came for a more pressing, physical reason: to cool off.

"When you come in here, it's just like an oasis," said one museum-goer, Anna. "Such a relief."

Blistering temperatures have gripped the Russian capital for weeks, sending residents searching for air conditioners and breaking 100-year-old heat records.

The heatwave which has descended on much of Europe this summer, is sparking creative initiatives from Moscow's cultural institutions seeking to draw visitors.

The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, holder of Moscow's largest European art collection, is waiving ticket fees for a week this month to one of its permanent exhibits and inviting anyone wishing to swap the heat for its air conditioning - and admire the art - to visit during the day's hottest hours.

Although entry is free, museum-goers must scramble to book tickets online to view works from 19th- and 20th-century European and American masters.

On the first day of the campaign, dubbed "Impressionists Instead of Heat", tickets sold out in half an hour, said head of visitor relations Marina Zhuchkova.

Now they disappear in two to three minutes.

"Probably it speaks of (the campaign's) success," she told Reuters.

Anna, the museum visitor, said she found solace in both the air conditioning and the artworks.

"You don't want to go anywhere, you just want to sit on a bench and look at these beautiful paintings," she said.

Another visitor, Maria, considered herself lucky to snatch up a ticket on Wednesday.

"I found out about this campaign by accident," she said. "I went to the website at 10 a.m. and managed to grab a ticket."

Moscow, a city of 13 million people, takes pride in its world-class cultural institutions, from the celebrated Bolshoi Theatre to the State Tretyakov Gallery, home to the best Russian fine art.

Over 16 million people toured the city's 440 museums in 2022, according to the Moscow mayor's office.

Zhuchkova of the Pushkin Museum said the impressionist campaign will likely continue as long as the heat rages, but added she hopes people will visit regardless of the weather.

"It's a cool, rare world-class collection", she said. "Why not come?"

(Reporting by Reuters in Moscow; Writing by Lucy Papachristou in London; Editing by Rod Nickel)