On the way from Khiva to Moynaq, we stop by Nukus, a middle of nowhere type city with nothing of real interest, except…
… the Stravinsky Art Museum, the third largest Art Gallery in the former USSR (after the Hermitage and Moscow’s Art Gallery). Thanks to the founder and collector, Stravinsky, a lot of works banned in Soviet times ended up in this backwater town where they’re now on display. Unfortunately the price for photography was over ten times the entrance price for the museum and as such I have no photos of the amazing works found inside. If you happen to be travelling between Khiva and Moynaq, or west from Bukhara/Khiva (Uzbekistan) to Beyneu/Aktau (Kazakhstan) make a stop here to see some of the works on display.
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Interestingly enough, the history of this art gallery has been documented in the 2010 film: The Desert of Forbidden Art.
Risking being denounced as an 'enemy of the people,' Igor Savitsky rescues 40,000 forbidden fellow artists' works and creates in a far desert of Soviet Uzbekistan a museum now worth millions.
--
On an unrelated note, it's worth looking up the works of Mikhail Vrubel, especially his series of demonic works such as this one http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Vrubel_Demon.jpg
-- (характерно причмокивая и прокашливаясь) а это шо за картина?
-- а это, леонид ильич, -- врубель!
-- в рубль? хорошая картина .. и не дорого
;^)