A collection of 140 paintings and graphic works by one of Russia's major avant-garde painters Pavel Filonov has been delivered to Moscow from St Petersburg to be displayed at the Pushkin Museum of Private Collections.

Pavel Filonov's style doesn't conform to type. Some of his artworks are abstract, others are realistic. The artist developed a school of what he called analytical art.

“Filonov's dream was to create large-scale thematic paintings on global issues. It was rare because in 1920s all artists preferred abstract forms of art. However, for Filonov world problems in general and Russia's problems in particular always came first,” Eugenia Petrova, the exhibition curator says.

Personal exhibitions of Filonov’s works were forbidden for more than half a century. Although the painter didn't have any source of income, he was reluctant to sell his works to private collectors. Filonov believed all of them had to stay in the country.

His first full-scale exhibition in Russia was held in 1988. The first international one opened in Paris in 1989.