It is a hundred years old and still breathing life, and scandal, into the art world. That milestone for the futurist movement, in both Italy and Russia, is being celebrated at Moscow’s Pushkin Museum.

It is not easy to capture the dynamics of futurism in an exhibition hall. The museum creators have had to be creative in incorporating music, poetry, dance, and theatre.

Alberto Di Mauro, Director of the Italian Cultural Institute, said: “Futurism is more tied to the idea of modernity, what it is in the future. So they were thinking to the future. But at the same time to think of the future was to cut the traditions of the past. So in this way it was a kind of revolutionary movement because they were thinking to destroy in order to build up a new world.”

He added: “In Russia, the movement developed and took another identity, a little bit different from the Italian, but it was the only country after Italy where futurism took on its own identity. So to compare the two movements, the Italian one and the Russian one, it's very stimulating.”
 
It is for that reason that the exhibition is divided into two parts: Italian and Russian. Paintings from over 30 private and public collections are on show. Music and dancers help convey the futurist message.

Filippo Marinetti’s original futurist manifesto focuses on freedom and speed.

On the Russian side, futurist poet Vladimir Mayakovsky called for change using wild colours.

Destroying past traditions, the work of these painters and performers carried with them a permanent drive for revolution. They might transform your picture of the world as well.