A crippled and deformed man wandering through a desolate landscape with the watchful eyes of monks. The monk-like figures run like a red thread through some of my paintings as a metaphor for Russian Orthodoxy. It also gives it a mysterious touch. Mussorgsky was inspired by a nutcracker that Hartmann had carved from wood with an ugly wrinkled face. He renders the deformed nature of the Gnome with large melody jumps and erratic tempo changes.

Pictures at an exhibition by Modest Moessorgski
It is a ten-part suite by Modest Musorgsky (1874) a Russian composer. Inspired by paintings by his friend the painter Viktor Hartman. I painted my version. These were projected through a keynote presentation by Jan Penninkhof while the suite was played by colleague Gerard van der Laan (pianist).
See this link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEwUvacXPlY&t=223s

A troubadour sits on an old staircase of a castle and plays his “Lied ohne Worte” lost in thought. Italian-looking buildings as a backdrop. Hartmann himself painted a medieval tower (he had studied architecture in Italy).

Pictures at an exhibition by Modest Moessorgski
It is a ten-part suite by Modest Musorgsky (1874) a Russian composer. Inspired by paintings by his friend the painter Viktor Hartman. I painted my version. These were projected through a keynote presentation by Jan Penninkhof while the suite was played by colleague Gerard van der Laan (pianist).
See this link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEwUvacXPlY&t=223s

Tuileries gardens around the Louvre in Paris.
I clearly hear in the music: ‘You are crazy’. All this is displayed with pointed staccato tones and unruly chords.

Pictures at an exhibition by Modest Moessorgski
It is a ten-part suite by Modest Musorgsky (1874) a Russian composer. Inspired by paintings by his friend the painter Viktor Hartman. I painted my version. These were projected through a keynote presentation by Jan Penninkhof while the suite was played by colleague Gerard van der Laan (pianist).
See this link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEwUvacXPlY&t=223s

A fully loaded bullock cart pulled by oxen that move with difficulty.

Pictures at an exhibition by Modest Moessorgski
It is a ten-part suite by Modest Musorgsky (1874) a Russian composer. Inspired by paintings by his friend the painter Viktor Hartman. I painted my version. These were projected through a keynote presentation by Jan Penninkhof while the suite was played by colleague Gerard van der Laan (pianist).
See this link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEwUvacXPlY&t=223s

Mussorgsky was inspired by Hartman’s sketch for a theater costume intended for a ballet called “Trilbi”. There is a scene in this ballet where children dance like chicks in their eggshells. For this, a joking music is used with an underlying pattern.

Pictures at an exhibition by Modest Moessorgski
It is a ten-part suite by Modest Musorgsky (1874) a Russian composer. Inspired by paintings by his friend the painter Viktor Hartman. I painted my version. These were projected through a keynote presentation by Jan Penninkhof while the suite was played by colleague Gerard van der Laan (pianist).
See this link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEwUvacXPlY&t=223s

A conversation between a rich and a poor Jew about the future order of the world. Mussorgsky depicts this musically through the pompous and puffed-up behavior of the rich man (left) and the lamentations of the poor man (right).

Pictures at an exhibition by Modest Moessorgski
It is a ten-part suite by Modest Musorgsky (1874) a Russian composer. Inspired by paintings by his friend the painter Viktor Hartman. I painted my version. These were projected through a keynote presentation by Jan Penninkhof while the suite was played by colleague Gerard van der Laan (pianist).
See this link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEwUvacXPlY&t=223s

In this part you can hear quarreling market women.

Pictures at an exhibition by Modest Moessorgski
It is a ten-part suite by Modest Musorgsky (1874) a Russian composer. Inspired by paintings by his friend the painter Viktor Hartman. I painted my version. These were projected through a keynote presentation by Jan Penninkhof while the suite was played by colleague Gerard van der Laan (pianist).
See this link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEwUvacXPlY&t=223s

The catacombs of Paris are explored with a lamp. Cum mortuis in lingua mortua (= With the dead in a dead language). The dead, the skeletons are addressed with the lingua mortua.

Pictures at an exhibition by Modest Moessorgski
It is a ten-part suite by Modest Musorgsky (1874) a Russian composer. Inspired by paintings by his friend the painter Viktor Hartman. I painted my version. These were projected through a keynote presentation by Jan Penninkhof while the suite was played by colleague Gerard van der Laan (pianist).
See this link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEwUvacXPlY&t=223s

The hut on chicken legs or Baba-Yaga is a Russian fairy tale about a witch who lives in a hut on chicken legs and lures children to eat it.

Pictures at an exhibition by Modest Moessorgski
It is a ten-part suite by Modest Musorgsky (1874) a Russian composer. Inspired by paintings by his friend the painter Viktor Hartman. I painted my version. These were projected through a keynote presentation by Jan Penninkhof while the suite was played by colleague Gerard van der Laan (pianist).
See this link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEwUvacXPlY&t=223s

The great gate of Kiev that Hartmann originally signed for a game would in reality immediately sag.

Pictures at an exhibition by Modest Moessorgski
It is a ten-part suite by Modest Musorgsky (1874) a Russian composer. Inspired by paintings by his friend the painter Viktor Hartman. I painted my version. These were projected through a keynote presentation by Jan Penninkhof while the suite was played by colleague Gerard van der Laan (pianist).
See this link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEwUvacXPlY&t=223s