Tauride Palace
On 6 March 1905, he opened an exhibition ‘Russian portraits of the 18th and 19th centuries’ at the Tauride Palace with more than 4000 paintings collected from 450 owners. Diaghilev himself travelled to acquire the portraits and wrote a catalogue of 2300 art works with data on the artists, models, etc. The exposition, designed by Benios, was an innovative example of art synthesis and greatly impressed the visitors. The paintings were combined into groups and accompanied with notes, the interiors were decorated differently in order to emphasize their meanings and double the effect. The exhibition had enormous success and raised Diaghilev to the top of art and society elite.