The Department of Private Collections is one of the subdivisions of the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts. It was created in accordance with Directive No. 235 from the USSR Ministry of Culture (dated June 10, 1985).

As it pursues its work, the Department of Private Collections pursues the general aims of any museum with regard to the assembling, storage, study and display of its collections and also endeavours to make them better known to the public. The Department carries out work to facilitate the identification and study of private collections, so as to incorporate them as fully as possible into the Museum's activity and undertake academic research focused on works of fine, decorative and applied art forming part of the private property belonging to citizens of Russia and those of foreign countries as well.

The Department elaborates particular themes in the course of its academic work connected with the history of collecting by private individuals and it carries out research into materials from private collections donated to the Museum. It participates in the preparation of collections of thematic articles and academic sessions and provides methodological and practical support and consultations for collectors.

The Department elaborates the general principle underlying its permanent collection and draws up plans for collections on particular themes. It works alongside collectors so as to encourage them to loan unique works from their private collections for temporary exhibitions and eventual expansion of the range of artworks in the Museum's repositories.

The Department is run by the following staff:

Head of Department: Natalya Borisovna Avtonomova
Deputy Head of Department: Alla Gennadievna Lukanova
Senior Researcher: Alexei Alexeyevich Savinov
Senior Researcher: Anna Yurievna Chudetskaya
Researcher: Yekaterina Vladimirovna Lisitsyna
Researcher: Maria Alexandrovna Vazhkaya
Junior Researcher: Dmitriy Leonidovich Lebedev

Assistant: Sviatoslav Andreevich Konstantinov