The Desert of Forbidden Art (2010) on Netflix
NR20101h 20mAdventureBiographyDocumentary
Under Soviet rule, artists true to their vision face execution, mental hospitals, or the Gulags. Igor Savitsky fakes buying approved art to rescue forbidden works for Uzbekistan's desert museum.
- Netflix3.6/5
- IMDb7.5/10249 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes88%
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Plot summary
Under Soviet rule, artists loyal to their own vision face execution, mental hospitals, or the Gulags. Igor Savitsky, a young and penniless artist, is inspired by their plight. He pretends to buy state-approved art while rescuing 40,000 forbidden works by fellow artists. He cajoles money from the authorities who ban the art. In the Uzbek desert, away from the KGB, he founds a museum. It holds an eclectic collection of Russian Avant-Garde art and an unknown school of artists who settle in Uzbekistan after the revolution of 1917 and fuse European modernism with Eastern traditions.
