| | Caveat lector: I don't know what the laws are regarding the export of art from Russia.
In Moscow, between Gorky Park and the New Tretyakov Gallery, is an exposition hall (Central Artist's House?) with both fixed and transient art galleries. Most of the art (primarily paintings and sculpture) is for sale, and some of it is quite good. Between this and the river is an open-air art market, exposed to the now-frigid wind. Consider carrying your passport at all times in that city, per (new?) Russian law, if only to give yourself a slightly-better chance to avoid shakedowns by corrupt cops.
In St. Petersburg, more or less across the river from the Hermitage, and near the zoological museum, is the Academy of Fine Arts (although they might have renamed it to the Repin Institute recently, probably after the better of the main Repins). The art on display is generally of high quality, and in the two halls overlooking the Neva there tends to be an exposition of student art, which it may be possible to arrange to buy, and mural copies of master works, including one for which the original has been lost. I don't know, but I presume it would be possible to commission work there. Part of the main gallery was closed while I was there, and I had to ask about it (in Russian), in order to get to see it -- very much worth the trouble. It's a little disturbing to read that the academy is now based in Moscow; I preferred St.P. in a side-by-side comparison of sketches from the St.P. and Moscow schools.
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Moscow Courtyard
