Переведи на нормальный in 1913 igor grabar, who then curated the gallery, insisted that the so-called carpet hanging of pictures in the order of their acquisition was replaced by the historical- chronological principle, devoting separate rooms to the works of major russian painters. according to grabar this work "converted a privately owned collection into a museum of european standards". in 1917 the collection numbering over 4,000 iteams, was nationalised and transformed into a state museum. gradually it was enlarged through additions from private collections and other museums. at the same time western european paintings were transferred to what is today the pushkin museum of fine arts. the gallery's collection in the soviet period increased more than tenfold. today it is a depository of some 47,000 works of art, and the average annual number of visitors is 1,700,000.