Erarta is the largest private museum of contemporary art in Russia, opened in 2010 in a converted neoclassical office building on the western edge of Vasilievsky Island. The permanent collection holds around 3,000 works by some 300 Russian artists from the 1950s onward, and the temporary exhibitions are usually the most adventurous in the city.
The museum is well laid out, with English captions throughout — much rarer in St Petersburg than visitors expect — and the cafe and bookshop are good. It is some distance from the central tourist circuit but easily reached by tram from Vasileostrovskaya metro. A worthwhile counterweight to a long day of palaces and imperial museums.