Medieval Russia could be a terrifying place. On a mission to unearth the untold story of its art, historian Andrew Graham-Dixon criss-crosses its epic landscape, alighting at the monastery founded by Ivan the Terrible where his favorite forms of torture found inspiration in religious art. But there’s light here, too – charting the origins of the Russian icon from its roots in Byzantium.

It’s a journey of extraordinary beauty and surprise. The moment when Russia changed from a nation of aristocratic excess to a hotbed of revolution, and its art transformed with it. Andrew Graham-Dixon charts the evolution of Russian art – from monuments to the absolutism of the tsars, the precious detail of diamond-encrusted Faberge eggs, to the stark, radical paintings of the avant garde.

From post-revolutionary posters to art under Putin, British historian Andrew Graham-Dixon takes us on a trip through Russian art. He roots through portraits of Stalin that are no longer in public view, sees how the Moscow Metro transformed into a public gallery, and ends with the chaotic art of Putin’s Russia – from sculptures of the leader to the insides of a giant erotic apple.