The mansion in a prestigious area of Geneva, located at the border of the old and new parts of the city, has become a popular place for Russian collectors. They are attracted not only by its Second Empire architecture but also by the 20th-century art museum located here. The collection of the Petit Palais Museum of Modern Art pays significant attention to works by artists of the Russian diaspora. The mansion was acquired by Oscar Ge, with whom the author had the honor of meeting, to house and showcase his extensive collection. It primarily includes French paintings from the 1880s to the 1930s, covering the period from Impressionism to the flourishing of the 'Paris School.' The focus is on significant artistic phenomena and movements, whose importance has been confirmed by time. This approach was fundamental for the museum's 'founding president' and his team. This method combines the personal preferences of the collector with a desire for objectivity in the collection, which is not new in museum and private collecting. However, the concept of the Petit Palais Museum is also based on a rare educational motivation for a private collector. In the preface to the 1996 catalog, equipped with hundreds of illustrations, Ge expressed hope that the book would be useful for those seeking works from a specific period, as well as for art historians who could use the reproductions for their research.

In 1968, the Petit Palais mansion opened as a museum of modern art thanks to the efforts of Swiss collector and patron Oscar Ge. His collection includes over 1,500 works of art from the period of 1870-1930, including works by Russian artists such as Chaim Soutine, Marc Chagall, Natalia Goncharova, and Mikhail Larionov. A significant part of the 'Russian' collection consists of paintings by Nikolai Tarkhov, one of Ge's favorite artists. The Petit Palais houses over a hundred of his canvases and numerous drawings.