The best Orientalist painter of Turkestan was a Russian who hated war. Vasily Vereshchagin came to Tashkent in the 1860s as an artist attached to the Russian army, and he painted the bazaars, the beggars and the mosques of Central Asia with a precision that shocked his patrons, and then went on to paint scenes of battle that showed the dead as they were. His canvases are among the treasures of Russian art, and their subject was the world that lies around Tashkent today. The State Museum of Arts of Uzbekistan holds paintings of this kind, along with works by Russian and European artists, and a good collection of Uzbek applied art.
Applied art is the strong suit of the region. Look for suzani, the large embroidered hangings with bold flower and sun designs that brides once stitched as part of their dowry, ceramics glazed in the deep blues and greens of Samarkand and Bukhara, carved wooden doors and columns, and ikat silk, with its blurred, feathery patterns. These are crafts that survived through the Soviet years in family workshops and have since been revived. The museum is one of the best places in Tashkent to see them in one place.
The ride from the museum goes to Besh-Aral, a state nature reserve, across the plain beyond the city, and it is a very different kind of day. The roads leave the city and run through cotton fields and orchards, with canals and rows of poplars, and the horizon opens out. Traffic thins quickly after the suburbs, though lorries and buses keep to the main routes, and you should expect to be stopped at the occasional checkpoint. The surface can be uneven, and drivers often overtake with little warning, so it pays to stay alert and keep to a steady pace. The wind can pick up in the afternoon, bringing dust.
Tashkent has fuel stations, but petrol is not always available, so check and plan, and carry a small reserve. In the heat of summer, temperatures can exceed forty degrees, and the best months are April, May, September and October. Dress in layers, and carry water, a hat and sunscreen. At the end of the day, a table at a courtyard restaurant with a plate of grilled lamb, tomato and onion salad, flat bread and a pot of tea is a good reward, and the cool of the evening is a pleasure after the sun.