After Cutting Ties With Russia, a Hermitage Museum Outpost Rebrands
“It is a great joy for us to join the H’Art Museum as it begins this new chapter,” said Laurent Le Bon, the Pompidou’s president, in an emailed statement, “as it will be the first long-term partnership between a Dutch cultural institution and the Centre Pompidou.”
The Smithsonian and the British Museum will work with H’Art Museum curators to mount three exhibitions each in the next six years, Birnie said, adding that the full schedule for the coming years would be released in the fall.
The Hermitage in St. Petersburg did not immediately reply to a request for comment on Monday.
The Hermitage Amsterdam was established as an independent nonprofit by a board of private individuals in 2009, and had its own artistic direction finances, and curatorial staff. Its contract with the St. Petersburg Hermitage gave the Amsterdam museum the right to use the Hermitage name and “unlimited rights” to borrow works from the Russian collection.
For the 14 years since it opened, the Hermitage Amsterdam mounted 30 exhibitions with art on loan from its St. Petersburg mother ship, including significant shows of French Post-Impressionist and Flemish old master paintings.
About a third of the shows were linked to Russian culture and history, such as exhibitions about the Hermitage’s founder Catherine the Great and “Jewels! The Glitter of the Russian Court.”
Such celebrations of imperial glamour seemed less appealing to the public while Russia was bombing Ukraine, Birnie said. “I think the magic of Russia has disappeared with the war,” she added.
Source: The New York Times
