(The Hague) An Amsterdam museum that severed ties with the Hermitage collection in St. Petersburg after Moscow invaded Ukraine last year has been renamed and announced partnerships with museums on Monday. renowned museums in London, Paris and Washington.
From September, the Hermitage Museum in Amsterdam will be called the “H’ART Museum”. It has partnered with the British Museum, the Center Pompidou and the Smithsonian American Art Museum, to bring art to the historic building on the banks of the Amstel River in the Dutch capital.
Museum director Annabelle Birnie said in a statement Monday that the new, “contemporary and evolving” model will offer a “multi-voiced” program that reflects the times we live in” and range from major art exhibitions to small presentations.
The first major exhibition, slated to open in mid-2024, will be a partnership with the Center Pompidou in Paris focusing on Wassily Kandinsky, the Russian-born artist who became a French citizen and died in France in 1944.
The Hermitage in Amsterdam had opened in 2009 and had drawn heavily on the Hermitage’s huge art collection in St. Petersburg to stage exhibitions. But last year he ended that relationship, saying, “With the invasion of the Russian army in Ukraine, a border has been crossed. War destroys everything. ยป
