The Hermitage Museum in Amsterdam announced this week that, from September of this year, it would be known as the H’ART Museum. The change comes after the institution cut ties with its namesake in Saint Petersburg last year.
Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the Hermitage in Amsterdam cut all ties with its Russian partner, the State Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg. Its status as a satellite of the Saint Petersburg institution meant it focused predominantly on Russian art and culture, as well as the history of relations between the Netherlands and Russia.
Moving forward, however, the Hermitage - which from September 1, 2023, will be known as the H’ART Museum - will, as the name suggests, shift its focus to Dutch and international art. “It is an exciting new step, this contemporary and future-proof collaboration formula,” museum director Annabelle Birnie said in a statement. “We are building on our experience in the international field and spreading our wings. We are presenting a programme that is polyphonic and current. From major art exhibitions to intimate presentations.”
As part of the rebrand, the museum has announced partnerships with other international art institutions: the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the Smithsonian in Washington, and the British Museum in London.
H’ART’s first major exhibition, opening in the summer of 2024, is a collaboration with the Centre Pompidou and will centre around the work of Russian artist Wassily Kandinsky. In 2025, in honour of the Dutch capital’s 750th birthday, the museum will host an exhibition of 17th-century Dutch art, on loan from various private collections.
Thumb: Baloncici via Shutterstock.com.