The Hermitage Museum in Amsterdam is looking for a new identity.
Opened in 2009 as an offshoot of the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, the Russian invasion of Ukraine has put an end to a cultural exchange that made the Dutch center one of the most visited in the city.
Last March, a week after the first attack, the leadership cut ties with Russia because "it could not stay out: War destroys everything," they explained.
Since then, since he has no collection of his own, he has circumvented the situation by lending famous paintings from other national art galleries.
Now is the time for international collaborations and the first comes from the National Portrait Gallery in London, which has sent a hundred portraits of love, passion and tragedy, from the 16th century to today.
The Amsterdam Hermitage adventure was private and financed by donations, corporate sponsorship and ticket sales.
Without subsidies from the State or the City Council, the rupture of its link with Saint Petersburg materialized in the immediate cancellation of an exhibition dedicated to the Russian avant-garde and the hasty return of the works.
Annabelle Birnie, its director, reminded the Dutch media that the museum was not supported by Russian money, but acknowledged that the agreement with the Russians could give the impression that Russia was being financed because it included "the delivery of one euro for each ticket sold in the Dutch capital for the restoration of the St. Petersburg collection”, so they decided to let go.
Lady Caroline Lamb portrayed by Eliza H. Trotter.National Portrait Gallery London
Last Thursday, during the press launch of the exhibition from the National Portrait Gallery, entitled
Love Stories – Art, Passion & Tragedy
, Birnie described the exhibition as the "prelude to what the public can expect from now on".
Surrounded by works in a large room that is accessed by a red carpet installed from the street, she explained the current situation as follows: “For years we have cooperated with the Hermitage in Saint Petersburg, showing the pieces of its collection and connecting people with art.
But that relationship is over.
On the other hand, there is currently no other museum in Amsterdam that collaborates with an international museum, so we have many opportunities to continue telling stories, which is our forte”.
With the same spirit, he affirmed that "there will be more collaborations with other centers and each agreement will be different: we are facing a new beginning".
In the months when the pandemic hit, the closure was avoided with adjustments and a campaign to collect donations.
Later, with the invasion of the Ukraine, it has received the help of the biggest Dutch museums.
The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam sent its neighbors from the Hermitage
La Lechera
, by Johannes Vermeer, for several weeks.
It is one of the most popular works in his collection.
Van Gogh did the same with
The Yellow House.
The Boymans van Beuningen moved
the Tower of Babel from Rotterdam
, by Pieter Brueghel the Elder, a piece rarely borrowed.
For its part, the Mauritshuis gallery in The Hague donated a self-portrait by Rembrandt and, according to Birnie, "other galleries around the world called to see what they could do and are still in touch."
They cannot guarantee what will happen in the future.
"There is a horrible war going on and I am just a museum director who acts in the face of the situation we are in," says the director.
Located next to the Amstel River, from which the city of Amsterdam takes its name, the Hermitage is located in a former nursing home from 1683. Remodeled between 2007 and 2009, the exterior was preserved and modern interiors were fitted out.
There it has been shown from the opulence and fall of the Romanov dynasty and the Russian Revolution to the Spanish and Dutch masters, or the jewelry, clothing and tableware of the Russian court and high society.
With a special dedication to Catherine the Great, creator of the Russian collection.
In 2004, during the works to refurbish the building, the treasures of
Greek Gold
stored in St. Petersburg were already displayed in an annex.
The average number of visitors on Dutch soil has been around half a million
annually since 2009.
Edward and Wallis Simpson, Duke and Duchess of Windsor, portrayed by Dorothy Wilding in an image from the 'Love Stories' exhibition at the Hermitage in the Netherlands.National Portrait Gallery London (National Portrait Gallery London)
Love's stories
The National Portrait Gallery, temporarily closed for refurbishment, has one of the world's largest collections of portraits, and its paintings and photos of artists' muses, as well as famous couples, can now be seen in Amsterdam.
Among the first stands out a sensual Lady Hamilton, painted in 1785 by George Romney.
She was the lover of Admiral Horacio Nelson, famous for his victory in the naval battle of Trafalgar (1805), and ended up forgotten and in misery.
She is accompanied by two paintings of her husband, Lord Hamilton, and of Nelson.
In front of her is a resplendent Audrey Hepburn, the leading actress in movies like
Roman Holiday
.
His photo, of Angus McBean, is from a studio, but his face has been decorating products for all audiences for decades.
Many of the couples featured had unhappy love affairs, such as the writer Oscar Wilde and his lover, Lord Alfred Douglas.
Both appear in a small sepia-toned photo, by Gillman & Co, taken in 1893. Two years later the trial was held where the author of
The Picture of Dorian Gray
was accused of sodomy and indecency and was sentenced to two years of hard labor.
Others were separated by death.
This is the case of Mary Wollstonecraft, married to William Godwin, who died in 1797 eleven days after giving birth to Mary (Shelley).
Her daughter wrote the gothic novel
Frankenstein,
and her parents' paintings occupy a room almost dedicated to them.
Love Stories
has been enriched with pieces contributed by the Dutch foundation Dutch National Portrait Gallery (which has its name in English).
At the end of the tour are several images of Harmony, a human-like sex robot that is powered by an app.
In another recording, British actors Lawrence Olivier and Vivien Leigh loom, beautiful and in love, in an anonymous snapshot from 1937. Four years later, the pair played Nelson and Lady Hamilton in the film
Lady Hamilton
,
Directed by Alexander Korda.
The exhibition can be seen until January 2023.
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