Exhibition of paintings evacuated from Odesa opens in Berlin
An exhibition of works evacuated from the Odesa Museum of Western and Eastern Art has opened at the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin. Germany's President Frank-Walter Steinmeier attended the opening.
Source: The Art Newspaper
Details: The exhibition, From Odesa to Berlin: European painting from the 16th to the 19th Century, was funded by the German government. Many of the paintings on display were shipped from war-torn Odesa without frames.
The exhibition brings together 60 works from the Odesa museum's collection – by artists such as Frans Hals, Cornelis de Heem, Bernardo Strozzi and Francesco Granacci – with paintings from the Gemäldegalerie's collection.
Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
Photo: David von Becker
Quote from Steinmeier: "Odesa's beautiful old town, where the Museum of Western and Eastern Art is situated, has been attacked by missiles time and again. In countless Ukrainian towns and cities, listed buildings continue to be damaged, cultural institutions destroyed and works of art stolen."
Details: The German president also noted that "attacks against museums, theatres, operas and libraries are intended to wipe out Ukraine's cultural memory".
Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
Photo: David von Becker
Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
Photo: David von Becker
Admission to the exhibition of paintings from Odesa is free for Ukrainians. The exhibition texts and catalogue have also been produced in Ukrainian.
Quote: "I hope that this exhibition will be seen by many people from Germany, Europe and around the world. I hope that Ukrainians who have found refuge here in Germany will find a piece of home in the paintings."
Details: Steinmeier added that he hopes all the paintings "can be returned soon to where they belong: to the Museum of Western and Eastern Art in Odesa, in a free and independent Ukraine in which nobody has to fear bombs or missiles".
The exhibition will run in Berlin until 22 June before moving to another German city, Heidelberg, in October.
How the works from the Odesa Museum of Western and Eastern Art were evacuated
Before the full-scale invasion, the Odesa Museum of Western and Eastern Art, founded in 1923, had an extensive collection of European paintings, sculptures, prints and applied art dating from the Renaissance to the twentieth century. Shortly after the Russian invasion on 24 February 2022, the most important paintings were moved to an emergency storage facility in Ukraine.
Concerned that the facility would not be able to fully protect the works of art, Ukraine asked Berlin's museums for help. In September 2023, 74 works were brought to Berlin and treated by conservation specialists at the Gemäldegalerie.
Restorers unpacking paintings in Berlin in 2023.
Photo: Sabine Lata
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