Hermitage Amsterdam or H’ART Museum – the Rebranding

Hermitage Amsterdam decided to rebrand as the H’ART Museum. This process happened as part of severing ties with the St. Petersburg Flagship Institution. The H’ART Museum also has new partners. These are The Centre Pompidou, The British Museum, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Official announcements about its changes came out on Monday.

Before cutting the connection with Russia, the museum was the most significant satellite of St. Petersburg’s State Hermitage Museum. Now it is an individual cultural institution with a brand new name and partners. In this way, the museum also wanted to send a support message to a war-caught Ukraine and its citizens. The institution also has new international partners: The Centre Pompidou, The British Museum, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

In this way, the Dutch institution will get a chance to show some of the best world programs and works. These four institutions are already working on programs for the next three years. Its new identity starts on September 1. “It’s an exciting new step for us, a contemporary and future-proof model”, museum director Annabelle Birnie said during a press conference”.

Many corporations also showed their support: VriendenLoterij, brewery Heineken and bank ABN AMRO. The facility will also receive money from the ELJA Foundation, a brand-new non-profit created with the purpose of giving youth access to cultural experiences. Birnie added museum’s forthcoming program will be “multi-voiced reflecting the times we live in”.

Russian Invasion of Ukraine “crossed a line”

Birnie also added: “We are building on our experience in the international field and are now spreading our wings. Our programming will be multi-voiced reflecting the times we live in. We will show major art exhibitions as well as intimate presentations”. The first museum exhibition starts in 2024 while collaborating with the Pompidou Centre and Russian-born artist Wassily Kandinsky.

The next one comes in 2026 in collaboration with The British Museum, titled “Feminine Power”. In 2009, the Hermitage of St. Petersburg established a branch in Amsterdam and held a number of appreciated exhibitions with paintings within the principal collection. During its almost 20-year partnership, the Dutch Hermitage largely abstained from commenting on Russian geopolitics.

However the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 “crossed a line”, said the museum, adding, “War destroys everything”, It severed ties with Russia the following month. “We look beyond borders in collaborations with world-famous museums to introduce our visitors to the most beautiful art from all ages that opens our eyes with its themes and stories, touches our hearts and shows us our world of yesterday, today and tomorrow”, Birnie said.