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The Hermitage Amsterdam has rebranded following its split from the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg in support of war-torn Ukraine. The Dutch institution announced on Monday that it will now be called H’ART Museum, and that it had forged new partnerships with the British Museum in London, the Centre Pompidou in Paris, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C.
The changes will take effect in September, per a statement from the H’ART Museum. “It’s an exciting new step for us, a contemporary and future-proof model,” museum director Annabelle Birnie said during a press conference. She added that the museum’s forthcoming program will be “multi-voiced reflecting the times we live in” and will span major art exhibitions to niche offerings.
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Its first significant show—set to open in mid-2024—will be done in collaboration with the Centre Pompidou and will center on Wassily Kandinsky, the pioneering Russian-born abstract painter who became a French citizen in 1933. H’ART Museum has also planned a show with the British Museum titled “Feminine Power” for 2026, and is already exhibiting Martine Gutierrez’s video installation Clubbing, on loan from the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
St. Petersburg’s Hermitage opened its Amsterdam outpost in 2009 and staged a slew of well-received shows with artworks from the flagship collection. During its almost 20-year partnership, the Dutch Hermitage largely abstained from commenting on Russian geopolitics, however the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine “crossed a line,” the museum said, 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. “We are looking for dialogue.”