The exhibition “From Odesa to Berlin” features 12 paintings salvaged from the Odesa Museum of Western and Eastern Art, as the second anniversary of the Russian invasion approaches.
ADVERTISEMENTWhen war broke out in Ukraine after Russia’s full-scale invasion on 24 February 2022, museums across the country were faced with the challenge of saving priceless artworks from potential collateral damage.
Most cultural institutions smuggled the artworks and artefacts out of the country, where they were stored in containers or bunkers to protect them from Russian bombs.
Twelve paintings that were salvaged this way from the Odesa Museum of Western and Eastern Art have now left their bunker and been dusted off for a new exhibition at Berlin’s Gemäldegalerie Museum, marking the second anniversary of the Ukraine War.
“Cultural assets are being actively attacked and destroyed because of this terrible war,” Gemäldegalerie Museum Director Dagmar Hirschfelder said. “It’s very important to us to contribute here.”
The exhibition “From Odesa to Berlin” is a collaborative project between the Gemäldegalerie Museum and the Odesa Museum of Western and Eastern Art with funding from the German Commissioner for Culture and Media.
It’s a preview of a larger exhibition that will open in January 2025 and bring around 60 paintings from Odesa into dialogue with works from the Berlin Old Masters collections.
In total, 74 key works were brought to Berlin last September from the painting collection at the Odesa Museum. They are now being examined by art historians and conservationists, after which they will be framed for the exhibition.
The preview exhibition aims to raise awareness of the war and show support for the large group of Ukrainian refugees living in Berlin.
Since the war began, more than a million Ukrainian refugees have settled in Germany, with over 100,000 of them in Berlin.
Hirschfelder said the exhibition also aims to give them a little piece of home.
"It's about their cultural identity and it's about them,” he said. “And we are sending a signal that we stand by them and support them.”
Culture as a respite from war
The Odesa Museum of Western and Eastern Art opened in 1923 and houses major works from Italian, Dutch, German and French masters. Its building was damaged in a Russian attack last July.
Museum director Igor Poronyk says the Odesa Museum has played an important role for the Black Sea port city since the war broke out.
"First of all, our mission grew as the country became more self-confident. The museum also became a place where people could find some kind of relief," he said.
"When there is war, culture becomes more important to humanity. Because war is misery, chaos and darkness. But culture is light and normality. It helps people to remain human in an inhuman situation."
The exhibition "From Odessa to Berlin: 16th to 19th Century European Painting" at the Gemäldegalerie runs through 28 April.
