UPDATE - Morozov Art Collection Back To Russian National Museums - Culture Chief

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 05th May, 2022) The Morozov artwork collection, consisting of more than 160 exhibits, has returned to Russian state museums, Russian Culture Minister Olga Lyubimova said on Thursday.

"The Morozov Collection has returned to Russia. The exhibits are already delivered to the Russian state museums," Lyubimova said on Telegram.

"The Morozov Collection. Icons of Modern Art" exhibition, which ran in Paris from September 22 to April 3, features 67 artworks from the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow, 33 paintings from the State Tretyakov Gallery, 65 exhibits from the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, and two works of art from the State Russian Museum.

The collection includes pieces by celebrated European artists such as Paul Gaugin, Vincent van Gogh, Henri Matisse and Pierre-Auguste Renoir, as well as such Russian artists as Natalia Goncharova, Kazimir Malevich, Ilya Repin and Valentin Serov. The Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris hosted the display.

"The transportation of all paintings, graphic works and sculptures to Russia took nearly 20 days, with the last transport vehicles crossing the Russian border on May 2," Lyubimova added.

The Tretyakov gallery confirmed receiving of the 33 artworks, saying that "all the paintings are now at the museum.

"

The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, in turn, also confirmed that the 67 paintings from its collection had returned from Paris intact.

The museum invited reporters and art experts to attend the process of unpacking and examination of the artworks. The paintings were carefully taken out of the boxes and placed on a special table to be examined by an art restorer. The media could observe the unpacking of only three paintings, Pablo Picasso's Young Acrobat on a Ball, Henri Matisse's Fruit and Bronze, and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec's Portrait of Yvette Guilbert.

"The Picasso painting has several problems, they are permanent. They can deteriorate during transportation. The painting is in stable condition, the trip did not affect it," the art restorer of the Pushkin Museum, Nikolai Kolesnikov, said after examining the canvas.

The expert concluded that the other two paintings did not sustain any damage after the French tour either.

The museum said that the repatriated paintings will join its summer exhibition starting June 27. The curator of the upcoming exhibition, Alexandra Danilova, confirmed that all 67 paintings that had returned to the Pushkin Museum were intact and in unchanged condition.