Photos ©Gemäldegalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin / David von Becker
On January 23, the "From Odesa to Berlin: European Paintings of the 16th–19th Centuries" exhibition was officially opened at the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin. The exhibition includes 60 paintings from the collection of the Odessa Museum of Western and Eastern Art, as well as works from Berlin's collections. The opening ceremony was attended by German Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Ukraine's Minister of Culture and Strategic Communications Mykola Tochytskyi, the German Federal Government's Commissioner for Culture and the Media, State Minister Claudia Roth, President of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation Hermann Parzinger, and the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to Germany, Oleksii Makeiev.
In his speech, Frank-Walter Steinmeier emphasized that the exhibition demonstrates that Russia's bloody, aggressive war is also a war against Ukraine's culture and identity. At the same time, the exhibition highlights the courage and determination of the Ukrainian people in defending their cultural heritage.
The German President noted the importance of the exhibits from the Odessa Museum, which were saved from Russian attacks and brought to Berlin. He called for continued support for Ukraine in its fight for its culture and expressed hope for the swift return of the paintings to independent Ukraine. It is worth recalling that after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, employees of the Museum of Western and Eastern Art in Odessa evacuated the most valuable paintings to a safe location.
In September 2023, 74 artworks were brought to the German capital, and in February 2024, about a dozen paintings became part of the exhibition at the Berlin Gallery. Now visitors will have the opportunity to view 60 more paintings from the Odessa Museum. Among them are works by Francesco Granacci, a representative of the Florentine school, master engraver and prominent Dutch Golden Age artist Rulant Savery, as well as German landscape painter Andreas Achenbach.
The project is being implemented under the patronage of the President of the Federal Republic of Germany, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, and with the support of Claudia Roth, the German Federal Government's Commissioner for Culture and the Media.
The exhibition will run until June 22, 2025, so we are pleased to invite everyone currently in Berlin to visit and enjoy the unparalleled masterpieces.
