Since 2009 Amsterdam has its own Hermitage. Now the museum has severed all ties with Russia and a plan for the future is urgently needed. Where are the best opportunities? Three experts speak.
The drama surrounding the Hermitage Amsterdam touches him to the core, says Ernst Veen (75). Still, he won’t say anything about the museum’s split with the Hermitage in St. Petersburg – he has agreed with the management that he will not comment. If anyone could say anything about the removal, it would be him: Veen is the spiritual father of the art institution on the Amstel.
In 1981 he started working as ‘cultural secretary’ at De Nieuwe Kerk in Amsterdam, which had just been restored and was to become a cultural center. From the 1990s, partly due to his tireless efforts, this really took off: major exhibitions were held about art treasures from other countries and about world religions.
For one of those exhibitions, Veen contacted Mikhail Piotrovsky, director of the Hermitage in Saint Petersburg, in 1991. This led to a visit to the huge museum. To his dismay, the Dutchman discovered that the roof of the Hermitage was leaking in a number of places, including in the room where the Rembrandts of the museum hang.
He decided to come to the rescue. Veen set up a foundation in the Netherlands and managed to raise two million guilders (more than 900 thousand euros) from private individuals, enough for a new roof in the Rembrandt Hall. Then he collected even more money for other repairs. In return he received help from Piotrovsky with exhibitions in De Nieuwe Kerk, such as the one about the Russian tsarina Catharina the Great.
From 2004, the collaboration intensified: in another building in Amsterdam, changing exhibitions were shown with pieces from the colossal collection of the Russian Hermitage. In the meantime, Veen was also working on a much larger location: the Amstelhof, where the elderly had been housed for centuries. The enormous building on the Amstel had meanwhile become the property of the municipality of Amsterdam. Veen managed to convince the city council and Piotrovsky that this should be the new exhibition location.
Queen Beatrix and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev opened the Hermitage Amsterdam in 2009. The first exhibition, At the Russian Court – Palace and Protocol in the 19th Century, attracted 705 thousand visitors in seven months. A series of blockbusters would follow with treasures from St Petersburg.
Veen, who rose to directorship of the Nieuwe Kerk and the Hermitage Amsterdam, retired in 2011. His successor, Cathelijne Broers, made a clever financial move; she managed to get a tenant for an empty wing in the Amstelhof. The Amsterdam Museum opened the exhibition there with great success in 2014 Dutchmen of the Golden Agein which it shows numerous large civic guard pieces (also from the Rijksmuseum).
The Hermitage Amsterdam was hit extra hard by the corona pandemic, because it does not receive an annual subsidy. In October 2020 – just before her transfer to the Prince Bernhard Cultuurfonds – Broers had to lay off almost a quarter of the staff. That wasn’t enough. Annabelle Birnie, the new director, started a donation campaign to keep the museum afloat. This was possible, also thanks to financial support from the government and the BankGiro Loterij.
Then came another setback. After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, ties to the Hermitage in St. Petersburg (which Mikhail Piotrovsky is still in charge of) grew in criticism. The board of directors and the supervisory board issued a short statement condemning the raid. Four days later they were forced – also by threats – to sever all ties with Russia. The current exhibition on Russian avant-garde art has been closed with immediate effect. Director Birnie announces that he will come up with a new plan for the future within three months.
Three experts on the future of the Hermitage 
Emily Ansenk led the Kunsthal Rotterdam for eleven years. She has been director of the Holland Festival since 2019.
‘Now that the Hermitage Amsterdam has to make do without the rich collection from St Petersburg, it seems logical to me to turn it into an art hall, in other words a museum without its own collection. They have years of experience playing the Nieuwe Kerk as an art hall. Amsterdam has more museums with large exhibitions, but there are plenty of subjects and artists. If you make something distinctive, it is quite feasible.’
Emily Ansenk considers the three months that the Hermitage Amsterdam has allotted for a new plan for the future too short to arrive at a fully-fledged vision. ‘But it is enough to seek help and cooperation, so that they can open again quickly. They do not receive an annual subsidy and are therefore extra dependent on ticket sales. If you stay closed for a long time, you will get into financial trouble. then you hit rock bottom†
Ansenk also sees other options than an art hall. ‘Think of the Slavery Museum, for which Amsterdam is looking for a location, or a Suriname museum. You can also collaborate with Rob Defares’ Hartwig Art Foundation. It will convert the old court in Amsterdam into an art center, but it will not open before 2027. They have attracted incredibly interesting artists who have already made work. I would call the director of that foundation, Beatrix Ruf, first to see if the Hermitage can become the temporary home for that art.’
Wim Pijbes, former director of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, is working on the Landverhuizersmuseum in Rotterdam, which should open its doors in 2024.
‘You first have to decide whether you want to pick up the thread with the Hermitage in St Petersburg again after the war. The treasures from Saint Petersburg were a good addition to the museum landscape in the Netherlands. If a temporary solution is chosen, I see opportunities in collaboration with the Amsterdam Museum.’
For years, the city museum displayed civic guard pieces in a wing of the Hermitage, but has exchanged them – because of the renovation of its own museum – for a presentation of its permanent collection. “You could extend that temporarily.”
Pijbes does not like a Slavery Museum. ‘It is difficult to get a collection. Colonialism is a current theme, which is why museums want to show their own pieces about it.’ Nor is he enthusiastic about an art hall. ‘There is already an art hall in Rotterdam and the De Nieuwe Kerk is one too. Moreover, you then enter the waters of the major Amsterdam museums with major international exhibitions.’
Pijbes sees more in a new concept. ‘Major fashion exhibitions are doing well. The Kunsthal Rotterdam attracted more than 175,000 visitors with Jean Paul Gaultier. You can turn the Hermitage into a large Fashion Museum. We don’t have that in the Netherlands. Broaden it a bit and also show lifestyle.’
And then he has another turnkey solution. ‘Museum Boijmans in Rotterdam is undergoing a renovation that will take years. Why don’t you show that fine collection in the Hermitage?’
Paul Spies designed Berlin Global, a new exhibition about and in Berlin. The Dutchman also heads the city museum in the German capital and was director of the Amsterdam Museum.
Paul Spies assumes that the relationship with the Hermitage in St. Petersburg will be disrupted for a long time. And how long do you want to show the tsarist collection of a state museum, he wonders. ‘You could say: you have successfully run this concept for years. The organization has proven itself without an annual subsidy. Now you can make a virtue of necessity. If you get some support from the government and partners, you can start an experiment.’
Spies did that himself: the mainly tourist-oriented Berlin Global in the new Humboldt Forum was not allowed to compete with its city museum. He therefore designed, with a lot of multimedia, an exhibition about Berlin’s relationship with the world. The permanent exhibition attracts many young people, which is special in museum land.
‘Due to the renovation, the Amsterdam Museum will be housed in the Hermitage in the coming years. This is a perfect opportunity to connect Amsterdam with the world and to look for current themes that match. Such as migration and global citizenship. Then you can also join the celebration in 2025 of 750 years of Amsterdam – the city has received many migrants in its history.’
As in Berlin Global, a lot of use can be made of interviews, films and sound recordings. ‘I firmly believe in the combination of a serious subject and entertainment.’ A large collection is not necessary. ‘We have to get rid of the idea that a museum only displays objects. Take the plunge and set up a museum of the future.’
Putin in Hermitage Amsterdam
In 2013, 400 years of relations between the Netherlands and Russia were celebrated. Russian President Vladimir Putin visited the Netherlands and opened an exhibition about Peter the Great with Queen Beatrix in the Hermitage. Demonstrations were held outside the museum, including by Amnesty International and the LGBTI advocacy organization COC. The anti-LGBTI policy in Russia in particular was the subject of protest.