Amsterdam's Hermitage museum is renamed after cutting ties with Russia following Ukraine invasion

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THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — An Amsterdam museum that severed ties with St. Petersburg's Hermitage collection after Moscow's invasion of Ukraine last year has been renamed and on Monday announced partnerships with renowned galleries in London, Paris and Washington, D.C.

Starting in September, the Hermitage Amsterdam will be called H'ART Museum. It has established partnerships with the British Museum, Centre Pompidou and the Smithsonian American Art Museum to bring art to the historic building on the banks of the Dutch capital's Amstel River.

“It’s an exciting new step for us, a contemporary and future-proof model,” museum director Annabelle Birnie said in a statement.

She said the museum's program will be “multi-voiced reflecting the times we live in” and will range from major art exhibitions to smaller presentations.

The first major show — scheduled to open midway through 2024 — will be a partnership with Paris' Centre Pompidou focused on Wassily Kandinsky, the Russian-born artist who became a French citizen and died in France in 1944.

The museum originally opened in 2009 and drew extensively on the huge art collection of the Hermitage in St. Petersburg to stage exhibitions. However, last year it ended the relationship, saying: “With the invasion of the Russian army in Ukraine, a border has been crossed. War destroys everything.”