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For the exhibition “The Morozov Brothers. Great Russian Collectors” Ivan Morozov’s Music Salon has been recreated with the support of LVMH

Published 17 June 2019

On 18 June 2019, in the General Staff building of the State Hermitage, the presentation took place of the White Hall (Music Salon) of Ivan Morozov’s Moscow mansion that has been specially recreated for the exhibition. It was for that hall that Maurice Denis created the Story of Psyche cycle of decorative panels based on an episode in Metamorphoses, or The Golden Ass by Apuleius.

Participating in the presentation of the Salon were Mikhail Piotrovsky, General Director of the State Hermitage, Anna Baldasari, the curator of the exhibition devoted to the Morozovs’ collection to be held at the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris in 2020, and Bernard Arnault, eminent art patron, collector, Chairman and Chief Executive of LVMH, with whose support the interior was recreated. The viewing of the display was followed by a briefing for journalists.

“Now we are having some unique historical events: Shchukin’s exhibition in Moscow, the Morozovs’ in St Petersburg, next year a major exhibition of the Morozov brothers in Paris. It is a wreath commemorating the great Russian collectors. Specially for this exhibition, we have recreated the setting of the Music Salon that Maurice Denis decorated. We have displayed these pictures in different ways, both in exhibitions and here in the Hermitage,” Mikhail Piotrovsky said.

Bernard Arnault stated: “We have been collaborating with the Hermitage for many years now. I am deeply moved by that. It shows how strong the ties are between Russia and France. It is interesting to note that Shchukin and Morozov assembled their collections of French art in one and the same period. And they collected first-rate works, very high-quality pieces. For me visiting this place, seeing this collection, these 20th-century masterpieces, is very exciting. I am very glad that, thanks to collaboration with the Hermitage and the Pushkin Museum, next year we will be able to show these remarkable collections at the Fondation Louis Vuitton. Maurice Denis’s painting that are on display here will also be travelling to Paris. But, as Professor Piotrovsky says, it will be the last time they leave the Hermitage.”

On the same day, at the exhibition devoted to the Morozov brothers a meeting was organized for French journalists with Mikhail Piotrovsky, Anna Baldasari, and the curators of the exhibition “The Morozov Brothers. Great Russian Collectors” – Albert Kostenevich, chief researcher in the State Hermitage’s Department of Western European Fine Art, and Olga Leontyeva, junior researcher in the same department.