In this file photo taken on September 15, 2021, a woman looks at paintings by French painter Pierre Bonnard during a press visit of the exhibition "The Morozov Collection - Modern art icons" at the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris. GEOFFROY VAN DER HASSELT / AFP France decided on Saturday, April 9, to keep a painting from the Morozov Collection belonging to a Russian oligarch. It was lent to the Louis Vuitton Foundation for their "Icônes de l’art moderne" ("Icons of Modern Art") exhibition, held in Paris from September 22, 2021 until April 3, 2022. The seizure of another painting is also under consideration. The rest of the collection, consisting of about 200 works by Gauguin, Renoir, Matisse, Bonnard and Van Gogh, should be sent back to Russia in the coming days.
One of the seized paintings is a 1910 self-portrait by the painter Pyotr Konchalovsky (1876-1956), considered the "Russian Cézanne" – and who, incidentally, was the grandfather of directors Andrei Konchalovsky and Nikita Mikhalkov. The painting belongs to Petr Aven, an oligarch reputedly close to Vladimir Putin. Before the war in Ukraine, this former adviser to Boris Yeltsin ran Alfa Bank, the largest commercial bank in Russia. According to the French Ministry of the Economy, Finance, and Industry, this is the third seizure of a work of art in France since the beginning of the conflict in Ukraine.
The second painting that will possibly be seized is a portrait of Timofei Morozov painted in 1891 by Valentin Serov (1865-1911), a former pupil of Ilya Repin and one of the great Russian portrait painters. It was loaned by the Moscow Museum of Avant-garde Art, created in 2001 by the Russian entrepreneur Moshe Kantor, the first shareholder of the fertilizer company Acron and also closely associated with Mr. Putin.
'There is no ambiguity.'
"This particular situation of a work held by a private foundation, linked to an oligarch who has just been added to the list of personalities targeted by asset-freezing measures, is being examined by the State," explained France's Ministry of Culture. While awaiting the government's decision, Valentin Serov's painting will remain in France.
Another self-portrait by Pyotr Konchalovsky, created in 1910 and owned by the Ekaterina Cultural Foundation in Moscow, was also threatened with seizure for a time and should finally be able to return to Russia. The authorities believe that the activities of businessman Vladimir Semenikhin, who owns the Ekaterina Foundation with his wife, are not covered by the sanctions regime. Mr. Semenikhin is the owner of Stroyteks, one of the largest construction companies in the Russian capital.
The rest of the collection will not be affected after all, even though speculations were made since the beginning of the war in Ukraine. The reason? The works belong to the Russian state and not to individuals. The Morozov Collection was nationalized in 1918 and is now scattered in the main state museums of the country, such as the Pushkin Museum and the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow or the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg. "France wants to return the collection, there is no ambiguity. These are works of Russian heritage and it is normal that they return to Russia," explained those close to French Minister of Culture Roselyne Bachelot.
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