The Hermitage museum in Saint Petersburg has asked Italian museums and galleries to return loaned works, amid tensions between the Vladimir regime Putin and the European states after the invasion of UkraineItalian institutions confirmed to Efe. In total there are about twenty works that have arrived in Italy for temporary exhibitions in Rome and Milan.
One of them is ‘Young Woman’ (1909), a Cubist portrait of Pablo Picasso which should remain on display until May 15 at the headquarters of the Alda Fendi-Experimenti Foundation of the Italian capital. The gallery of the businesswoman, from the family of the Fendi fashion house, confirmed that she has received the request from the Russian state-owned Hermitage to return the painting, although he has given him a period of 20 days before sending it to Saint Petersburg.
The Italian Minister of Culture, Dario Franceschini, explained that he has no powers in this matter, in the case of private or municipal exhibitions, but he understood Russia’s request.
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“It seems obvious to me that when an owner asks for the return of his own works of art, they have to be returned,” he told the media.
Another exposure affected is that of the Gallery of Italy in Milan, property of Intesa Sanpaolo, on the art that Italy inspired throughout Europe, and another on the Royal Palace of that same city on Tiziano, with two works of the Hermitage.