France began, Thursday, March 3, the seizure in France of property belonging to Russian oligarchs. Thus, five boats belonging to Russian companies or oligarchs were immobilized, including a yacht seized in La Ciotat (Bouches-du-Rhône). This is part of the financial sanctions decreed by the European Union after the invasion of Ukraine by Russia. In total, a “black list” of 510 Russian people or structures targeted by these sanctions was established by the “task force” of the Ministry of the Economy.
What about the Morozov collection, currently exhibited at the Louis-Vuitton Foundation in Paris? franceinfo looked into the case of this extraordinary exhibition.
The Morozov collection, a very political exhibition
The exhibition “Collection Morozov, icons of modern art” is in progress at the Louis-Vuitton foundation and must be held until April 3, 2022. It brings together, according to the foundation’s website, “more than 200 masterpieces of French and Russian modern art”. These pieces all belonged to the Moscow brothers Mikhail and Ivan Abramovich Morozov. This is the first time since its creation at the beginning of the 20th century that the Morozov collection has traveled outside of Russia.
The works in question come from the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts and the Tretyakov National Gallery in Moscow, as well as the Minsk Museum (Belarus) and Dniepropetrovsk (Ukraine). , a small part of the pieces in the collection come from foundations created by Russian oligarchs: Petr Olegovich Aven, Vladimir and Ekaterina Smenikhine as well as Viatcheslav Moshe Kantor.
This exhibition is eminently political. As pointed out The worldthe exhibition catalog opens with a text by Emmanuel Macron, hailing “the bridges that artists and lovers of the arts have built” between Russia and France. Then a text by Vladimir Putin addresses his “french friends”. It is very rare for two Heads of State – and not the least – to sign texts in an exhibition catalogue.
But the two men negotiated a lot to arrive at this exhibition. Indeed, numerous diplomatic crises (war in Syria, annexation of Crimea by Russia, etc.) almost prevented the event. As Jean-Paul Claverie, adviser to the president of LVMH, told the newspaper The Parisian, “It almost failed several times”. Because such a collection can only travel with the personal signature of the Russian president. It is finally in the summer of 2017 that the exhibition is recorded, as part of the Elysian project of the Dialogue de Trianon which aims for a Franco-Russian rapprochement. Vladimir Poutine is then received in Versailles, for direct discussions with the French president.
What prevents its seizure?
If, at first glance, one could imagine a seizure of the pieces of the collection, the law protects the works of art on display via an immunity mechanism. This avoids the possible risk of seizure or receivership. This legislation was put in place after a first problematic case, in 1994. At the time, an exhibition in honor of Matisse was underway at the Pompidou Center. Among the works, paintings from the Chtchoukine collection. Matisse’s heirs had claimed ownership and seizure. Justice had considered that only the Russian State could settle this kind of conflict. According to Olivier de Baecque, a lawyer specializing in art law interviewed by France Culture, the law enacted subsequently “allows to anticipate this type of problem by making the objects lent by a foreign State elusive in France, during the entirety of their stay in France”. He believes that this law has since allowed France to obtain loans much more easily.
Thus, as pointed out The Gazette Drouot, all the works from the Chtchoukine collection loaned to the Louis-Vuitton Foundation in 2018 by various Russian national museums were the subject of an exemption from seizure published in the Official Journal. Similarly, for the Morozov exhibition, a similar decree was issued on February 19, 2021 by the Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs and also the Ministry of Culture. Two additional decrees were then taken, on May 18, 2021 and January 6, 2022 to cover the extension of the exhibition. This runs until April 6, 2022.
Can she not come back to Russia?
The effect of this decree could be maintained until May 15. From this date, the collection is supposed to return to Russia. However, as the Knowledge of the Arts site points out, the goods could be immobilized for security reasons linked to the war in Ukraine. It is indeed necessary that the works can be distributed in optimal conditions of safety and security. “I imagine that they will stay in France as long as the return is not possible and that the arrests will be extended”postulates Olivier de Baecque on France Culture.
Beyond this question of security, that of the works belonging to the Russian oligarchs could soon arise. They are not part of the list drawn up by the decree published in the Official Journal. If their owners are part of the “black list” drawn up by Bercy – the details of which are not known – it therefore seems possible that the French State could seize them.