Municipal Museum in The Hague has begun to restore its famous collection of works of Piet Mondrian - the largest in the world

City Museum in The Hague has begun to restore its famous collection of works of Piet Mondrian (Piet Mondrian). This collection, which includes 169 paintings, is the largest in the world. It was formed by two inheritance: Slipera Salomon (Salomon Slijper), one of the first patrons of the artist, and Albert van den Bril (Albert van den Briel), a close friend of Mondrian. Most works from this collection belong to the early period of the master to his transition from landscape painting to abstract.

Decision to hold the restoration work was made after careful examination of the collection in 2007 revealed that the condition of many of the paintings had deteriorated badly. The project allocated 500 thousand euro.

According to the Chief Conservatives Hague Museum Hans Janssen (Hans Janssen), 20 of the 169 canvases require immediate intervention specialists, 60 to be processed in the next two years, and 50 - over the next five years. He also noted that many of the pictures will be restored for the first time since left the studio of the artist. «Given the way the little collection so far, it is in surprisingly good condition», - said Janssen. He added that most of the problems associated with the initial preparation work: «Many Mondrian canvases stretch themselves and perpetuating their iron nails, which zarzhaveli. Sometimes he uses too many primers, which makes the paint much crannied ». In addition, Janssen noted that the work on the canvases are very important for art historians, as it will help them learn more about the techniques used by the artist.

In 1998, the Municipal Museum in The Hague navlek themselves from criticism for the purchase of the last unfinished painting Mondrian «victory boogie-woogie», for which the Dutch government has paid 40 million dollars. However, after the sale of small abstract works by the artist for 21.6 million dollars at auction from the collection of works by Yves Saint Laurent (Yves Saint-Laurent), these costs can be called more than justified. «We will never be able to convey" Victory Boogie-woogie "for display in other museums, as well as some other paintings from the collection. Our concerns in these cases are mainly related to the condition of paint layer, which is very fragile », - explained Janssen. Nevertheless, it is estimated that the restoration of works that can be transported to exhibitions in other museums, should increase.

material produced Catherine Onuchin, AI

Sources: theartnewspaper.com , artinvestment.ru