Day 122. Why it is necessary to be with your country
... when it makes a historical turn and choice.
Prepared on request of the analytical department of Come Back Alive Foundation.
Translated & edited by Ukraine DAO contributors - Yuriy, Tiina and Alona. For more translations by Ukraine DAO, click here.
You are welcome to share this post on LinkedIn or Twitter.
In today’s blog, the Director of the State Hermitage Museum Mikhail Piotrovsky essentially explains why the genocidal russian culture needs to be deplatformed.
A quick summary of his views:
russia has superior culture and should not fear “cancellation.” For that reason, russia should not worry about cancelling Western cultures.
russia has to continue special cultural operations; it has to continue the cultural offensive.
russia must shape the European cultural model by itself. Europe is no longer Europe. russia is Europe.
russia if free to absorb and assimilate other cultures, as it is the guardian of world culture.
It is a moral imperative of each russian to be with their country and broadcast the russian culture beyond the ring of blockade.
“Do what [you] must and come what may” and each russian must be with russia, no matter what the country does.
P.S. This isn’t our first “guest post” from the russian state media - previously, we published “What russia should do with Ukraine” setting out a genocide plan. We have it available in English, German, French as well as a thoroughly annotated version putting what’s said in the article in context.
Why it is necessary to be with your country when it makes a historical turn and choice
Answered by Mikhail Piotrovsky
Two paintings from the collections of the State Hermitage Museum - "Portrait of a Young Woman" by Titian and "Temptation" by Cariani - have been returned from an exhibition in Italy. This is a victory for the Hermitage, which was threatened that under the current policy of "cancel culture" they would not be returned. The second victory is the opening of the exhibition "The Birth of Modern Art: Sergei Shchukin's Choice" the day after tomorrow. In the exhibition the visitors will see more than 30 paintings by Henri Matisse, 40 works by Pablo Picasso, Paul Gauguin's famous "iconostasis" of the 15 best paintings, masterpieces by Vincent van Gogh and Claude Monet. How can we oppose "cancel culture”? How can we conduct a special museum operation? What did Shchukin and Morozov change in Europe? How do we develop immunity to ideological anger? Why is it necessary to be with your country when it is making a historical turn and choice? - Director of the State Hermitage Museum Mikhail Piotrovsky answers questions from RG [Translator’s note: Rossiyskaya Gazeta].
Immunity to being canceled
We are all shaken by the active combat that’s happening not only on the fronts of the special operation, but also on the cultural front. All these attempts to cancel Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninov concerts, and the russian language. What is behind the "cancel culture?" Having left the tyranny of ideology, are we now seeing its return in the West?
Mikhail Piotrovsky: The attack on us in the cultural sphere is, of course, similar to what we had in Soviet times. When all communications were terminated by an order, protests appeared instantaneously at the snap of someone’s fingers. I have a feeling that the Soviet Union with its ideological tyranny has spread to the West. I never expected that I would read in liberal Western newspapers: "The Hermitage is an imperial museum that preaches imperial ideology, do not allow it anywhere! Do not open the Hermitage in Barcelona under any circumstances!"
And there are streams of ultimatums addressed to me: how dare you not speak out against the special operation on Ukraine?! Protest immediately! Why don't you have any protests?
But here everyone should understand that we are under such a powerful attack in the field of culture, because culture is the area in which we are absolutely competitive.
We have the initiative here. We have been and are determining what is in vogue.
Are we an exporting country?
Mikhail Piotrovsky: Yes, and our cultural exports are more important than imports...
And our latest exhibitions abroad are just a powerful cultural offensive. A kind of "special operation" if you will. Which many people don't like. But we are on the offensive. And no one can be allowed to interfere with our offensive.
In response to the calls to cancel Tchaikovsky, smart people here say: we will not cancel anything. On the contrary: we will continue to love the Europe that we got to know while studying at universities. Is non-symmetry critically important here?
Mikhail Piotrovsky: Of course. With our cultural superiority, we do not need loud announcements that we will denounce some cultural agreement in response to their prohibitions. Let them do it unilaterally. There is definitely no need for bilateralism here. Precisely because we are winning.
I think we should never (and will not) succumb to the lure of "cancel culture". And I believe in our immunity from it. Because we've already canceled enough. First we canceled the entire culture of tsarist russia, then we canceled the soviet culture. Monuments were demolished dozens of times. But we also know something else: the monuments come back, everything can be restored. The knowledge that memory and culture will come back is in our blood. This is why we are not eager to be zealous in the affairs of "cancellations". What’s more, Tchaikovsky cannot be canceled anyway. Except perhaps the performances of our orchestras playing Tchaikovsky. But it's all unfair competition.
Why is the West so obsessed with "cancel culture"? And the tyranny of "public opinion"?
Mikhail Piotrovsky: I wouldn’t exaggerate the difference between the tyrannies - soviet ideology and "public opinion". After all, public opinion is still connected with the government or is regulated by it.
As for the "cancel culture" in the West, this is part of a big wave born among the same BLM, and associated with the culture of guilt and repentance for guilt. It flooded over suddenly, they started overthrowing monuments, and not rising up to the American flag. And say that Voltaire is bad for them, and that one, and this one. It's already a little unfunny: how long can one keep repenting for the terrible colonialism, with which, in fact, not everything is so certain. Or for the unfortunate slave trade, which nevertheless originated not in Europe, but in Africa.
And they, it seems, have already begun to feel that this road goes nowhere, and then russia fell into their sights. And - there we go: let's "cancel" russia. Although the joy with which they rushed to condemn us, tear and expel us, again indicates that we are strong in culture.
When the "BIZOT Group" suspends the presence of our museums within itself, it's just ridiculous. I am one of those who was at the beginning of it, and I know that we actually created it to facilitate cultural exchanged between museums without regard to politics. And now its ideologisation in the imega of the soviet model is also evident. But if this soviet contagion has spread like this among them, let them be sick alone. We don't need to. We have historical immunity to this. And, I think we will spread it to others.
Special operation "Exhibitions"
Without succumbing to the hype of cancellations, has the Hermitage left its exhibitions abroad?
Mikhail Piotrovsky: Not just the Hermitage. Before the start of the special operation on [translator note: imperial lingo] Ukraine, exhibitions of russian museums were everywhere. We had an exhibition of Morozov in Paris and exhibitions in Italy. London hosted the most thrilling Fabergé exhibition. The russian Museum held an exhibition in Spain.
This was our "special operation" if you will, a big cultural offensive.
But the cries from Russia have begun right away: why did you take our jewels there? They are worth so much money! And from the other side they cried: since these cost “so much” money, let's freeze them! People with consciousness tortured by mercantilism did not really understand the essence of the matter, but were shouting out very provocative things - from both sides. I must say that the provocation from the press was the main complication in this whole special operation. Yesterday they sent me an FT [article] with discussions of journalists from the Arts (!) Department on whether russian paintings should be frozen or not? Well, because of such journalistic cries, our property was detained at the Finnish border. It was a day off, the Finnish customs officers read a lot of newspapers saying that everything should be confiscated from the russians ... Even though before and after that, 10 of our caravans passed by them.
Well, from our side, bloggers were more vocal, journalists were brought up by you.
Mikhail Piotrovsky: However, there are only a few real journalists left. Well, a couple of newspapers. Everyone is like a blogger now. And the bloggers cannot comprehend what a cultural offensive is. That the exhibition of Shchukin and Morozov in Paris is the russian flag over the Bois de Boulogne... Do you know how everyone in Italy reacted to this? They said: since the Hermitage can leave their paintings with us now, it means that they know what they are doing there, in russia.
And it is also very important that the heroes of our exhibitions were Shchukin and Morozov. russian businessmen from the Old Believer environment who largely determined the development of European culture. Matisse was asked whether he would have painted "Dance" if it were not for Shchukin ... And for whom would I have painted it? Matisse said. Shchukin suggested, ordered, was whimsical, and great works were born ... I was recently given the Demidov Prize, and this was a reason to remember how Nikolai Demidov and the great French jeweler Pierre Tamir created our russian style of malachite with bronze. And there were such fights! Tamir said, we must do this, Demidov, no, like this. But as a result, there is a malachite canopy in the Hermitage…
Does the producer really have the right to interfere with the artist's intention in this way?
Mikhail Piotrovsky: Absolutely has the right. Yes, sometimes it can be a bad intervention. But sometimes it's good. In the case of Shchukin and Morozov, it was good. These were THE customers.
Let's also not forget that the Old Believers revealed to us the beauty of ancient russian icons. They were the first to clean them, preserve them. And Shchukin dragged over the russian icons to Matisse, in particular, to break the influence of Persian miniatures on him.
And at Morozov's exhibition, we also presented the russian paintings he had collected and showed art through the eyes of the collector. Morozov collected Manet and Serov, and I just heard how, leaving the exhibition, people said: you look and you understand that Serov is no worse than Manet, not in the slightest.
The Faberge exhibition made a loud splash. After all, another russian phenomenon that influenced the West.
So we did indeed conduct a big cultural offensive. And retired from it, having completed everything we planned.
We surely are Europe, but is the EU Europe?
Europe has long been a cultural model for us. At RG, we had a conversation with the writer Yevgeny Vodolazkin about the attitude towards Europe. They said, referring to Dostoevsky, that it is dear to us almost more than it is to the Europeans ...
Mikhail Piotrovsky: At the council of the history of world culture at the Academy of Sciences, we recently held a "round table" which we were going to call "Is russia European?", but called it "Is russia Europe? Is the EU Europe?" The general meaning of our disputes was this: we surely are Europe, as much a part of it as France or Germany, and perhaps more than the United States. If Europe was not us, Gogol would not have written "Dead Souls" while staying in Italy. We recently held another "round table" on visual art and recalled what Dostoevsky wrote about the Sistine Madonna.
This is our longstanding choice, we are inseparable from the European culture and from Europe itself. A special military operation on Ukraine does not change anything here. Inside Europe, there were plenty of disagreements and wars - from the Thirty Years’ War to World War I. We are Europe and at times more Europe than many of its classical countries. And certainly more so than the EU which is now turning into the soviet union.
Of course, we also have an Asian face. But Peter I was already able to wonderfully balance all these things. We at the Hermitage understand this better than anyone, because our main theme is world culture in the russian context. And I constantly talk about our right to be Europe, because in southern russia we have an ancient heritage - Chersonesos, Kerch, Taman. And whoever has an ancient heritage is Europe. In Norway, for example, there is no ancient heritage; there were neither Greek colonies nor Roman legions there.
Therefore, this is all ours, we must dispose of it as our own, and not consider that we are opposed to Europe. Do we have different values? But they all have different values. Do we have a special type of Orthodoxy? But in Europe there are also Orthodox values. And in many ways they are in tune with Catholic values and are not in tune with various secular ones. We will never be isolated as an absolutely full-fledged and equal part of Europe. It's just our sense of self. And the Hermitage is a symbol of this sense of self. I keep repeating all the time: the Hermitage is an encyclopedia of world culture, written in russian. The Hermitage Rembrandts, who have been in russia for 300 years, those are russian Rembrandts. Our Shakespeare is impossible without Kozintsev and Smoktunovsky. And other neat little doors - to Asia - are always open. But this does not prevent our presence in Europe.
Since people who cherish the russian culture are not yet gaining the upper hand in Europe, should we now shape a European model for ourselves?
Mikhail Piotrovsky: We must now shape this model. And we are shaping it.
Even though we don't seem to have the Schukins and Morozovs...
Mikhail Piotrovsky: Shchukin and Morozov shaped tastes. And now we are shaping, for example, the international law. For many years, we have been carefully working out the guarantees for the return of our paintings, changing the global legislation, creating immunity from being arrested. All this was first worked out way back for soviet exhibitions, and then, already in my time, we were constantly developing it. The descendants of Shchukin and Morozov tried to sue us, so I urgently took out the paintings from Rome by plane. But every year we strengthened our legal protection. We said: do you want an exhibition? - give us real guarantees. Write it down in a contract: the exhibition will be returned on time regardless of any lawsuits. And Europe accepted everything. The Americans did not, so we have not had any exchanges with the Americans for 10 years. Although people who wanted to see exhibitions from Russia introduced a new law in the United States, which allowed the government to give us guarantees and immunity. But it was too late, now it's not enough. But with Europe, all guarantees worked. And in particular, when paintings from our Italian exhibitions were detained at the Finnish border, our diplomats and ... Italian businessmen helped us. They immediately sent all the documents to the Finnish government: we gave the guarantees, how can you not believe them?!
And at the last moment - even under the sanctions - Western partners introduced a clause stating that prohibited luxury items do not include things that are part of the exhibitions of russian museums abroad. It was even written down that Russian transport companies have the right to transport exhibitions throughout the EU. We didn't risk it, we drove it in foreign cars, but such a clause was specially introduced. So we not only look to Europe as a model, but also shape the international rules ourselves. And this is very important, especially now, when there are disputes about every thing in the world and to whom it belongs in the end.
Have the western admirers change their attitude towards the Hermitage?
Mikhail Piotrovsky: Lately, we have often received blows in our back. There, the Khodorkovskys poured mud on us, and here, as always, some people craved draconian checks. But on the other hand, we learned better who is our friend and who is our enemy. And the "the societies of friends of the Hermitage" showed themselves. In Israel, for example, they behaved brilliantly. They immediately spoke out: how can one be a friend of the Hermitage, use this honorary title, and then suddenly break ties?
We see everything now. We see that there are people who break relations, but they suffer from it, and whine. And there are those who gladly took advantage of this opportunity. Apparently, they were friends solely for political gain. Now we have a good "blacklist" - journalists, politicians. And this is very important. The world is heterogenous...
Has your "blacklist" grown a lot?
Mikhail Piotrovsky: It has changed a lot. But besides those who wrote and still write about us with malice, unexpected friends have also appeared. The aforementioned French and Italian businessmen.
What should we do in the field of culture now?
Mikhail Piotrovsky: I think we will have to do everything in such a way that we could be seen… And for this it is not at all necessary to travel somewhere. After being appointed director of the Hermitage, I declared a moratorium on exhibitions inside russia. Because it was dangerous to move things then: criminals were all around, no money, no real insurance either. And for 10 years we did not move exhibitions around russia. And now we are declaring a moratorium on exhibitions abroad.
I urge everyone now to look back on the experience of the blockade. On the then acquired ability to preserve things in an organised way. On the understanding that when the cannons speak, the muses must not be silent. On the contrary, they should speak loudly. And the experience of the blockade taught us to address those beyond its ring. During the great patriotic war, exhibitions by Nizami, Navoi, evenings in the Hermitage were such an address. They showed the entire soviet union and the whole world: hunger and war are everywhere, but we remember the great poets. That is why now we will, within the framework of the “Greater Hermitage” program, do everything in such a way that everyone could see us and, roughly speaking, envy us.
Now, for example, we are opening an exhibition of one of the most famous Danish artists, Erikson. He painted Catherine and her court, and on his 300th anniversary deserved a huge exhibition with us. We asked for items from Denmark for it, but they were not provided to us. Oh well, we have more of Erikson's works than Denmark does. Therefore, an excellent exhibition is now opening in the Nicholas Hall with huge portraits of Catherine, the Orlov brothers, with amazing stories of how they were created, how they were repainted, how medals were changed on the uniforms. The exhibition is available online, a lecture in English was given. And we are broadcasting to Denmark from here: look, a small but very important piece of European culture - the great portrait painter Erikson in the Hermitage.
What did you answer to those who demand repentance from you for russian politics?
Mikhail Piotrovsky: Now our country has moved into a different time. The first period of the Scythian war is over. We were retreating, retreating, now we are not retreating. We made a turn. And it is already clear that it is the final one. Everything started in 2014 in the Crimea. Crimea created a situation where it was already impossible to do otherwise, it was necessary to turn around.
Our country is conducting great global transformations. And we, respectively, are in them and with it. Our position is calm, normal work.
The Hermitage has held multiple exhibitions about the war. What can you say about the perception of it? For example, I am not sympathetic to a totally pacifist reaction. Apparently I'm a militarist...
Mikhail Piotrovsky: We are all militarists and imperialists (laughs).
First and foremost: my country, I must be with it. I sometimes repeat the jingoist formula: this is my country, whatever it may be. There are situations when it is absolutely clear that a person should be with their country. And in the West they understand that these are all real things - that we are with our country. When a very serious issue is being resolved, there are no options.
I am now reading a wonderful book by Alexei Varlamov about Rozanov, about 1914 and his ultra patriotic sentiments. This patriotism at the beginning of the 1914 war is known to everyone, but is not very well explained. We treat him somehow dismissively, but in fact it was a very important thing. We, people of culture, now need to understand our participation in everything that is happening. A person involved in history must first of all do well what they do. Following the principle that when the cannons speak, the muses should also speak. And realising that culture, which for us stands above politics and everything else, will then ask of us - about itself. As we were asked after the war, after the blockade: what did you do - on your own?
For me, the attitude to the war is set by the great Pushkin in “Journey to Arzrum.” Where does the whole story rush to? To see the demoted Decembrists and ... into battle?
Mikhail Piotrovsky: For Pushkin, Arzrum was also his only foreign country. To him it was the expansion of the world. There is nothing wrong with the fact that a person wants to have the most complete set of sensations. And it is especially just when he wants to embody his deep feelings into something. Something new to see, to do. And if he has a reason for this, then he throws himself into it. This is an element of dignity. I always say that russian patriotism is a sense of one's own historical dignity. The man understands that he must go to war. And another must do something else, but no less important. And behind this is a sense of one's own historical dignity. The desire to live up to their history and the mission of their country. It sounds very loud, but of course we do understand the historical mission of our country. And this feeling that our country is changing world history, and you are a part of it, it is key now.
With regard to military operations, too, everything is not so simple. On the one hand, war is blood and murder, and on the other hand, it is the self-affirmation of the people, the self-affirmation of the nation. Every person wants to assert himself. And in his position in relation to the war, he undoubtedly asserts himself. Also, after all, we were all brought up in the imperial tradition, and the empire unites many peoples, unites people, finding some common and important things for everyone. It's very tempting, but it's one of the, shall we say, good temptations. Although one shouldn’t succumb to it completely, one should be able to regulate it in one’s self. And not forget about the principle: a person must do what they must and come what may. For the museums, "to do what they must" is to preserve, protect, and spread culture. And constantly remember what is beyong the blockade ring. And to address not only those who are here, but also those who are "there".