The Brook,Frits Thaulow, 1875/1906 Odesa Museum of Western and Eastern Art, inv. no. -122, Gemldegalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin / Eigentum des Museums fr Westliche und stliche Kunst Odesa / Christoph SchmidtSince Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, it has repeatedlybombed the southern city ofOdesa, reducing many of its historic buildings to rubble. But now, thanks to the work of museum employees, some of the Black Sea port citys cultural artifacts that were evacuated to safety are now on display in Berlin.Shortly after the invasion, the staff of the century-old Odesa Museum of Western and Eastern Art moved many of its most valuable artworks to a storage facility for safekeeping. The following year, workers sent 74 items to Germany, where they were cleaned and restored.Now, most of those pieces are on display at Gemldegalerie, an art museum in Berlin. The exhibition, titled From Odesa to Berlin: European Painting From the 16th to the 19th Century, opened late last month. Restorers Anja Lindner-Michael and Thuja Seidel unpacked the artworks in Berlin in September 2023. Sabine LataOdesas beautiful old town, where the Museum of Western and Eastern Art is situated, has been attacked by missiles time and again, German PresidentFrank-Walter Steinmeier said at the shows opening, per theArt Newspapers Catherine Hickley. In countless Ukrainian towns and cities, listed buildings continue to be damaged, cultural institutions destroyed and works of art stolen. The attacks against museums, theaters, operas and libraries are intended to wipe out Ukraines cultural memory.The exhibition features works from the Odesa museums European paintings collection, including pieces by the Italian artistBernardo Strozzi and the Dutch artistsFrans Hals andCornelis de Heem. The paintings came to Germany from a storage facility in Lviv, Ukraine, where thousands of artworks were piled up in overcrowded depots, reports Deutsche Welles Stefan Dege.Igor Poronyk, director of the Odesa museum, tells Margarete Kreuzer of the German broadcaster Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg(RBB) that the storage conditions were not optimal, per a translation by Deutsche Welle. Officials feared the paintings would be destroyed by mold, so they asked the Berlin museum for help. The exhibition showcases 60 major artworks from the Ukrainian museum. Staatliche Museen zu Berlin / David von BeckerIn late 2023, a truck carried 74 paintingsmany of them without framesto Berlin, according to a statement from the Berlin State Museums. Two conservators cleaned the paintings and placed them in newly cut frames. From Odesa to Berlin includes 60 major artworks from the Ukrainian museum alongside 25 pieces from the Berlin museums collection.The collaborative exhibition is an important sign of solidarity, as Gemldegalerie directorDagmar Hirschfelder tells RBB. Cultural assets, Ukrainian cultural assets, are being actively destroyed and annihilated. And making a contribution here is very important to us.The exhibition is divided into nine chapters highlighting different genres of European painting, which reflect the multifaceted nature of the Ukrainian collection, which has hitherto been little known in Western Europe, per the statement.Portrait of Olena Tolstoy,Domenico Morelli, 1875 Odesa Museum of Western and Eastern Art, inv. no. -111, Gemldegalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin / Eigentum des Museums fr Westliche und stliche Kunst Odesa / Christoph SchmidtI hope that this exhibition will be seen by many people from Germany, Europe and around the world, Steinmeier said at the opening. I hope that Ukrainians who have found refuge here in Germany will find a piece of home in the paintings. Most importantly, the president added, he hopes the paintings will be returned to the Odesa museum in a free and independent Ukraine.It gives us hope when people come to the museum and see that paper and canvas have lasted for so many years and experienced so much, Poronyk tells RBB. Evil is fleeting, but art lasts forever.From Odesa to Berlin: European Painting From the 16th to the 19th Century is on view at the Gemldegalerie in Berlin through June 22, 2025.Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.Filed Under: Art, Art History, Arts, Cultural Heritage, Cultural Preservation, Exhibitions, Exhibits, Germany, Museums, Painters, Painting, Russia , Ukraine