Vladimir Potanin
The Centre Pompidou in Paris has halted a $619,000 donation from Vladimir Potanin, one of Russia's richest men, as cultural institutions around the world grapple with how to respond to the invasion of Ukraine. Potanin's resignation from the board of the Guggenheim Museum in New York, where he had served for 20 years, is closely related to the news from Paris. Potanin's foundation made two donations totaling €1.3 million ($1.4 million) to the Centre Pompidou beginning in 2015. The gift from Potanin was described as a "source of embarrassment" in the report. According to reports, the partnership enabled the Centre Pompidou to purchase nearly 500 artworks.
Potanin's initial gift of approximately $638,000 financed the acquisition of approximately 250 works of Soviet and Russian contemporary art. Potanin supported the production of a 2016 show that featured the collection. Potanin's foundation's second gift was used to create a program centered on the collection, which included a lecture series, additional publications, and grants for curators and researchers. The $619,000 donation, which had been scheduled for next fall, would have provided additional funding to the exhibition program. The Centre Pompidou has stated that it does not intend to return any of the artworks featured in the exhibition.
Potanin, the chairman of the board of trustees of the State Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, has been a major global supporter of Russian art. His philanthropic program was recognized by the Corporate Art Awards, which were held at the European Parliament in Brussels in 2021. The foundation's application for the award cited Potanin's patronage of the Centre Pompidou and Moscow's State Tretyakov Gallery. Oksana Oracheva, the director of Potanin's foundation, said upon receiving the award that the organization was committed to supporting cultural initiatives that helped "shape a positive image of Russia." Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres, France's culture minister at the time, appointed Potanin a "knight in the order of arts and letters" in 2007.
During his tenure on the Guggenheim Museum's board of trustees, his foundation supported several important Russian art exhibitions, including the current exhibition of Russian modernist Wassily Kandinsky. His foundation has also given millions of dollars to Washington, D.C.'s Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. His resignation from the Guggenheim came less than 24 hours after President Joe Biden said in his State of the Union address that the Justice Department would form a task force to investigate Russian billionaires. Potanin's diverse portfolio, which includes banking, mining, and energy, is currently sanctioned only by Canada. The Guggenheim did not directly criticize Potanin in a statement addressing his departure, but it did condemn Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Since the beginning of the conflict in February, Western cultural institutions have been under increasing pressure to cut ties with known associates of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Petr Aven, a Russian banking magnate, resigned as a trustee of the Royal Academy of Arts in London on March 1. The Royal Academy also returned an Aven donation that helped fund a Francis Bacon exhibition that was on display earlier this year. The United Kingdom and the European Union have sanctioned Aven, the owner of Russia's largest commercial bank, Alfa Bank. Two weeks later, the Tate in London severed ties with Aven, a member of Tate's elite donor program, and Russian energy magnate Viktor Vekselberg. The announcement came after the United States imposed new sanctions on Vekselberg. Tate said in a statement that Vekselberg gave to the museum "seven years ago and no longer holds his honorary membership title."
Selena Mattei