The Helsinki Ateneum Art Museum announced in a press release that plans to lend the works to the State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow have been abandoned due to Russia’s hostilities in Ukraine. "makes it impossible" to ensure continued cooperation.
The exhibition would have been the first exhibition of a well-known Finnish painter Akseli Gallen-Kallelan works in the Tretyakov Gallery and the first Gallen-Kallela exhibition in Russia for many years.
"Due to ongoing hostilities, we cannot rely on job security. The words of peace have officially turned into acts of war, and this makes it impossible to borrow our work," director of the museum Marja Sakari wrote in a press release.
The Tretyakov Gallery is one of the largest and most prestigious museums in Russia.
The National Gallery, to which the Ateneum belongs, had planned to borrow Gallen-Kallela’s iconic Landscape Paintings, Kalevala-themed works and a selection of unique prints from the collections of the State Art Museum for the exhibition.
In addition to the Ateneum, the National Gallery includes the Sinebrychoff Art Museum and the Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art.
"One of the most important tasks of the National Gallery is to manage the Finnish National Art Collection," Ateneum’s press release stated.
Source: The Nordic Page