Cypresses in Starry Night (F 1540, JH 1732) by Vincent van Gogh (1889).[1] The only known pen and ink study of The Starry Night and one of the most famous pieces in the "Baldin Collection".[2][3]
The Baldin Collection is a group of 364 masterpieces removed from Germany to the Soviet Union by Soviet Army officer Victor Baldin at the end of World War II. The ensemble consists of 362 drawings and two paintings by Dürer, van Gogh, Manet, Rembrandt, Rubens, Titian and other famous artists. Historically part of the collection at the Kunsthalle Bremen, the Baldin group came from a much larger cache of artworks stored by the Germans in a Brandenburg castle to protect it from air raids. In 1945 the castle was occupied by the Red Army and the storage vaults were looted, mainly by Russian soldiers but also by the local German population. The works Baldin took were then hidden at a Soviet Research Institute for many years. In 1991 the collection was moved to the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg where its existence was revealed to the world in 1992. It remains there today.
Since then the Baldin Collection has been regarded as looted art and is the subject of fierce debate among experts, between Germany and Russia, and among politicians inside Russia itself. While Victor Baldin did steal the works, he is also credited with having saved them from destruction. For decades he appealed to senior officials, including Soviet leaders Leonid Brezhnev and Mikhail Gorbachev, to get them returned to Germany. In 1989 Baldin even traveled to Bremen, West Germany, to reveal the existence of the secret collection to the Kunsthalle. In the 1990s the government of Boris Yeltsin finally agreed to return the works, but subsequent Russian governments have blocked such plans. Today the Collection has been called "of singular importance to the entire issue of trophy art" by the Russians[4] and a "cause célèbre of German-Russian Restitution Politics" by those who support its return.[5]
^David Brooks: Pen and Ink study of Starry Night The Vincent van Gogh Gallery, endorsed by Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam. Retrieved 3 June 2012
^The Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute: Cypresses in Starry Night in the Lost Art digital collection. Archived 10 January 2013 at archive.today. Retrieved 3 June 2012.
^Richard Boudreaux: "Ex-Soviet Officer Tried to Return Art Found in Cellar", Los Angeles Times 20 March 1995, retrieved 3 June 2012.
^Interview of Mikhail Borisovich Piotrovsky, State Hermitage Museum Director: Interview in The Gazette 12 March 2003 Moscow English summary at the website of the State Hermitage Museum. Archived 6 February 2005 at the Wayback Machine
^Akinsha, Konstantin (2010). "Why Can't Private Art "Trophies" Go Home from the War?". International Journal of Cultural Property. 17 (27): 257–290. doi:10.1017/S0940739110000111. S2CID 156663114.
The BaldinCollection is a group of 364 masterpieces removed from Germany to the Soviet Union by Soviet Army officer Victor Baldin at the end of World...
provided a written commitment that the BaldinCollection should be returned to Bremen. Although the collection is not covered by the Plundered Art Laws...
(1922–2009), Russian painter Lucas Baldin (born 1991), Brazilian football player Baldina, South Australia BaldinCollection, a group of masterpieces moved...
Mikhail Shvydkoi estimates the worth of the BaldinCollection at USD 1.5 billion. From the entire collection of the Kunsthalle, more than 1,500 artworks...
frame Stars in the sky Art portal List of works by Vincent van Gogh BaldinCollection "Vincent", 1971 song by Don McLean written as a tribute to Vincent...
List of most visited art museums List of museums in Saint Petersburg BaldinCollection "Hermitage in Figures and Facts". Hermitagemuseum.org. Retrieved 30...
into account its historical significance) is close to €15 billion. BaldinCollection Moscow gold Nazi gold Romania–Russia relations Popescu, Sabina (April...
Arkin [ru], Abram Efros [ru], and Alexander Gabrichevsky [ru]. The BaldinCollection of German art was secretly deposited in the museum, with Shchusev's...
Arkin [ru], Abram Efros [ru] and Alexander Gabrichevsky [ru]. The BaldinCollection of German art was secretly deposited in the museum, with Shchusev's...
Forza karting academy under the head coach, Russian racing driver Sergey Baldin, after several MIKS championships, he continued his career as a kart driver...
Conraads and Nahoé, p. 149. Baldin and Saint-Fuscien, p. 125. Baldin and Saint-Fuscien, p. 128. Steg, p. 49-50. Baldin and Saint-Fuscien, p. 129. Steg...
The Complete Mozart Edition is a 180-CD collection released in 1990–91 featuring all works by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (known at the set's publication)...
on February 25, 2021. Retrieved December 11, 2018. Studwell, William E.; Baldin, Mark (2000). The Big Band Reader: Songs Favored by Swing Era Orchestras...
Baldin 2000, p. 75 Listed in The New Real Book, Volume III. "Moonlight Serenade". JazzStandards.com. Retrieved 25 September 2011. Studwell & Baldin 2000...
Literature. Форейгн Лангуагес Публишинг Хусе: 145. Retrieved 21 July 2010. Baldin, A M; Basov, N G; Ginzburg, Vitalii L; Dobrotin, N A; Zatsepin, G T; Keldysh...
Ensemble (BIS CD-681). Robert H.P. Platz, with Ingrid Schmithüsen and Aldo Baldin, Ensemble Köln, Canterino 1031 Mark Wigglesworth, with Jean Rigby and Robert...
Enterprises. Retrieved June 12, 2023. Studwell, William Emmett and Mark Baldin (2000). The Big Band Reader Songs Favored by Swing Era Orchestras and Other...
Member of the Writers' Union of Kazakhstan, Gabbasov is the author of ten collections of novellas and short stories: Free horse for the dzhigit (Свободная...
Del Giovane C, Peryer G, Piggott T, Foschi M, Filippini G, Tramacere I, Baldin E, Nonino F (January 2024). "Immunomodulators and immunosuppressants for...
Krishnamurthy, deputy director Jay Aikat, chief operating officer Ilya Baldin, director of network research and infrastructure Brian Blanton, director...
Baird (born 1999), snowboarder Marika Bakewell (born 1985), curler Alyssa Baldin (born 1990), ice hockey player and inline hockey player Al Balding (1924–2006)...
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