Russia will auction a painting by the artist Ivan Aivazovsky “Moonlight Night”. As the Russian press reports, the painting will be auctioned on February 18, experts estimate its value at 100 million rubles.
Full moon night. Photo: kuadros.com
Former Crimean prosecutor Gunduz Mamedov said “Night in the Moonlight” was among 52 canvases that were illegally transferred from the Simferopol Art Museum. In 2017, Interpol launched an international search for the missing canvases from the said museum. “In this way, the Russian Federation openly ignores international law, because according to the 1970 UNESCO Convention, the export of cultural values and the transfer of ownership are prohibited“, Gunduz Mamedov wrote in the microblog X (formerly Twitter).
Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovski (1817-1900) was a Russian painter of Armenian origin and a member of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Arts, who lived and worked in the Crimea. He is famous for landscapes with expanses of water, which make up more than half of his paintings.
Russia takes everything of value from the occupied territories
Last spring, Russian invaders were reported to have looted the Chersonesus Tavriysky Reserve-Museum in occupied Crimea. Valuable artifacts were taken by the Russians to Veliky Novgorod.
Before fleeing Kherson, the occupiers took works of art and office equipment from the Kherson Art Museum.
The invaders also removed equipment from communal enterprises and took collectible drinks from wineries and cognac factories, reports Unian.ua.
During the summer, it became known that three paintings by Ivan Aivazovsky were stolen from the Kherson artist: “The storm subsides”, “View of the city of Odessa” and “The sea”.
