Soviet sale of Hermitage paintings Soviet sale of Hermitage paintings The Soviet sale of Hermitage paintings in 1930 and 1931 resulted in the departure of some of the most valuable paintings from the collection of the State Hermitage Museum in Leningrad to Western museums. Several of the paintings had been in the Hermitage Collection since its creation by Empress Catherine the Great. About 250 paintings were sold, including masterpieces by Jan van Eyck, Titian, Rembrandt, Rubens, Raphael, and other important artists. Andrew Mellon donated the twenty-one paintings he purchased from the Hermitage to the United States government in 1937, which became the nucleus of the
Vilnius Guggenheim Hermitage Museum as having regained support, including that of the Vilnius mayor, Arturas Zuokas, even though the embezzlement inquiry was still ongoing. As envisioned in 2008, Vilnius Guggenheim Hermitage Museum would have presented exhibitions of new media art, parts of the New York City anthology film archive, and Fluxus art. The Fluxus art movement flourished in New York during the 1960s, and was led by Lithuanian-born artist Jurgis Mačiūnas. Another important part of the exhibition would have been a collection of works by Lithuanian avant-garde film maker Jonas Mekas. These works are currently held by the Jonas Mekas Visual Arts Center. Collections