Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands and the President of the Russian Federation, Mr. Dmitry Medvedev, will attend opening celebrations of the Hermitage Amsterdam museum on the evening of Friday, June 19, one day prior to the
public opening of the museum on June 20, 2009. The Hermitage Amsterdam opens with the dazzling exhibition, “At the Russian Court: Palace and Protocol in the 19th Century.”

Christie's Russian Art in New York totaled USD 13,225,125 / EURO 10,019,034 and was 80% sold by value and 69% sold by lot.

Art prices fell 35 percent in the first quarter of 2009, the Financial Times reports.

Amedeo Modigliani was one of the most important artists of the 20th century.

The exhibition of photographs by Alexandra Kremer-Khomassouridze opens on March 12 at the St. Petersburg Philarmonia, Main Hall. The event will coincide with a concert by world famous conductor Yuri Temirkanov.

Sir Anthony van Dyck (1599-1641) was the greatest painter in seventeenth-century Britain. Van Dyck and Britain will reveal the Flemish artist’s unique impact on British cultural life, from the reign of Charles I onwards.