Guggenheim Hermitage Museum In Las Vegas Concludes Seven-Year Residency At The Venetian-Resort-Hotel-Casino 

“JewelBox” Attracted More Than 1.1 Million Visitors with 10 Exhibitions of Masterworks from the Collections of the Guggenheim Foundation in New York and The State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg

Guggenheim Hermitage Museum Will Offer Free Admission From April 11 to May 11, 2008.

(LAS VEGAS, NV/ NEW YORK, NY – April 9, 2008) Thomas Krens , Director of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, Mikhail Piotrovsky, Director of the State Hermitage Museum , and Robert G. Goldstein, President of the Venetian and The Palazzo, today announced that the Guggenheim Hermitage Museum will conclude its seven-year tenure at The Venetian Resort-Hotel-Casino in Las Vegas on May 11, 2008. The museum, which is currently presenting Modern Masters from the Guggenheim Collection, will be open free of charge in celebration of the seven-year partnership from April 11 to May 11, 2008. During this period, the public will be able to enjoy free admission to the gallery.

Thomas Krens , Director, Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, said that the final exhibition at the Guggenheim Hermitage Museum is significant for several reasons. “We are proud of the remarkable exhibition program that has been presented in Las Vegas – bringing works by leading artists from the last six centuries to the museum – from van Eyck, Titian, and Velázquez, to van Gogh, Picasso, and Pollock. Our seven-year exhibition history is a perfect example of the value of the far-reaching partnership between the Guggenheim and The State Hermitage Museum that was launched in St. Petersburg in 2000. While the partnership also includes collection sharing and project development initiatives, the alliance is collaboration, in the truest sense of the word, between two world-class museums who have brought exceptional exhibitions and education programs to the citizens of Las Vegas and the millions of international tourists who visit the city every year. We are particularly proud to have served over 20,000 K-12 students through the school tour program and nearly 27,000 total participants through educational lectures, teacher workshops, and family programs during our tenure in Las Vegas .”

“Our intention,” said Dr. Piotrovsky, Director of The State Hermitage Museum, “has been to use our permanent collections to create a unique cultural experience. The exhibitions that we have organized for Las Vegas have also been shown at the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, and at the Guggenheim museums in New York, Bilbao, and Berlin . And as we planned, we brought these magnificent collections to new international audiences, which, after all, is part of our mission. We are proud that we also achieved our other goals by creating a new platform for scholarship and established a new model for cultural collaboration, while fulfilling our original mission.”

Mr. Krens added that the relationship with the Venetian has been extremely positive throughout the seven-year term of the association. “The Venetian built two exhibition spaces—both designed by Rem Koolhaas—that were extraordinary in everyway. Sheldon Adelson and Rob Goldstein made a pioneering effort to bring art and culture to Las Vegas audiences and from our perspective, the partnership was perfect and the objective worthy, executed with the highest standards of excellence. We had planned from the beginning that this partnership would be set for a specific term, and that has been fulfilled. We are now looking forward to continuing the relationship with a number of projects that are under discussion.”

About the Guggenheim Hermitage, Las Vegas
The Guggenheim Hermitage Museum in Las Vegas opened October 7, 2001, under the direction of Thomas Krens ,Director, Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, in collaboration with Dr. Mikhail Piotrovsky, Director, The State Hermitage Museum and Sheldon Adelson, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, Las Vegas Sands Corp. The inaugural exhibition Masterpieces and Master Collectors: Impressionist and Early Modern Paintings from the Hermitage and Guggenheim Museums, a selection of 42 key works highlighting the distinct but highly complementary strengths of these two world-renowned collections set a standard of excellence that has been maintained through 10 exhibitions presented over seven-years to 1.1 million, visitors.

The Guggenheim Hermitage Museum project results from a larger long-term collaboration agreement between The State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation in New York that continues to present exhibitions in venues world-wide is also the basis of a feasibility study currently underway in Vilnius, Lithuania.

The Guggenheim Hermitage Museum was conceived as a venue for the presentation of exhibitions based on the collections of the Guggenheim and Hermitage museums. All programming is generated by the directors and curatorial staffs of the Guggenheim and Hermitage museums, and the exhibitions change approximately twice a year.

Guggenheim Hermitage Museum Exhibition History

Masterpieces and Master Collectors: Impressionist and Early Modern Paintings from the Hermitage and Guggenheim Museums.

October 7, 2001 – August 11, 2002

Over40 masterworks tracing the bold and innovative methods of Impressionist and early Modern painting that developed at the turn of the 20th century. Featured artists included Paul Cézanne, Marc Chagall, Robert Delaunay, André Derain, Paul Gauguin, Vasily Kandinsky, Frantisek Kupka, Fernand Léger, Franz Marc, Henri Matisse, Amedeo Modigliani, Pablo Picasso, Henri Rousseau, Louis Valtat, Kees van Dongen, and Vincent van Gogh.

Art Through the Ages: Masterpieces of Painting from Titian to Picasso.

August 30, 2002 – May 3, 2003

Fortymasterpieces highlighting key moments in the development of six centuries of Western painting from Renaissance art in the 15th century to Modern art in the 20th century. Featured artists included Paul Cézanne, Albrecht Dürer, Anthony van Dyck, Jan Van Eyck, Thomas Gainsborough, Claude Gellée (Claude Lorrain), Vasily Kandinsky, Fernand Léger, Roy Lichtenstein, Lorenzo Lotto, Joan Miró, Piet Mondrian, Claude Monet, Pablo Picasso, Jackson Pollock, Nicolas Poussin, Mark Rothko, Peter Paul Rubens, Tintoretto, Titian, Vincent van Gogh, Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez, Jeane-Antoine Watteau, and Francisco de Zurbarán.

American Pop Icons.

May 15 – October 26, 2003

Iconic artwork chronicling the development of Pop art, a uniquely American style that burst upon the art world particularly inNew York and Los Angeles in the early 1960s. Eight featured artists included Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns, Jim Dine, Roy Lichtenstein, Claes Oldenburg, James Rosenquist, Andy Warhol, and Tom Wesselmann.

A Century of Painting: From Renoir to Rothko.

November 7, 2003 – July 5, 2004

Masterpieceshighlighting the history of the aesthetic vanguard from Impressionism through Abstract Expressionism. Featured artists included Georges Braque, Paul Cézanne, Marc Chagall, Robert Delaunay, Paul Gauguin, Albert Gleizes, Vasily Kandinsky, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, František Kupka, Fernand Léger, Kazimir Malevich, Edouard Manet, Franz Marc, Henri Matisse, Joan Miró, Amedeo Modigliani, Claude Monet, Robert Motherwell, Pablo Picasso, Jackson Pollock, Pierre Auguste Renoir, Mark Rothko, Georges Seurat, Gino Severini, and Vincent van Gogh.

The Pursuit of Pleasure.

July 19, 2004 – February 13, 2005

Images of leisure in Western art from the 16th century to the early 20th century, featuring artists MaxBeckmann, Louis Léopold Boilly, Marc Chagall, Edgar Degas, Eugène Delacroix, Jean-Honoré Fragonard, Vasily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, Edouard Manet, Pablo Picasso, Auguste Rodin, Henri Rousseau, Peter Paul Rubens, Jan Steen, Titian, and Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez.

The Quest for Immortality: Treasures of Ancient.

March 7 – July 31, 2005

Featuringover 100 works of ancient Egyptian art including sculptures, jewelry, reliefs, and ritual objects focusing on the afterlife in the period from the New Kingdom (1550-1069 BCE) through the late Period (664-332 BCE) from the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, the Luxor Museum of Ancient Art, and the sites of Tanis and Deir el-Bahari. Organized by United Exhibits Group, Copenhagen, and the National Gallery of Art, Washington, in association wit the Supreme Council of Antiquities, Cairo.

Russia! The Magesty of the Tsars: Treasures from the Kremlin Museum.

September 1, 2005 – January 15, 2006

A spectacular display of over 140 objects bringing together some of the greatest masterworks of Russian decorative, applied, and fine arts testifying to the opulent lifestyle of Russia’s tsars in the 16th and 17th centuries

Rubens and His Age: Masterpieces from the Hermitage Museum.

February 6 – September 4, 2006

Selection of more than 40 artworks—paintings and decorative objects—by Rubens and other acclaimed artists such as Anthony van Dyck, Jacob Jordaens, Jacob van Oost the Elder, Adriaen van Utrecht, Frans Snyders, Jan Fyt among others, most of whom were Rubens’ pupils or collaborators.

Robert Mapplethorpe and the Classical Tradition.

October 21, 2006 – February 18, 2007

An exploration of the dialogue between the photographs of Robert Mapplethorpe (1946-1989) and classical art, in particular late-16th-century Flemish Mannerist prints.

Modern Masters from the Guggenheim Collection.

July 27, 2007 to May 11, 2008

Thirtyseven masterpieces from the collection of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, that highlight key moments in the development of modern painting from the 1870s through the first several decades of the 20th century. Featured artists include Max Beckmann, Pierre Bonnard, Georges Braque, Paul Cézanne, Marc Chagall, Robert Delaunay, Albert Gleizes, Archille Gorky, Juan Gris, Alexej Jawlensky, Vasily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, Fernand Léger, Kazimir Malevich, Edouard Manet, Franz Marc, André Masson, Joan Miró, Amedeo Modigliani, Piet Mondrian, Claude Monet, Emil Nolde, Pablo Picasso, and Vincent van Gogh.

The State Hermitage Museum
Founded in 1764, The State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia, is one of the world’s great museums, with a collection of more than three million objects ranging from prehistoric cultures to Modern art, including significant holdings in Middle Eastern and Egyptian cultures, Greek and Roman art, Islamic and Oriental art, Italian Renaissance art, and nineteenth- and twentieth-century art.

The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum , founded in 1937, maintains a premiere collection of late nineteenth- and twentieth-century art, with significant holdings of artworks by Beuys, Brancusi, Cézanne, Chagall, Kandinsky, Klee, Léger, Picasso, Rauschenberg, Rothko, and Serra, among many others.

The Guggenheim Hermitage Building Design
Designed by Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas and his firm OMA, the 7,660-square-foot Guggenheim Hermitage Museum is located at the front of The Venetian Resort-Hotel-Casino, adjacent to the main entrance lobby. Both the exterior and interior walls of the museum are made of Cor-Ten steel, a material with a velvety rusted surface evocative of the velvet-covered walls in the eighteenth-century classical galleries at The State Hermitage. The severity and serenity of the steel façade dramatically contrasts with the decorative faux architecture of the major hotels and casinos in the immediate area.

The exhibition space, measuring a total of 6000 square feet, is partitioned by three Cor-Ten steel walls. A pivot system allows the walls to rotate to provide a variety of exhibition configurations: the three partitions can be lined up at the center, creating one large gallery with a long central wall, or, as in the inaugural exhibition, the space can be divided into four symmetrical galleries, each 1,500-square-feet. Clear glass reveals are installed beneath the steel walls around the perimeter of the building. This creates an unusual effect—the Cor-Ten steel walls seem to float above the floor.

#1085 April 9, 2008

FOR INFORMATION:
Eleanor R. Goldhar, Deputy Director, External Affairs
Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation
212 423 3528
Email: egoldhar@guggenheim.org

Betsy Ennis, Director, Media & Public Relations
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
212 423 3840
Email: publicaffairs@guggenheim.org

Anna Konivets, konivets@hermitage.ru
Communications Department
The State Hermitage Museum
Telephone: 7 812 315-7722
Telefax: 7 812 312-1567
Email: press@hermitage.ru

Elizabeth Herridge
Managing Director
Guggenheim Hermitage Museum
702 414 2002 p
702 414 2442 fax
Email: eherridge@guggenheim.org

Name:
Guggenheim Hermitage Museum

Opening Date:
October 7, 2001

Closing Date:
May 11, 2008

Location:
The Venetian Resort-Hotel-Casino
3355 Las Vegas Boulevard South
Las Vegas, NV 89109

Administration:
TheGuggenheim Hermitage Museum is an international alliance in which joint initiatives are undertaken and resources are shared to facilitate each institution’s long-term goals. The Guggenheim Hermitage Museum is under the patronage of the Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation, Dr. Mikhail E. Shwydkoi.

Museum Description:
The Guggenheim Hermitage Museum is a venue for the presentation of exhibitions based on the collections of the Guggenheim and The State Hermitage museums. All programming is generated by the directors and curatorial staffs of the Guggenheim and Hermitage museums. Exhibitions changed approximately twice a year.

Architect:
Rem Koolhaas / Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA), Rotterdam, Netherlands

Museum Architecture:
The Guggenheim Hermitage Museum is located at the front of The Venetian-Resort-Hotel-Casino, adjacent to the main entrance lobby. Boththe exterior and interior walls of the museum are made of Cor-Ten steel, a material with a velvety rusted surface evocative of the velvet-covered walls in the eighteenth-century classical galleries at the Hermitage. The severity and serenity of the steel façade dramatically contrasts with the decorative faux architecture of the major hotels and casinos in the immediate area. On the interior, four symmetrical galleries—each measuring 1500-square-feet—have Cor-Ten steel walls, which contrast with maple wood floors and ceilings. Natural light enters the space from several points on the front perimeter of the building.

Project Leadership:
Thomas Krens , Director, Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation
Dr. Mikhail Piotrovsky, Director, The State Hermitage Museum

Website:
www.guggenheimlasvegas.org

Museum Hours:
9:30 am – 7:30 pm daily; last ticket sold at 7:00 pm

Museum Admission:
April 11 to May 11, 2008 free admission including audio guide

Public Information:
Ticket Desk: (702) 414-2493
Automated Information: (702) 414-2440
Telefax: (702) 414-2442
www.guggenheimlasvegas.org
lvvisitorinfo@guggenheim.org