Museums Going Global International museum expansion as a tool of soft power for western universalism Demi Falkmann S1403168
[email protected] Thesis supervisor: Dr. M.H.E. Hoijtink Second reader: Dr. M. Keblusek Faculty of Humanities of Leiden University MA Arts and Culture: Museums and Collections 2018 – 2019 Table of contents Introduction 1 Chapter 1. The globalization of the art market & museums 5 1.1 Museums and the art market 5 1.2 The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation 7 1.3 The State Hermitage Museum 10 1.4 Musée du Louvre 13 1.5 Concluding remarks 15 Chapter 2. International dynamics 18 2.1 Introduction 18 2.2 The Guggenheim and Bilbao 19 2.3 Saint Petersburg and Amsterdam 23 2.4 France and the Emirates 26 2.5 Concluding remarks 28 Chapter 3. Collections, contents and developments 30 3.1 Introduction 30 3.2 The Guggenheim 32 3.3 The Hermitage 36 3.4 The Louvre 38 3.5 Concluding remarks 40 Conclusion 43 Illustrations 46 Credits illustrations 48 Bibliography 49 Literature 49 Web sources 56 Introduction The International Council of Museums (ICOM) is in need of a new museum definition. The current definition of a museum that was made in 2007 is: “A museum is a non-profit, permanent institution in the service of society and its development open to the public, which acquires, conserves, researches, communicates and exhibits the tangible and intangible heritage of humanity and its environment for the purposes of education, study and enjoyment.”1 ICOM is trying to come up with a new definition and are inviting people to submit a proposal.2 This shows that the museum as an institution is constantly subject to change from within as well as from the outside world.