Arts & International Affairs: Volume 2, Issue 1 | Page 135

a series of MoMA franchises in several Brazilian cities, including São Paulo,
Rio de Janeiro and Belo Horizonte (Guilbaut ����). Indeed, Rockefeller was
vying with the French at the time for this kind of cultural influence in Brazil.
This effort was part of a Cold War fight against the spread of communism,
founded on the idea that if Latin Americans embrace American art, they
will also embrace the ideology that animates it (Guilbaut ����). MoMA’s
goals in this endeavor were more political than economic as compared with
contemporary museum branches. They were tools of cultural diplomacy.
Ernst Veen sees the Hermitage Amsterdam as having a cultural diplomacy
dimension. “I am a product of the Cold War. Here and now I want to
make a nice exhibition. But, at the same time I also want our institution to
make a small contribution to open political relations between Russia and
the Netherlands” (Tromp ����:���). When asked why he did not choose
to collaborate with the Louvre or the Met, which might be simpler, Veen
says, “It arises from the choices we have been making for years as we have
put together our exhibitions in De Nieuwe Kerk. Why do we do shows on
Afghanistan, or on Morocco, or Turkey? It has to do with our wish to use
art to say something more about other cultures. Hopefully, it helps people
to understand each other better” (Tromp ����:���). An entire room in
the Hermitage Amsterdam, called The Russia Gallery, is dedicated to the
origins of the museum against the backdrop of historical relations between
the Netherlands and Russia. It traces “warm contacts” between the two
nations from the time of Tsar Peter the Great in ����. The establishment
of a Hermitage satellite in Amsterdam is portrayed as the culmination or a
natural outgrowth of centuries of positive ties. In this room, the Amsterdam
museum is lightheartedly referred to as an “embassy” and an “ambassador”
of Russia’s national museum.
The Louvre Abu Dhabi aims to be the world’s first universal museum,
ranging across millennia and multiple societies, cultures, and civilizations. At
a ���� exhibit promoting the opening of the Louvre Abu Dhabi, HE Sheikh
Sultan bin Tahnoon Al Nahyan, Chairman of Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture
Authority, said that, “even before opening its doors, Louvre Abu Dhabi is
setting its precedent as a place of cross-cultural dialogue and exchange”
(“Louvre” ����). It is arguably not only exposure to the art that bridges
cultures, promotes dialogue and understanding. For some, the business
partnerships themselves contribute to this objective. As McClellan puts it
(in Maher ����): “the rhetoric you hear consistently around the openings
of these [new] museums is that they will foster dialogue between east and
west. And that’s a very important justification for museums I think all over
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