St Petersburg
A “Black square on a white background” by Malevich, given to the Russian government by a businessman who paid $1 million for it, has gone straight into the collection of the Hermitage. The “Black square”, the fourth in Russia, was withdrawn from an auction in Moscow on 13 April by the Ministry of Culture, who claimed that the painting belonged to the “cultural heritage of Russia” and must be sold directly to a State museum. The painting was bought by the Russian businessman Vladimir Potanin, head of Interros, one of the most powerful industrial companies in the country, and was handed over immediately to the national museum fund of Russia to be exhibited at the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg.
