Metropolitan Museum of Art lists Aivazovsky as an Armenian artist

PanARMENIAN.Net - The New York Metropolitan Museum of Art has changed the caption to the painting "Ship by Moonlight" by artist Ivan Aivazovsky (born Hovhannes Ayvazyan, 1817-1900), exhibited in his collection.

The artist is listed as “Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky (Hovhannes Aivazian) (Armenian, born Russian Empire [now Ukraine]” on the Museum’s website.

In December 2021, there was no caption for the painting on the page, and the artist was listed as Russian. However, on February 12, 2023, the Museum changed the caption to describe Aivazovsky a Ukrainian artist.

As a member of the city’s longstanding Armenian community, Aivazovsky had a rich cultural and linguistic background. He worked and exhibited widely, including in cities in present-day Armenia, Georgia, Italy, Russia, Turkey, and mainland Ukraine, but he remained rooted in Feodosia (Theodosia). The museum that he opened in the city in 1880 was the third public art gallery in the Russian Empire.