AirBridgeCargo Airlines (ABC) was entrusted with the movement of 34 paintings by the Dutch artist Piet Mondrian worth in excess of €130 million, onboard two flights from Amsterdam to Moscow. The shipment was under personal control of the Ministers of Culture of Holland and Russia.

The paintings were carried on ABC’s B747-8F and B747-400ERF freighters to Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport for an exhibition at the city’s Tretyakov Gallery, which continues until November 24th. Piet Mondrian, the outstanding Dutch painter and arts theorist of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, is considered to be one of the founders of abstract art alongside the works of Kandinsky, Malevich, and Rothko.

AirBridgeCargo is regularly called upon to provide secure transportation for high value works of art. Over the last two years the airline has carried 175 shipments of artworks, including exhibits for such leading museums and galleries as the National Pushkin Museum, Nacional del Prado, the Louvre, Sotheby’s, McDougall Fine Arts, and Hanson Gallery Fine Arts, as well as for private collections.

“Transportation of unique, high value artworks requires great precision. This demanding task requires the highest level of professionalism and teamwork at each stage of the delivery process to protect the cultural property. Through our work in this specialist field, ABC has earned a reputation for its transportation services and gained the confidence of customers that we can guarantee safe and reliable carriage of their precious shipments,” said Alexander Roschupkin, Commercial Director of ABC.

ABC press release