Director General of the LNMA Arūnas Gelūnas receives the Knight’s Cross of the French National Order of the Legion of Honour

On 13th July, Dr Arūnas Gelūnas, Director General of the Lithuanian National Museum of Art, was awarded the Knight’s Cross of the French National Order of the Legion of Honour. Founded in 1802 by the Emperor Napoleon, it is the highest state decoration of the French Republic. 

The accolade was presented by the French Ambassador to Lithuania Lucie Stepanyan during the ceremony held at the LNMA National Gallery of Art in Vilnius. 

‘This award from the French Republic is not only a personal recognition for me – I accept it as an acknowledgment of the work of our entire Lithuanian National Museum of Art community, the cultural partnership between Lithuania and France, and the belief that art is a universal language of diplomacy. French culture has been part of my life since childhood, and today I take pride in the projects where our museum collaborates with the foremost French partners in building bridges between people and states. This award also underscores to me that we are united not only by the love of art, but also by the common values of respect to human dignity, freedom and culture,’ the Director General of the LNMA Dr Arūnas Gelūnas said in his statement. 

Building a bridge for Lithuanian culture into France 

During the Season of Lithuanian in France, the LNMA collaborated with the French institutions to present four art exhibitions, thus becoming one of the flagships of this cultural and diplomatic initiative.  The Ambassadors, a major group show designed to reflect the multiplicity of contemporary Lithuanian art, was hosted by the Fondation Fiminco in Romainville. It introduced the collection of the LNMA and the artists spanning different generations. 

Carré d'Art, Contemporary Art Museum of Nimes, showcased an exhibition Aleksandra Kasuba. Imagining the Future, the first major event in France by the Lithuanian-American artist, centred on her pioneering multidisciplinary practice embracing design, architecture and experimental art.  The same venue presented the contemporary Lithuanian artist Marija Olšauskaitė with her exhibition The Softest Hard, a poetic oscillation between the traditions of craft and ornament and the social role of sculpture. 

Tell Them of Amber, Metal, and Life: Contemporary Lithuanian Jewellery 1990-2023 at the Musee du Bijou Contemporain in Cagnes-sur-Mer featured twelve artists spanning different generations presenting the artwork that evoke of the narrative of the Lithuanian identity and its cultural transformations over the past three decades. 

These exhibitions not only presented a broad spectrum of Lithuanian art to the French public: they took the collaboration between the Lithuanian and French museums to a new stage of a growing mutual trust and long-term partnerships. 

French culture in Lithuania – the implemented projects and future plans

This cultural traffic flows in both directions, as evidenced by recent exhibitions in Lithuania. The Litvak Artists in Paris hosted by the Vytautas Kasiulis Museum of Art in 2023, was the first in the Baltics comprehensive retrospective celebrating the art by the Litvak artists of École de Paris. The lenders to the event of international significance were the Pompidou National Centre for Art and Culture and the Museum of the Art and History of Judaism (MahJ), as well as a number of Lithuanian museums and private collectors. 

The major exhibition Chagall. Picasso. Ernst. Ceramics and Tapestry staged at the Museum of Applied Arts and Design in 2024, offered the Lithuanian public a life-time opportunity to appreciate the rare original artwork by the classics of 20th-century Modernism. The exhibition was expanded by the creative legacy by the master weaver of modern tapestry Yvette Cauquil-Prince, and an exhibition Reconnection with Origins by her son, Darius Hecq-Cauquil. 

The exhibition In Memory of Reborn Pain (2025) created by the foremost French contemporary artist Tania Mouraud expressly for the Vytautas Kasiulis Museum of Art in Vilnius, became an act that transformed the cultural Litvak heritage, the poetry texts from the Vilnius Ghetto, and the memory of the Yiddish language into an emphatic dialogue between the history of Lithuania and French culture. 

The partnership between the Lithuanian National Museum of Art and the French cultural institutions is gaining impetus. A new exhibition in collaboration with the famous Centre Pompidou is expected to open in a couple of years from now. Another upcoming project evolves in partnership with Prof. Nicolas Garnier, curator of the Musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac. It will present a selection of Papua New Guinea sculpture from the collections of the LNMA. ‘Such projects demonstrate that culture is the most potent language of diplomacy: it builds trust, enduring friendships and a common vision for the future,’ Arūnas Gelūnas said in his gratitude address. 

International recognition for cultural diplomacy 

Arūnas Gelūnas has been at the helm of the Lithuanian National Museum of Art since 2019. Over this period, his official national and international accolades include the Japanese Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star; the Officer's Cross of the Order of Merit to Lithuania (2023); and the Ukrainian Order of Merit, III degree, as decreed by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Most recently, the Knight’s Cross of the French National Order of the Legion of Honour was added to his list of international credits. 

Prior to starting to lead the Lithuanian National Museum of Art, Arūnas Gelūnas received the Order of Orange-Nassau from the Kingdom of the Netherlands, awarded for his role in organizing the 2008 visit of Queen Beatrix to the Vilnius Academy of Arts; the Medal for Merit to Culture from the Polish Ministry of Culture, in recognition of his efforts in organizing the centenary celebration of the birth of Lithuanian-born Nobel laureate Czesław Miłosz, and the Commemorative Honorary Badge of the President of the Republic of Lithuania, awarded for his planning and implementation of the cultural programmes for the Lithuanian Presidency of the Council of the European Union in 2013.