London’s V&A has removed the Sackler name from its walls, following cultural institutions in the city including the National Gallery, National Portrait Gallery, British Museum and Tate.
The museum has finally cut ties with the family, dropping the name from the Sackler Centre for Arts Education and Sackler Courtyard, the Guardian reports.
The Sackler family and the V&A had “mutually agreed” to the decision, a spokesperson told the publication.
“Dame Theresa Sackler was a trustee of the V&A between 2011 and 2019, and we are immensely grateful for her service to the V&A over the years. We have no current plans to rename the spaces,” the spokesperson said.
The V&A is the last museum in London to drop the name. The Sackler Courtyard opened in 2017 after an £8 million gift from the family.
Sackler family and V&A “mutually agreed”
The billionaire Sackler family sold addictive painkiller OxyContin through their company Purdue Pharma, which was documented in the Disney+ TV series Dopesick. The family is accused of making a profit from the US opioid epidemic.
In December, New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art previously dropped the name from seven exhibition spaces in the building. The Louvre in Paris was the first major institution to cut the Sackler name from a major wing in 2019.
The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City has also removed the Sackler name.
“The Guggenheim and the Mortimer D. Sackler family have agreed to rename the arts education center,” a spokesperson told Artnet News in May.
“We believe this decision is in the best interest of the museum and the vital work it does.”
Meanwhile, V&A East has selected architecture and design practice JA Projects, graphic design studio A Practice for Everyday Life and artist Larry Achiampong to design its new ‘Why We Make’ galleries.
Images: V&A
