Fortunately for the Portuguese taxpayer, the gentlemen at the British auction house, Christie’s, have agreed to cancel the contract to sell the Joan Miró collection, without requiring payment or seeking damages.
The Finance Ministry today announced that Parvalorem and Parups have reached an agreement with Christie’s to rescind the sale by auction agreement for the collection of 85 works by the Spanish painter.
The companies Parvalorem and Parups were created in 2010 by the State to manage the assets and recover money owed to the bust Banco Português de Negócios (BPN), which was nationalised in 2008 and listed the Miró collection among its assets.
The Ministry of Finance said of the news from Christie's, that "this is another important step towards complying with the Government regarding keeping these works in Portugal.”
The revocation of the contract has been under negotiation for some time. The current government decided to keep the Miró collection in Portugal and to this end, currently it is hung in the Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art in Oporto, in an exhibition 'Joan Miró: Materiality and Metamorphosis' curated by Robert Lubar Messeri, with architectural design by Álvaro Siza Vieira - ends June 4th, 2017.
The Passos Coelho government in 2014 decided to have the collection auctioned off - and then the farce started to play out with petitions, parliamentary debates, injunctions filed (some of which are outstanding), two cancelled auctions and an overall sense that those supposedly in charge were anything but.
Under the agreement signed between the companies representing the State and Christie’s, the collection would be sold for a minimum of €35.5 million, or a maximum of €54.3 million. A direct offer for €50 million was rejected even though a condition was that the collection went on public display.
Christie’s gave up all hope of being able to do its job, such was the legal and political storm surrounding the collection, so it ended up back in the incompetent hands of Parvalorem and Parups whose directors refused to allow the public access, ‘pending legal issues.’
One of the first things António Costa did when he took over the premiership was to stop this nonsense and agree a permanent home for the collection.
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See also:
- Controversial Miró collection finds a home in Oporto
- (News)
- The fate of Portugal’s collection of Joan Miró paintings finally has been decided by the Prime Minister António Costa - the collection will be on permanent display at the Serralves museum in Oporto. The ...
- Created on 30 September 2016
- 2. Miró works to be exhibited - "the collection should stay in Portugal"
- (News)
- ... the Joan Miró Foundation in Barcelona, and the Pilar and Joan Miró Foundation in Palma de Mallorca, this collection forms a cultural triangle in the Iberian Peninsula, its value is priceless. Keeping ...
- Created on 27 July 2016
- 3. BPN case summing up - former bank President faces 16 years in jail
- (News)
- ... art collection, including 85 works by the Catalan artist Joan Miró acquired from a private collection in Japan between 2003 and 2006, became state property in 2008 as part of the nationalisation. A ...
- Created on 01 June 2016
- 4. New government wants Miró collection to stay in Portugal
- (News)
- Less than a week after taking office, the new Minister of Culture, João Soares, has the Miró dossier on his desk. Time is on his side as later this month, 41 of the 85 works by Catalan artist Joan Miró ...
- Created on 01 December 2015
- 5. Miró auction again postponed as farce continues
- (News)
- ... le the sale of the collection of 85 works of art by Joan Miró once the legal and commercial issues surrounding the collection are resolved," writes Parvalorem in a statement that naturally fails to hint ...
- Created on 23 May 2014
- 6. State companies fined for Miró fiasco
- (News)
- ... collection of 85 works by the Catalan artist Joan Miró originally was scheduled for February but was canceled by the auction house Christie’s which did not consider the sale legally secure afte ...
- Created on 09 May 2014
- 7. Miró auction deal surrounded by suspicion
- (News)
- Details of the contract between state controlled Parvalorem and Christie's covering the forthcoming auction in London of 85 Miró works have not been disclosed "because the auction house does not want any ...
- Created on 16 April 2014
- 8. On/Off Miró auction back on
- (News)
- ... Christie's said on Thursday that the sale of 85 works by Spanish artist Joan Miró will be rescheduled for June but declined to give more details on the date, or the decision to finally sell t ...
- Created on 20 February 2014
- 9. Miró sale ditched by Christie’s
- (News)
- ... limited companies wholly publicly owned, namely the Parvalorem, SA Parups and not the state.” The 85 works of art by the Spanish painter Joan Miró have been held by the Portuguese State since the emergenc ...
- Created on 04 February 2014
