The uncertainty over whether the Portuguese state is able to sell its Miró art collection or not, has left British auctioneers Christie’s no option but to pull the sale of artwork which was to go under the hammer in London today.
Last week in Lisbon a formal request was sent by the Socialist Party to the Administrative Court to block the sale but the Court decided to reject the injunction which had aimed to keep the works for the nation’s enjoyment.
The judges concluded that "the decision to sell the 85 works of art by Miró was not taken by the state but by the board of directors of two 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 emergency nationalisation of BPN which owned the artwork. The collection currently is valued at €35 million but was worthy nearly twice this amount before the crisis.
All was set to go ahead but Christies, sensitive to the problems associated with title and the vagaries of foreign courts, decided today to pull the works from the catalogue.
The auctioneer believes that the legal uncertainty created by the ongoing wrangle shows that the sale would not have taken place in safety, “Christie's has a responsibility to its customers and would not wish for any legal disputes to interfere with any ownership rights.”
The auctioneer said that the cancellation is a result "of the dispute in the Portuguese courts in which Christie’s is not an interested party. Although the injunction was not successful, the legal uncertainty created by this ongoing dispute, means that we can not safely offer the works for sale."
"We have a responsibility to our buyers, to ensure that property can be transferred without problems."
The Lisbon Administrative Court may have given the green light to the sale but it watsted no time in accusing the government of having committed an unlawful act, a point opicked up by the Left Bloc whose Catarina Martins said, "The Secretary of State was complicit in a disregard of the law and therefore can not afford to stay in government." Martins added that if she wanted to sell a private collection it could not be done, it would be legally blocked by the Directorate General of Cultural Heritage, to do so would incur a prison sentence.
The judges concluded that the order from the Secretary of State for Culture, Jorge Barreto Xavier at the end of January authorising the dispatch and sale of works was “manifestly illegal.”
