In a surprising outburst Pedro Passos Coelho blamed Christie's the auctioneers for the problems and illegalities surrounding the export of the Miró art collection for sale in London.
Christie's "was put in charge of dealing with everything" said Passos Coelho, adding that this was supposed to be a start to finish process, "It is clear that the company is responsible for the problems in the export process for the works of art.”
Passos Coelho is adamant that Christie's was responsible for the entire process surrounding the auction of 85 paintings by Miró.
Christie’s sensibly pulled the sale of art due to overhanging Portuguese court processes, injunctions, illegalities over export permits and a feeling that if it sold the works there might later be court proceedings against it, or the eventual buyers.
Portugal’s thwarted PM disagrees "It's clear the turnkey process was awarded to the auctioneer and it had the responsibility to do everything, to request the export of works, arrange export insurance, and find a transport company " said Passos Coelho in Lisbon today in response to a press question about who was responsible for the embarrassing series of events.
The pace hotted up today as a second injunction was filed in Lisbon to prevent the collection leaving the country. This injunction focuses on "the illegality referred to in the judgment on the first injunction." Both injunctions were filed to prevent the collection being sold by the state.
The first judgement dismissed the initial injunction, saying that it was a business decision to sell the collection, with the judges adding that the Secretary of State for Culture Jorge Barreto Xavier had acted in a "manifestly illegal" way by authorising the export for sale of the works.
The Miró collection was owned by BPN bank. The painter’s works passed into the hands of the Portuguese state after the emergency nationalisation of the bank in December 2008.
João Fernandes the former director of the Serralves Museum and current deputy director of the Reina Sofia Museum in Madrid, which houses one of the most important Miró collections in the world, said today that the art should stay in Portugal, "enriching the Portuguese artistic heritage would be a noble and important goal."
Admitting "surprise" at how the whole process has failed, Fernandes said the planned sale "lacked foresight and strategy. I prefer that these works are in a museum rather than in a private collection, in China or elsewhere, where no one will ever again be able to see the work."
