Controversial Miró collection finds a home in Oporto

30 September 2016

miro 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 collection became famous for the on-off auction plans in 2014 which saw Philip’s in London finally deciding a sale was too risky as the Portuguese State seemed unable to confirm that it had clear title to the 85 works.

The paintings had been the property of a bank which had paid €83 million for the collection before the markets crashed in 2008.

When Banco Português de Negócios went bust and the government took control of its assets, such as they were, the collection was sxheduled to be sent to London for auction with an estimate of just €35 million.

The decision to keep the paintings for the nation ends a tense two-years with the planned February 2014 sale triggering public protests and legal injunctions leading to the works being removed from the auction house catalogue just hours before bidding was due to start.

The sale of the paintings at Christie’s then was scheduled for June 2014, but that April a court blocked the export of the works ‘in defence of cultural heritage.’

This ban was over-ruled by another judge in August 2014 but the paintings stayed in the vault until sent to the Serralves museum which opens an exhibition ‘Joan Miró, Materiality and Metamorphosis’ which will run from Saturday October 1st until January 28, 2017.

The government has not made it clear whether the collection will remain under State custody or whether paintings can be sold off to private collectors, who, according to one government official, would have to accept keeping them on display in Oporto.

What of the collection?

This is one of the most extensive and impressive collections of works by the artist. An important figure in 20th-century art, Miró was highly influential for a huge number of artists, from Picasso to Pollock.

Most often associated with Surrealism, Miró’s work has an appeal that transcends traditional categories, with today’s market seeing collectors of both Impressionist & Modern Art and Post-War & Contemporary Art compete for his paintings, works on paper and sculptures.

Highlighting Miró’s incredible ability to innovate, the works feature a wide range of materials and techniques as well as his key themes and subjects, from poetry and dreams to music and stars, women and birds. He was an artist who allowed himself to be influenced by a range of things, from music, poetry and then hallucinations induced by hunger during his early years in Paris, to patterns made by chance, to the materials themselves.

The original bedroom farce, acted out under the Passos Coelho government, triggered questions that have never been answered, including:

In the light of a reserve price of €32 million, why was a cash bid of €50 million from Angolan millionaire Rui Costa Reis, rejected?
Why was the contract between Parapublica and Christie's not sent to the Court of Auditors?
Why was there an attempt in parliament to keep the sale contract away from the scrutiny of MPs?
What was the deal with Christie's and why was it shrouded in suspicion that if the auction fails, the auction house can 'acquire' the collection for €32 million and sell it on?
Why are those in charge of this process who have acted illegally still drawing a taxpayer-funded salary?

Thankfully, the shameful mishandling of the sale process led to the paintings being ‘kept on hold’ until the PM’s announcement this week.

For once the nation can be grateful that the ineptitude and incompetence of those employed at the taxpayers’ expense has led to an important collection remaining in the country where it will attract art lovers from all over the world.

For exhibition details, see: 'Materiality and Metamorphosis'