Despite the outcry from culture buffs and left wingers, the controversial sale of 85 Miró paintings owned by the state following the nationalisation of bankrupt BPN bank will now be going ahead in June.
Christie’s auction house has announced the re-scheduling but has yet to give a firm date.
The sale – expected to make as much as €50 million for state coffers – has outraged thousands, who have dubbed it the “worst deal in the world”.
Money made will “disappear immediately”, they say, while the loss in terms of culture for the country will be immeasurable.
Meantime, the country’s Left Bloc (BE) has pushed for a new law to inventory all the state’s cultural assets ‘inherited’ as part of the infamous BPN bailout.
The 85 Miró’s are just some of the hoard of artworks formerly owned by BPN which was nationalised by the government in 2008.
The idea behind the Left Bloc’s bid is to “stop any senseless sale of cultural assets”. It has been approved by the government’s education, culture and science commission but failed to receive the thumbs up from Socialists and the CDS-PP, who all seem to consider it “unconstitutional”.
