Picasso to leave the UK
December 19 2012
Picture: Courtauld
Picasso's Girl with a Dove, recently sold for £50m, will now leave the UK after an export licence was granted. No UK museum had tried to raise the funds necessary to keep the picture here. It's interesting that, despite the Picasso name, the picture did not generate any 'save it for the nation' campaign.
This year, UK museums have raised enough money to keep artefacts worth £29m in the country, including the Manet at the Ashmolean, a pair of console tables at the V&A, and a sculpture by John Nost the Elder, also at the V&A. The bulk of the money for these purcahses came from the Treasury, in the form of tax foregone. More details here.
