The representatives Madrid Museum of Modern Art the Queen Sofia, probably ears burned with shame when in 2006 they were forced to admit that the museum has lost ... 38-ton sculpture. Moreover, its loss is not seen much of 14 years !..

In 1986 the museum commissioned the American artist Richard Serre (Richard Serra) huge steel sculpture. Serra established the work «Ravnyy-parallelnyy/Gernika-Bengazi» (Equal-Parallel/Guernica-Bengasi), which exhibited a four-year term. In 1990, the museum's leadership decided to «upgrade» collection and sculpture Serra seemed to him too much. The piece was sent to a private warehouse Makarron.

Fourteen years later, the museum director Ana Martinez de Aguilar (Ana Martínez de Aguilar) again decided to update the permanent exhibition and ordered to draw up an inventory of all items from the collection. A year later, she wanted to return to the museum sculpture Serra. Then something and discovered that the store owner went bankrupt and in 1998 the store with all its contents were transferred into the hands of liquidators. Where delas huge sculpture consisting of four blocks of 1.5 m thick, is unknown - the last papers in which she mentions are dated 1992.

Police launched an investigation, but she still could not find the sculpture. The former owner of the warehouse said he had no knowledge of her whereabouts. It seemed that Queen Sofia Museum visitors will never see the work of Serra. But at the end of 2006, the artist, whose detailed information about all events in search of work, suddenly agreed to create a second sculpture of the same!

The product was manufactured in the foundry shop in Germany, where normally Serra sculpture. The artist agreed to do the work free of charge, but demanded that the Spanish Ministry of Culture and the Museum of Queen Sofia to assume responsibility for the loss of his creations. In addition, the museum had to pay the cost of manufacture of the sculpture - 83.5 thousand euro.

«It's a little bit, given that initially the [Serra sculpture. - Ed. ] was paid 220 thousand euros», - said the current museum director Manuel Borja-Biyel (Manuel Borja -Villel). According to him, its current market value is so high, that does not give his consent Serra sculpture free of charge, they will never be able to buy it.

In the past year, the new Serra sculpture exhibited at the artist's retrospective at the New York Museum of Modern Art. In late December, it can be seen in the museum Reina Sofia.

What would be the first sculpture «Ravnyy-parallelnyy/Gernika-Bengazi», if it suddenly found? .. In this case the agreement with the artist destroy her.

Source: theartnewspaper.com , artinvestment.ru