Museum Langmatt in Baden, Switzerland has caused a lot of commotion with its intention to sell three paintings by Paul Cézanne. In November, the museum will have two still lifes and one seascape by the French Post-Impressionist auctioned at Christie’s in New York to secure the future of the museum.
The Langmatt Museum, opened in 1990, houses a collection of around fifty impressionist works of art that was assembled at the beginning of the last century by the Swiss machine builder Sidney Brown and his wife Jenny.
According to the Baden municipal council and the Langmatt Foundation, the museum needs approximately 42 million euros to survive. The museum has agreed a unique auction format with Christie’s. If the first Cézanne offered, a fruit still life with a ginger jar, raises the required amount, the auction of Cézanne’s other two paintings will not take place. The fruit still life has a target price of 33 to 52 million euros.
Short-sighted policy
Critics call the sale of the masterpiece scandalous. In The Art Newspaper says Tobia Bezzola, president of the Swiss chapter of the international museum association Icom: “For Icom this is an absolute no go. The museum is selling masterpieces from the collection to finance future operating costs.”
Bezzola warns against setting a precedent: “Cities and cantons in Switzerland are very often tempted to cover museum operating costs through sales. Terribly short-sighted policy.”
Markus Stegmann, the director of Museum Langmatt, calls the auction “painful”. Previous attempts to get the finances in order have failed, he says.