Quote:
Originally Posted by bakerman
I think the sellers father, who apparently was a friend and patron of Edvard Munch, would be pissed that something that should have been kept in the family forever would be auctioned off to help build a hotel.  |
"Olsen said he was earmarking the funds for a museum near Munch’s former home and studio that would focus on Munch and local Norwegian artists, a project that is scheduled to open next year, the 150th anniversary of Munch’s birth."
I'm not one to judge but I can appreciate anyone who has grown up with an image like that their entire life, might be excited to watch some fireworks as they turn 80. It's instant immortality for Petter which is important to some and watching that painting on the wall grow in value from less than $50k to over $100MM during your lifetime can mess with your head. Even for a billionaire, $100MM is a lot of money unless you're one of two handfuls of billionaires in the world which he is not.
It becomes tough on the one hand to keep something like that on the wall. On the other, I'd like to think that he believes he's doing right by his father and a greater good for the artist and local artists (with the planned museum) by selling it now and filling the coffers for said museum instead of it passing through his estate in a decade or two if he's lucky.