The Cuban-American Multimillionaire, Roberto Polo, will loan his 7,000-piece contemporary collection to Spain for 15 years, which is Spain’s biggest cultural deal in over 20 years.
The collection will include paintings, sculptures and photographs. It includes works by Max Ernst from Germany, and the American sculptor Martin Kline, that will be shown at museums in Toledo and Cuenca in central Spain.
Below is a painting from Max Ernst (left) and a sculpture from Martin Kline (right):
After the 15 years, the loan could be extended, or the works may even be donated to Spain.
Emiliano Garcia-Page, the president of the Castilla-La Mancha regional government said this was the most important cultural operation for the country since the Swiss art collection deal in 1993 from industrialist Baron Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza.
It is still uncertain of the value of the collection, but the Spanish newspaper: El País, has said it has been insured for $50 million (44 million euros).
Polo, who now lives in Brussels, said: “I have always loaned works, and in the end if they have been well taken care of, valued and respected, I have always ended up donating them, but I first want to have proof that they are valued and respected as they should.”
The regional government in Catilla-La Mancha will refurbish the Santa Fe museum in Toledo and the Public Records archive in Cuenca to display Polo’s works.
The works will be displayed in Toledo from the middle of 2018, and shortly afterwards in Cuenca as well.