During the last fifty years, the private art collection of the Blaquier family it was in one of the best kept secrets in the world of Argentine art. No one in the connoisseur universe knew exactly what they had; only a select few beyond his inner circle got a private tour of his gallery of great masters. They did not show it to the public, as did, for example, Amalia Lacroze de Fortabat with hers, or Eduardo Constantini, who set up their own museums and open collections. Nor were they in the habit of lending their paintings for museum exhibits. Thus, the pictorial heritage of the clan headed by the recently deceased sugar businessman Carlos Pedro and his ex-wife Nelly Arrieta, renowned patron and mother of his five children, also deceased, became a an obvious mysterysomething that many knew existed, but did not really know.
Now, that mystery became an administrative problem of $7.3 billion pesos.
In recent days, Customs applied a fine for that amount after an internal process that has not yet been prosecuted: eleven works of the clan’s patrimony valued by the Argentine State at 350 million dollars were exported to Luxembourg free of charge, apparently for an exhibition, with the obligation that the works return to the country before the expiration of the established term. However, according to the Customs accusation, the owners refused to repatriate them.
The fine, precisely, was applied to the exporting firm in charge of moving the works, well known in the art business.
infobae He accessed the full list of parts through sources in the case. In the list of works you will find, for example, a painting by Van Gogh, a scene of roses, and a canvas by Edgar Degas, part of his equestrian series Avant La Course: Another painting in this series is in the Walters Museum in Baltimore, United States. A painting by Pierre August Renoir was also included. The three works mentioned here were expressly sent “free of charge”, according to a source.
There is also, a floral scene by Paul Gauguin and one of the most iconic works on the list is a piece by Claude Monet that shows his famous Les Nympheas, his water lilies, at least according to the name of the piece written in the manifesto. There is also a Paul Cézanne; according to the declared title, it would be one of the classic harlequins of him.
The procedures to withdraw the works from the country began in November 2019, according to the same sources. The start date of the proceedings is at least significant. The old General Resolution No. 3,730 of the AFIP provided for the “Fiscal Registry of Works of Art Operators”, an information regime regarding the “purchase, sale and intermediation operations of works of art and the obligation to present a declaration annual jury in charge of the owners of said works of art”.
In June 2019, the AFIP resolved to leave Resolution No. 3730 without effect, only keeping the annual sworn declaration of works.
This medium consulted Customs for details on the subject, but the agency has not responded so far.
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