2023-10-19 15:19:06
The children of the late media czar want to part with the collection of 25,000 objects. Renting a warehouse is too expensive.
The children of former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who died in June, want to get rid of the TV tycoon’s large art collection, which also includes several erotic paintings. The collection, consisting of 25,000 pictures and statues, is stored in a 4,500 square meter warehouse not far from Berlusconi’s residence in Arcore near Milan, for which the family pays 800,000 euros a year in rent.
Since the collection has a low art value, the media czar’s five children want to part with the pictures and clear the warehouse, reported the Roman daily newspaper “La Repubblica”. The pictures come from Berlusconi’s many visits abroad. They are pictures of the cities that the four-time prime minister particularly loved, especially Paris, Venice, Rome and Naples. Marble busts of Berlusconi are also kept in the warehouse. The collection includes images of naked women and paintings of the Mother of God. Berlusconi is said to have purchased many pieces from shopping television channels.
Only a few pictures are interesting
According to “La Repubblica”, Berlusconi is said to have spent 20 million euros on art in just a few years, but focused more on quantity than quality, complained State Secretary for Culture Vittorio Sgarbi. “Out of 25,000 paintings, only six or seven are really interesting,” commented Sgarbi, one of the most prestigious art experts in Italy and a parliamentarian from Berlusconi’s Forza Italia party.
What exactly should happen to the pictures is questionable. Moths have already seriously damaged several picture frames, the paper reported. Disinfection is too expensive, so his descendants want to part with the pictures. The less valuable objects could even be burned. “I know that on an artistic level, destroying these paintings would not be a crime,” commented Sgarbi.
#Berlusconis #heirs #rid #exprime #ministers #erotic #artwork