The family of Pablo Picasso says they won’t be taking any action against Tasmania’s MONA after it was revealed that the museum had passed off multiple fake Picasso paintings as originals.
MONA (Museum of Old and New Art) curator Kirsha Kaechele admitted to painting the ‘priceless’ artworks herself to match the colour scheme in the now-defunct ‘Ladies Lounge’.
Her confession came in response to a letter from the Picasso Administration, the organisation responsible for managing Picasso’s estate, which had raised concerns about the authenticity of the works after the lounge shot to fame earlier in the year.
Kaechele said the counterfeit paintings had been displayed for over three years, initially in the ‘Ladies Lounge’ and then in a new female toilet opened to avoid a court-ordered shutdown of the ‘discriminatory’ space.
Paloma Ruiz-Picasso, Picasso’s youngest daughter and the current head of the Paris-based Picasso Administration, expressed regret over the incident but confirmed that no further action would be taken.
“The Picasso Estate, through Picasso Administration, recently contacted MONA over the exhibition of several works by Picasso whose nature seemed doubtful,” the organisation told RN.
“MONA immediately responded, expressing its regrets and declaring it was ready to take the paintings down.”
“While we can only regret this situation and the current overexposure, we believe that this matter is now closed.”
They said that they “in no way” hold the incident against the museum or Kaechele.
“The urgency of creation sometimes makes us forget that there are principles of law protecting the interests of authors, which apply to everyone,” they said.
“Mistakes are also part of learning and we have no doubt that MONA will make sure to call on authors when necessary in the future.”