Art
Museums Clash Over Attempt to Sell a Chagall to Pay for a David
- National Gallery of Canada’s proposed fine-art swap draws fire
- Quebec government uses heritage designation to block the move
A museum’s bid to boost its acquisition budget by selling a Marc Chagall painting has sparked a culture clash in Canada, raising an age-old question: Whose art is it anyway?
The National Gallery of Canada is auctioning off the Chagall, worth as much a $9 million, so it can snap up another piece by Jacques-Louis David, being sold for $5 million by a cash-strapped church in Quebec City. The gallery sees it as a last shot at the David and doesn’t mind parting with one of its two Chagalls.