The very rich art lover no longer “advises” the Guggenheim Museum in New York. Advising means, of course, supporting the museum’s events financially.
(Photo: Chris J Ratcliffe/Bloomberg)
Zurich Russian oligarchs and the super-rich have shaped cultural life in Europe as record-granting art collectors, influential museum advisory boards and sponsors.
First, conductor Valery Gergiev was fired as head of the Munich Philharmonic and at the Verbier Festival in Switzerland for failing to distance himself from Vladimir Putin. Then the Verbier Festival announced that it would also be repaying Russian donations, which for years have been used to paint a certain pro-government image of Russia.
The Swiss-based oligarch and Putin friend Gennady Timchenko is behind the Neva Foundation. As the founder and majority shareholder of the Volga Group, which specializes in energy, infrastructure and transport, he is on an international sanctions list. What was welcome for a long time is now being cancelled.
Meanwhile, some billionaires are withdrawing voluntarily, whether they are on sanctions lists or not. The extremely wealthy art lover Vladimir Potanin no longer advises the Guggenheim Museum in New York. Advising means, of course, supporting the museum’s events financially.
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Petr Olegovich Aven, head of Alfa Group, Russia’s largest commercial bank, is close to Putin. Aven is on the EU sanctions list. He recently vacated his seat on the board of the Royal Academy in London. The exhibition house had received a donation from Aven for the ongoing Francis Bacon exhibition. However, the Royal Academy has now announced that she has returned the grant.
The Chelsea Football Club owner made art market history when he purchased a three-part painting by Francis Bacon in 2008 for a record $86.3 million.
(Photo: REUTERS/Andrew Winning)
Francis Bacon’s psychologically haunting images of people also wowed another ultra-wealthy Russian, Roman Abramovich. The Chelsea Football Club owner made art market history when he acquired a three-part painting by Francis Bacon in 2008 for a record price of $86.3 million.
Abramovich lives in London and has been on the British sanctions list since Thursday. Its assets are frozen.
>> Read here: These Russian billionaires are blacklisted
Art in the high-end area is always a means of securing liquidity. The art world will be watching closely to see whether recognizable oligarch-owned “Trophy Art” will come onto the market at the upcoming auctions in New York and London in early summer. Or whether the sellers choose the more discreet way of private sales. Then the public does not know anything about transfers of ownership.
Anyone who thinks that sanctioned Russians who can no longer dispose of their bank assets are just selling art, the auction multinationals reassure them: they have long had to follow strict rules against money laundering and know-your-customer laws.
In the future, however, Sotheby’s, Christie’s and Phillips will have to pay even more attention to identifying front men and women and screening shell companies in offshore tax havens. The Panama Papers and other revelations point the way.
More: Great Britain puts Roman Abramovich on sanctions list – FC-Chelsea sale stopped