The Spanish Government refuses the Temporary Transfer of Guernica to the Guggenheim Bilbao
It is not applicable. This is the official response that this Tuesday the Minister of Culture, Ernest Urtasun, gave to the Partido Nacionalista Vasco, PNB, regarding the temporary transfer of Picasso's Guernica to the Basque Country, which the Vitoria government has formally requested on the occasion of the 90th anniversary of the first Basque executive and the bombing of Guernica.
"My duty as minister is to guarantee access to culture, but at the same time to preserve heritage," Ernest Urtasun, Spain's Minister of Culture, replied to a question from PNB senator Igotz López, closing the door to transporting the painting to the Guggenheim in Bilbao because technicians from the Reina Sofía museum advise against it.
The answer of Ernest Urtasun did not convince the PNB, which only asks that the Reina Sofía's expert committee be open to studying the possible transfer with those from the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao and other international experts.
The Basque nationalists see a hidden agenda behind it: "The Reina Sofía experts' report says that Guernica is a key piece of the museum without which the institution would lose its purpose. Perhaps here lies the reason for the technical immobility," denounced Senator López, who considers it a matter of political will. "Its presence in the Basque Country would be an act of reparation; not trying to do so would be unforgivable," he concluded.
Main Image: Pablo Picasso, Guernica