Financially Strapped Met Opera May Sell its Prized Chagall Paintings

New York’s Metropolitan Opera, facing a serious financial crisis, may sell two beloved Marc Chagall murals to help fill the gap, but if that happens, they will stay in place. The artworks have a combined estimated value of $55 million, Sotheby’s reported new york times. Launched in 1966, source of music and triumph of music Measuring approximately 30 x 36 feet, it hangs from the building’s Grand Tier.

The Met, which has an annual budget of $330 million, has withdrawn $120 million from its endowment (more than a third of the balance), shortened its performance schedule and struck a deal with Saudi Arabia where the company will perform for three weeks each winter. era, The deal is expected to bring in more than $100 million to the Met, according to reports. The deal has come under some scrutiny because of Saudi Arabia’s record of serious human rights abuses, including the 2018 murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi. While Met general manager Peter Gelb said he was confident the deal would go through, he told the newspaper, “I understand the Saudis have to readjust their budget because of their own economic concerns.”

In 1966, Chagall also provided set and costume design for a stage production of Mozart. Magic FluteChagall’s dreamlike works were considered a good match. “Everything is instantly recognizable, vintage Chagall style, quirky characters, bright, vibrant colors,” says Alan Rich in “ world daily tribuneAs the Opera House website points out. The author seems to only care about whether the artist gets also Attention: “By the end of last night,” he wrote, “many in the Metropolitan Opera audience were convinced that Marc Chagall not only designed the new work but also composed the music, wrote the libretto, sang the principal roles and conducted it.”

The paintings have been discussed in previous reports on the Met’s financial woes. 2009, era The Met said it had used the murals as part of the collateral for an existing $35 million loan from JPMorgan Chase. It has previously sold works by Chagall Magic Flute The newspaper said the backdrop was worth $1 million.

The artist’s auction record is $28.5 million, set by his 1928 painting lover Sold at Sotheby’s in New York in 2017, it was well above the high estimate of $18 million. Since 1990, more than a dozen of his works have exceeded the $10 million mark. He is the subject of a major retrospective exhibition at the Albertina Museum in Vienna, which closes in February 2025, on the 40th anniversary of his death.

The Metropolitan Opera’s Art Gallery, opened in 2006, has hosted exhibitions by contemporary artists including Cecily Brown, Chuck Close, George Condo, Rashid Johnson, Anselm Kiefer, Julie Mehretu, Nicolas Party, Elizabeth Peyton and Dana Schutz. Currently watching a performance by Shara Hughes.

The Met is also considering selling naming rights to its theaters, Gelb said. Two adjacent buildings are named after supporters: David Geffen Hall, home to the New York Philharmonic, and the New York City Ballet, which houses the David H. Koch Theatre. It may also rent out its theater to other performers during typically quiet times.

“We’re trying to be as entrepreneurial as possible,” Gelb told the outlet era.