Tom PowellTHE world famous Lucien Freud cannot find a gallery anywhere in Spain that will take his work, as high insurance costs keep getting in the way.
The British artist, who died in 2011, currently has his paintings on show at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, and it seems that is where they will stay.
Freud was heading for the Prado Museum in Madrid, where Manuela Mena, who knew the artist, was lined up to be the commissioner until the costs became too high.
The Guggenheim in Bilbao came to the same conclusion, as did Baroness Thyssen, one of the most important art collectors in the world who owns the Museo Carmen Thyssen in Málaga.
Lucien Freud, grandson of the psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, selected the works for the exhibition during the months prior to his death with his long-time assistant David Dawson.
The Prado Museum had a budget of €39.11 million for 2013 but recorded a loss of €1.096 million in 2012.
