Three paintings from the Toledo Museum of Art’s collection earned a combined $51.2 million at Sotheby’s auction Tuesday evening.
Paul Cézanne’s Clairière (The Glade) sold for $36 million, followed by Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s Nu s’essuyant winning bid for $2.2 million. Finally, the Henri Matisse painting Fleurs ou Fleurs devant un portrait sold for $13 million.
The museum plans to invest the funds to add more "diverse" artwork to its permanent collection.
The auction and the bidding process at New York-based Sotheby’s was shown online live Tuesday night on the Sotheby’s website.
On Wednesday morning, Toledo Museum of Art director Adam Levine provided a statement.
“Last night, the Toledo Museum of Art sold three paintings made by artists better represented in the collection by superior examples. We are grateful for a successful result and are focused on the opportunity to leverage these funds into supporting our collecting strategy, our strategic plan, and our mission. Because of this sale we will better be able to integrate art into the lives of people, and we look forward to delivering on that promise over the coming years.”
In a letter to Toledo Museum of Art members dated April 8, Mr. Levine stated the funds raised by the Sotheby’s sale “will allow us to diversify our collection, seeking beauty without bias.”
The news of the deaccessioning brought forth criticism both near and far, with Los Angeles Times art critic Christopher Knight calling the sale of the three paintings “a quick fix” for the museum’s diversity efforts.
“It has to come from an understanding of what diversity is. Diversity is achieved through addition, not through subtraction,” Mr. Knight said. “Removal of the works from the collection does nothing for diversity. There are ethical guidelines in the field that concern reasons for deaccession and increasing diversity is not among them.”
In April, Gary Gonya, brand strategy director for the museum, said that the sale of the three paintings shouldn’t be considered controversial.
”It’s a very common practice across museums to deaccession work in the interest of making sure that the very best art is here,” said Mr. Gonya in an interview. “There’s always going to be gaps in certain parts of history or certain artists being underrepresented, be it female artists, African-American artists, or other ethnicities.”
Mr. Levine emphasized that despite the deaccession, the museum still has artworks by all three artists in its permanent collection that are considered superior works to the pieces being auctioned. Citing the museum’s Collections Management Policy, Mr. Levine emphasized that deaccession has been a part of the museum since its founding.
“The Toledo Museum of Art has had 11 directors and 9 of them have deaccessioned,” Mr. Levine said of taking paintings out of the museum’s collection. “Deaccessioning has been a part of the Toledo Museum of Art’s history basically since its founding. Edward Drummond Libbey allowed it in his will by design, Florence Scott Libbey allowed it in her will by design and we have always sought to upgrade our works and to retain works of the highest quality. This deaccessioning effort is about retaining only the highest quality and the proceeds will only be used for acquisition.”
First Published May 18, 2022, 12:56 a.m.
