Hungarian-born art collector Imre Pákh, who resides in New York at present, is to move one of the three paintings of Mihály Munkácsy from the Déri Museum of Debrecen where the trilogy was reunited only three weeks ago. Two pieces of the trilogy are already owned by the Hungarian state, but price negotiations between Pákh and the central bank (MNB) have balked and the art collector is to remove ‘Golgotha’ from the exhibition this month.
The National Bank of Hungary had previously offered six million US dollars for ‘Golgotha’ and so it could not match Pákh’s asking price of USD 9 million.
25 June and goodbye Golgothat
Pákh told Hungary’s state-owned newswire MTI on Sunday that talks about the sale of his painting have broken down therefore he will have ‘Golgotha’ transferred on 25 June.
He added, though, that “if until then the opinion of the MNB or its Deputy Governor Ferenc Gerhardt changes, or other state organisation or institution shows interest in the painting then I’ll be at their service."
The art collector reminded that he had both ‘Golgotha’ more than a decade ago so that the trilogy could be kept together. At that time, he claims, he had agreed with senior politicians that they would quickly find a way to have this piece of art in Hungarian state ownership.
Mihály Munkácsy’s three famous paintings, ‘Golgotha’, ‘Ecce Homo’ and ‘Christ before Pilate’ exhibited on 20 May 2015 in the Déri Museum of Debrecen.
Talks back to the MNB
Pákh said Gerhardt’s claim that it was him (Pákh) who caused the deal to flop was not true. He also denied Gerhardt’s remark that according to art collector circles he had paid about USD 1 million for the painting. “In reality I paid a multiple of that sum," he stressed, adding that Gerhardt must be aware of this too since he had showed him both him and one of his colleagues the sales contract and the bank transfer receipt.
As regards the debate on the price Pákh underlined that the world’s two most renowned auction houses, Christie’s and Sotheby’s, as well as Fine Art Asset Management put the estimated worth of the painting to around USD 10 million.
What does the MNB say?
Ferenc Gerhardt, Deputy Governor of the MNB, told public television M1 last Tuesday (2 June) that MNB cannot pay more for the painting than what the state offers and this is stipulated in a government decree. According to regulations, three forensic art appraisers need to make an evaluation and the price may be determined on the basis of this appraisal.
The appraisers provide a price range and in this case the upper end is USD 6 million. The Directorate of the MNB made a decision on its final offer on the basis of this. This is how much it can pay, no more.
Another piece of the trilogy, ‘ Christ before Pilate’ was purchased by the state from Canada for USD 5.7 million, he said, adding that this the market price of the painting.
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