The Detroit Institute of Arts is one of the largest museums in the US. Located in the cultural center of the Detroit, it is just a few miles north of the city's downtown area. It was founded in 1885 and has a collection that today includes more than 65,000 works. Since 1927 the collection has been at the address where the classic style building of the museum continues to stand. DIA is regarded as one of the vestiges of what once was a more prosperous era for the city. While the walls of the Institute's courtyard support invaluable murals by Diego Rivera, the exhibition rooms inside display important works of art from around the world, like the 1887 Self-Portrait by Vincent van Gogh, The Window by Henri Matisse, Orange Brown by Mark Rothko, Double Self-portrait by Andy Warhol, and The Dreams of Men by Tintoretto.
The economic crisis in Detroit has led to the government to consider auctioning several valuable artworks that belong to the DIA collection in order to pay for some of the city's tax debt. This has generated all sorts of reactions among the artistic community across the country. The Detroit Free Press published an article during the last week of May in which it pointed that Detroit's Emergency Financial Manager, Kevyn Orr, was "considering whether the multimillionaire collection of the Detroit Institute of Arts should be used as an asset of the city that could eventually be sold to cover the 15 billion dollar deficit" that the city must pay in order to avoid the imminent reality of filing for bankruptcy. Orr's official spokesperson, Bill Nowling, has repeatedly said that Orr does not want to sell the Institute's collection, but that he is obligated to inventory all the assets of the city.
The value of 38 masterpieces from the collection is estimated to be 2.5 billion dollars. From any perspective, this is an atypical case given that, unlike other museums, the DIA installations and its art collection are property of the city and are under the supervision of a non-profit government organization entrusted with the everyday operations of the Institute, as stipulated by in a contract that expires in 2018. Given this context, the Institute representatives have said that any negotiations would be impossible under the current conditions.
A statement was published in which it is said that "The DIA strongly believes that the museum and the city hold the museum's art collection in trust for the public," DIA said in a statement (…) The DIA manages and cares for that collection according to exacting standards required by the public trust, our profession and the operating agreement with the city. According to those standards, the city cannot sell art to generate funds for any purpose other than to enhance the collection. We remain confident that the city and the emergency financial manager will continue to support the museum in its compliance with those standards, and together we will continue to preserve and protect the cultural heritage of Detroit."
A decree was approved on Tuesday, June 4 of 2013 that seeks to protect the DIA collection while the city restructures it tax debt. Even so, the remote possibility of selling the valuable collection continues to generate indignation across the US. Legislation pushed by the majority leader before the Senate, Randy Richardville (R-Monroe) represents one of the many obstacles that impede the sale of the collection.
In particular the 401 Decree of the Senate, would order that the authorities of Artistic Institutions demand from the museums in Michigan that they comply with The American Alliance of Museums Code of Ethics, according to which the sale of a museum's collection "can only occur to further the advancement of the museum's core mission."
While the law still needs Senate approval, one ...