The exhibition with works including paintings by Picasso, Cézanne, Matisse, Mirρο etc. was scheduled to launch last week. Following the outcry, Pavel Tsar resigned as director of the National Museum.
The Minister of the National Museum of Slovenia, Pavel Tsar was pushed to resign, as an investigation is underway against him for organizing an exhibition of works, which according to art critics are fake.
Some of the projects – loans – were allegedly acquired by the late Josip Bolikovac, who served as Croatia’s first interior minister from 1990 to 1991.
Following public criticism that the works of art on display were counterfeit, Pavel Tsar resigned as director of the National Museum.
“As director of the Museum, I am objectively responsible for the atrocity that tarnished the reputation of the largest museum organization in our country, for which I sincerely regret,” he said in a statement to the media.
The exhibition with works by famous painters of the 19th and 20th century, including paintings by Pablo Picasso, Paul Cézanne, Henri Matisse, Joan Mirρο and others. was scheduled to launch last week.
Art critics who saw the list of works questioned their authenticity and described the Travels exhibition as a major scandal for the National Museum, which should have prompted the director to resign.
«These are clear forgeries; you do not need to be an expert in art history to notice itSaid he Brane Kovicart historian in his statements to the Slovenian media.
In his first reaction, Pavel Tsar said he was fully convinced of the authenticity of the artwork after seeing the certificates.
However, he later announced his decision to resign, stressing that after the stormy reaction of art critics and media representatives to the announcement of the exhibition Travelsrealized that she made several mistakes, including the fact that she assigned her management to the wrong person.
“There is not the slightest trace of selfishness in the background and I have no particular interests, I just naively wanted to seize a nice opportunity to offer visitors an extremely interesting exhibition,” he said in his resignation statement.
The Minister of Culture, Asta Vretsko, accepted the resignation of the Tsar and announced that the procedures for finding his replacement will be initiated as soon as possible.
A special meeting was convened at the ministry before the opening of the exhibition with the relevant experts examining the documents related to the loan, the minister said.
At the same time, the Slovenian police are investigating the scandal.
