Works for a billion. NAZK published a list of masterpieces from the collection of Russian oligarch Abramovich
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The National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption (NACP) has published a list of works of art from the private collection of Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich. The list includes 367 works with a total value of almost 1 billion dollars.
As the press service of NAZK reported, this is one of the largest lists of works of art in a private collection. To create it, a thorough analysis was conducted and all known works belonging to Abramovich were collected in one list on the “War and Sanctions” portal.
The agency noted that the information they published about Abramovich’s collection cannot be found on the official websites of auction houses.
“By having such an open database of artworks, we can prevent them from being circulated in the industry and used to circumvent sanctions. Our goal is to seize these art objects from sanctioned persons and sell them. The funds received should have been used to help rebuild Ukraine“, commented Oleksandr Novikov, head of the NAZK.
| Screenshot from the sanctions.nazk.gov.ua website |
NAZK also recalled that Abramovich was present at Putin’s meeting with Russian oligarchs before the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. After that, a few weeks before February 24, the oligarch transferred the rights to the art collection to his ex-wife Daria Zhukova.
What else is known about Abramovich’s collection?
At the end of September of this year, The Guardian published a large article about “one of the most significant private collections of modern art”, which Russian oligarch Abramovich and his ex-wife Zhukova have been collecting for the past ten years.
Details of Abramovich’s collection became known thanks to the “Oligarch Files” – a leak of information from the Cypriot company MeritServus, which provides offshore financial services. MeritServus was sanctioned by the UK government in April after the media reported on its work for Abramovich and other oligarchs.
“The art world has long known Abramovich and Zhukova as big spenders. But until now, the public had little knowledge of what their collection was like“, the article says.
So the leak of the files made it possible to look into the collection and see that it contains the works of the greatest Russian, European and American masters: Vera Rocklin, Rene Magritte, Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Claude Monet, Francis Bacon, David Hockney, etc.
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| Picasso’s work from the Abramovich collection |
They also uncovered the fact that on February 4, 2022, weeks before Russia invaded Ukraine, Abramovich made Zhukova the majority beneficiary of the company that owns the entire collection. A month later, on March 10, Great Britain imposed sanctions against Abramovich, which led to the freezing of his assets.
Zhukova, who is a US citizen and not subject to sanctions, runs the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art in Moscow and is a trustee of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
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| Malevich’s work from Abramovich’s collection |
The current whereabouts of Abramovich’s collection is not publicly disclosed. The last time her works were exhibited was in July-October 2021: then two works belonging to the Russian oligarch were shown at the Paula Rego retrospective at Tate Britain.
“The collection is not subject to an asset freeze order, meaning works can theoretically be bought, sold and loaned“, The Guardian noted.
Read also: Three weeks before the war, Abramovich transferred billion-dollar trusts to his children – The Guardian
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