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Diario Euskadi

PNV Pressures Urtasun to Study 'Guernica' Transfer to Bilbao

The Basque Government and PNV urge the Spanish Government to assess the feasibility of temporarily moving Picasso's masterpiece to the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao.

Generic image of a section of an abstract painting, with soft museum lighting.
IA

Generic image of a section of an abstract painting, with soft museum lighting.

The Basque Government and the PNV are urging the Spanish Government to explore the possibility of temporarily transferring Pablo Picasso's Guernica to the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, amidst strong opposition from the Community of Madrid's president.

In the polarized political climate of the Spanish State, the views of President Pedro Sánchez and Madrid representative Isabel Díaz Ayuso rarely align. However, the PNV's request to temporarily move Guernica to the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao has provoked Ayuso's ire, which may prompt reflection within the Spanish Government.
The proposal suggests the painting remain in Bilbao for nine months, from next October until the end of June 2027. Lehendakari Iñigo Pradales requests this as a symbolic gesture of reparation on the 90th anniversary of the formation of the Aguirre Government and the bombing perpetrated by the Nazi Condor Legion and Italian aviation under Franco's command. So far, Minister Ernest Urtasun of Sumar has not indicated any study of technical possibilities, and a report from the Reina Sofía Museum advises against the transfer due to the risk of vibrations dislodging paint layers.
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"This is a provincial act. The PNV wants to encourage identitarian sentiments and grievances to justify or distort everyone's history."

Isabel Díaz Ayuso · President of the Community of Madrid
On Monday, Ayuso dismissed the request as a "provincial act" to the media, without engaging in any reflection on memory or reparation. The PNV, however, has reaffirmed its request. Aitor Esteban, president of the EBB, responded on social media Sunday that the real "provincial act" is "when your main national demand is to have a beer on a terrace." The PNV group in the Senate has issued a press release announcing that they will bring this matter to the control plenary this Tuesday.
Igotz López will question the Culture minister "why he refuses to study the necessary conditions to materialize the loan requested by the lehendakari." The PNV acknowledges the delicacy of moving the painting but requests a report on various possibilities for its transfer without damage. "The Basque Government demands that the ministry prepare a pragmatic, exceptional, and high-level report that analyzes whether conditions, technical means, and guarantees exist for a temporary and extraordinary transfer, based on a shared political will," the jeltzales stated.
Pradales and Vice-Lehendakari Ibone Bengoetxea have for weeks appealed to the political component of historical memory, a field where Sánchez theoretically feels comfortable, though he has never apologized for this bombing on behalf of the State. Regarding technical difficulties, Pradales reminded him on Sunday that he was able to remove Franco from the Valle de los Caídos. The PP, for its part, has opposed the transfer if technicians advise against it.

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