Madrid and Basque government leaders call each other ‘provincial’ in dispute over the artwork
A row has broken out between the Madrid and Basque regional governments in Spain over the latter’s request for Guernica, probably Picasso’s most celebrated work, to be housed temporarily in the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao to mark the 90th anniversary of the bombing of the Basque town.
The work has hung in the Reina Sofía museum in Madrid since 1992 and repeated requests for it to be moved to the Basque Country have been refused.
The latest request has seen Isabel Díaz Ayuso, Madrid’s outspoken, conservative president and Aitor Esteban, leader of the Basque nationalist party, trade insults, each accusing the other of being “provincial”.
“It makes no sense for everything to be returned to its origin,” Ayuso said. “In that case we should send all of Picasso’s works to Málaga,” referring to the city where he was born.
