After Salvator Mundi scandal, Saudi decided to build art museum

The Saudi Minister of Culture, Hamid bin Mohammed Fayez, revealed a new decision by the Kingdom regarding the painting of the famous international painter Leonardo Da Vinci known as Salvator Mundi, which Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman purchased for a fortune in 2017.

Fayez told the Wall Street Journal that the Kingdom plans to build an art museum, to show the painting.

The fate of the painting sparked a global debate about its owner after it was sold for 450 million dollars, in the context of Mohammed bin Salman’s obsession and his quest to acquire the most expensive things in the world at the expense of the Saudis economic suffering, which confirms their presence in the Kingdom and not the Louvre Museum in Abu Dhabi.

In 2017, the Louvre Museum in Abu Dhabi announced its acquisition of the painting, which was bought by the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Tourism in the amount of 450 million countries.

The location of the painting remains mysterious, amidst speculation that has been raised about the fate of this five-century-old artwork. To speak later, the real owner of the painting is Prince Muhammad bin Salman, the Saudi crown prince.

The American website, “Artent”, which relied on “relevant” sources for artistic affairs, said that the painting is contained in a yacht owned by the Saudi crown prince.
The website was based on two sources familiar with the sale that the painting was transported by a private plane to Muhammad bin Salman, and then delivered at night to the yacht.

Artent gives information about the yacht “Sirin” which contains the painting, confirming that bin Salman bought it for $550 million in 2015, when he was spending his vacation in southern France, bringing the total of the yacht and painting together about $1 billion.

Earlier, the British newspaper “The Telegraph” revealed that the Louvre Museum in the French capital Paris refused to display the painting Salvator Mundi, which the crown prince bought in the activities of the exhibition of Italian painter Leonardo Da Vinci because of the controversy It was raised around, especially since there are reports confirming that it is not a “Da Vinci” drawing.

The newspaper said in a report that the painting after it was sold with this standard amount has completely disappeared, and no one knows where it is?, explaining that the Louvre Museum in Abu Dhabi announced its display, and then returned and canceled its decision without clarifying the reasons, after everyone began to disavow it.

The newspaper quoted “Jacques Frank”, former adviser and expert on the program to restore paintings “Da Vinci” for the Louvre Museum, as saying that he had addressed a letter to French President “Emmanuel Macron”, warning him of the opening of the Louvre exhibition of paintings “Da Vinci”, if he will present a “painting of Christ” between them.

Frank said: “Politicians at the highest level and officials at the Louvre know very well that Salvatore Mundi’s painting is not a Da Vinci work. Art scandal.”

The newspaper added that the painting, which was first disclosed in 2011, and underwent an extensive restoration process before it reappeared and sold at an auction in Christie’s in New York in 2017, it became clear that it had undergone a lot of change after comparing its old photos with their modern pictures.

Although the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Sheikhdoms of the Kingdom, they are fascinated by the prohibition of drawing and even photographing the camera, but since the announcement of the Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, his vision for the year 2030, and the Kingdom is witnessing wide changes, especially after the establishment of the General Authority for Entertainment, which is supposed to provide entertainment opportunities for all segments society in all regions of the Kingdom.