Loaned Masterpieces—Public Service Or Personal Gain?
By Reena Devi
RADEN SALEH, Mail Station at the Bottom of Mount Megamendung,
On November 24, renowned Javanese modern artist Raden Saleh’s oil painting, Mail Station at the Bottom of Mount Megamendung (1871), hammered at HKD 16.9 million (USD 2.16 million) at Christie’s Hong Kong. The sale of this rare work less than a year after it had been shown at National Gallery Singapore (NGS) in the major duo exhibition “Between Worlds: Raden Saleh and Juan Luna,” which closed on March 11, 2018, raises uneasy questions about private collectors deriving personal financial gain through loans to public museums.
