The Metropolitan Opera has put up for sale the monumental panels by Marc Chagall, "The Sources of Music" and "The Triumph of Music," each measuring 11×9 meters, which have adorned the foyer of the New York theater since 1966.
According to the auction house Sotheby’s, the works are valued at $55 million together. After the sale, the pieces must remain in their places in the theater. The decision to sell is driven by the financial situation of the Metropolitan Opera: with an annual budget of $326 million, box office receipts cover only $70 million. The theater's general director, Peter Gelb, believes that keeping the panels in the theater will not diminish their value for the buyer; on the contrary, they will gain the right to be called the owner of icons of New York's cultural space, continuously exhibited before a large audience.
A precedent for such a deal in the art market has already occurred: in 2004, sculptor Arturo Di Modica sold the bronze "Charging Bull" (1989) to financier Joe Lewis with a prohibition on moving the work. The bull, standing on Wall Street, became a symbol of financial success, and the author did not want it to be relocated. If the Chagall panels are sold, it will create a new precedent that could change perceptions of ownership rights to works of art.
