The Phillips Collection’s Reckless Art Sale

Here we go again.

Five years ago the Baltimore Museum of Art announced plans to sell three paintings— one each by Andy Warhol, Abstract Expressionist Clyfford Still and contemporary abstractionist Brice Marden—to raise an estimated $65 million to diversify the collection. Guidelines promulgated by the Association of Art Museum Directors generally permit such sales as long as the proceeds go toward buying art. Nonetheless, the scale of the disposal—important works by major figures—sparked a firestorm of protest. The sale was abandoned only after the board received a letter signed by a dozen former AAMD presidents urging it to drop the plan.