Artworks Totalling £45 Million Given To Britain In Lieu Of Tax

Can't Pay Your Tax? Hand Over Some Art...

Artworks worth around £45 million have been left to the nation in lieu of tax, according to a new report.

They include an early work by Vincent Van Gogh, a collection of political posters and more than 40 sketches and paintings from the personal collection of the late Lucian Freud.

Van Gogh's oil painting Head of a Peasant Woman dates to around 1884 and has been given to the National Gallery.

Van Gogh's Head of a Peasant Woman with Dark Cap currently hangs in the National Gallery in London

The collection of 99 political posters, which mostly date from the first quarter of the 20th century, were collected by Bristol University librarian Geoffrey Ford and have been given to the university.

Freud's collection includes 40 works by his contemporary Frank Auerbach and a sketch by Pablo Picasso.

Arts Council England chairman Sir Peter Bazalgette said: "The highlight among the examples of Acceptance in Lieu is the extraordinary collection of paintings, drawings and cards by Frank Auerbach, assembled by his friend Lucian Freud, and offered to the nation in lieu of £16 million of tax.

"There is something of special significance in the perception that one great artist has of another. It was this group of paintings and drawings, rather than his own works, that Freud chose to surround himself with in his home."

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