The Musée Maillol in Paris has abruptly closed its doors indefinitely. Though a message posted to the museum's website stated that the closure is due to renovations, the company that manages the museum filed for bankruptcy earlier in the month.
The managing company, Tecniarte, has filed with the court after it became apparent that it would not be able to pay back its 3.3 million euro -- or $3,747,150 -- debt, which is said to be “due immediately.” Currently, the company only has 11,000 euros -- or $12,491 -- in cash in its reserves.
The museum is the company's only client, and it seemed to be on the right track in 2012 with no threat of bankruptcy. But things soon changed in 2013 when a steep decline led the company to lose about 1.3 million euros -- or $1,476,293.
This month, “the loss of clientele and a huge deficit” led a judge to approve Tecniarte’s liquidation.
The museum was founded by Dina Vierny in 1995 and named after the French sculptor Aristide Maillol. Vierny was the artist’s muse and model, owning a personal collection of work done by Maillol. After her death, her son hired Italian director Patricia Nitti to manage the museum through her company, Tecniarte.
Nitti was not an art historian, though she has ties to the theater world, having ran a theater festival in Pompeii. This allowed her the leverage to borrow works of significant Italian artists. But in 2012, she faced controversy after two of her exhibitions were criticized due to doubts of authenticity. Though she displayed a splendid exhibition of artifacts from the chapel of San Gennaro at Naples Cathedral, which had never been shown outside Italy, the museum was already suffering at that point.
So far, there has been no accusal of mismanagement from the company.
