Sotheby's US$450 million Blaquier consignment shadowed by kidnapping charges and export fine

Sotheby's secured roughly US$450 million in Blaquier family Impressionist art, Artnet News reported. Carlos Pedro Blaquier faced 2012 charges over 1976 kidnappings under Argentina's military dictatorship; he denied wrongdoing and died in 2023 without trial. That year, Argentine Customs fined the family for improperly exporting about a dozen works to Luxembourg, including paintings by Van Gogh and Cézanne.