The Art Newspaper can re- veal that Mr Pinault has bought the widely-admired group of Sigmar Polke paintings (below) at the centre of the Italian pavilion at the Venice Biennale for his new museum in the city to open in 2009. “Polke liked the idea that the works would stay in Venice,” said Gordon VeneKlasen, director of Michael Werner (G3) which represents the artist. “We had a lot of people interested in the works,” he says, but Mr Pinault offered to have a room specifically designed for them which clinched the deal.
Originally appeared in The Art Newspaper as ‘Pinault’s Polkes'