PARIS, FRANCE.- The hundred works never before exhibited of great classics such as Picasso and Miró, are the “bait” the next Paris International Fair of Contemporary Art (FIAC) selected to recover the prestige of a show in obvious decline. Works by Kupka, Ernst, Dubuffet and Picabia are also included among those acquired by FIAC, to be exhibited in four pavilions. Nine months before the 31st edition, organizers are already at work on the MIGA project (Imaginary Art Galleries Museum) that will bring together some of the rarest pearls among the world of the great collectors, reveals “Le Figaro.”
‘Deux femmes nues,’ a hitherto unpublished 1906 Picasso currently in MOMA, and ´Miro’s last Constellation, are among the unpublished of the XX century greats that FIAC, that did not reach 70,000 visitors in 2003, is betting on. This year, their aim is to surpass the 100,000 barrier. The Modern Art Museum of Paris and an American museum not yet known, take part in the project. Its promoters, Marcel Fleiss and Daniel Malingue have persuaded the association owner of FIAC to invest to the limit, but always looking to recover their investment in the future.
MIGA’s venture is aimed at revitalizing FIAC, which has undergone an irretrievable setback in the last decade, harassed by competition from other more fortunate competitions and by internal strife in contemporary French art. Gone are the days of glory when the Paris fair reached 150,000 spectators, or attracted the artists of the moment, such as Andy Warhol, who traveled to the French city in 1976. In late years, FIAC has had to face up to its competitors growth, such as the Art Basel Fair, the Madrid based ARCO or its Florida homonym.