Warhol Masterpiece Likely Thrown Out During Dutch Town Hall Renovation

A formal inquiry disclosed that the 46 pieces of artwork which the municipal council of Maashorst in Brabant misplaced last year "likely" were discarded with large trash items.

One of the missing pieces is a silkscreen print featuring Queen Beatrix, created as part of Andy Warhol’s 1985 collection titled "Reigning Queens." This set includes 16 exclusive prints depicting four queens: Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, Beatrix from the Netherlands, Denmark's Margrethe II, and Swaziland's Ntombi Twala.

This and other artworks worth approximately €22,000 are likely gone for good.

The works used to be owned by the municipality of Uden, one of the municipalities that merged into the new municipality of Maashorst in 2022.

Prior to the merger, Uden's art collection was documented. Several artworks were lent to Museum Krona in Uden, others are exhibited at the new town hall, and some have been given back to their creators.

In November, it emerged that the locations of approximately fifty art pieces were unaccounted for. The local government informed the authorities and enlisted the assistance of a research firm to aid in recovering the lost items.

The agency has now concluded, after thorough research and investigation that 46 works of art most likely ended up being binned, a possibility the municipality itself already suspected.

During the renovation of the town hall, the artworks were stored in the basement, and were not handled with care, the research concluded.

For instance, the artworks were left unprotected, moved a number of times with several pieces even reportedly suffering water damage due to a leak in 2023. The artworks were then taken to the bulky waste at various times.

According to the researchers, the municipality lost sight of the artworks because there was no clear policy or protocol in place during the renovation process. More specifically, there were no guidelines for the registration, storage, conservation and security of the pieces.

It was also never clearly defined who was responsible for which pieces. When the artworks went missing, the investigation also finds that the municipality failed to react quickly enough.

Analysing the results of the investigation by the research agency, the municipality has since acknowledged that there is very little to no hope that the pieces of art will ever be found.