A $250 million
(£159m) painting by US artist Jackson Pollock has been returned to the Tehran
Museum of Contemporary Art in Iran after being held in a row over unpaid debts.
Mural on Indian Red Ground was seized by the
country's customs service on 11 May after being on loan to Japan.
The service said it confiscated the work over money
owed by the Ministry of Culture, which runs the museum.
The ministry said the painting had been returned
"after negotiations".
The artwork was on its way back to Iran from the
National Museum of Modern Art in Tokyo, where it was displayed in an exhibition
celebrating the centenary of the artist's birth.
The Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration
seized it at the Imam Khomeini International Airport due to the culture
ministry's reported delay in repaying its debts.
Mural on Indian Red Ground is considered one of the
prize pieces in the Tehran museum, which also features works by Gauguin,
Picasso and Sir Henry Moore.
Most of the collection was built up by Iran's former
queen Farah Pahlavi, who deployed a team of experts to tour Western auctions
and buy prestige paintings and sculptures to boost her country's cultural profile.
Source: BBC
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