Grandson takes the reins

The Vasarely museum in Aix is being given a new lease of life thanks to the artist's grandson

Now his grandson, Pierre Vasarely, is trying to save his grandfather's legacy in the Aix-en-Provence museum. And with Pierre Vasarely as president, it appears that the wish of the Hungarian-born artist is finally coming true.

Inheritance battles

Getting to this point, has been far from easy with acrimonious probate disputes meaning that Vasarely's will was only recognised by the courts in 2005.

Vasarely junior, who has been working for his grandfather's foundation since 1981, has already been sacked twice: first in 1992 by the former president Charles Debbasch and then again in 1995 by his step mother, Michèle Taburno. Even now, the dispute is not completely resolved and the damage it has already had on his legacy has been profound. In 1996 the Didactic Museum in Gordes castle in the Luberon was closed, and the Vasarely Foundation in Aix-en-Provence was cleared of the artist's works.

Jail term for one

Debbasch, who was also dean of the law faculty at the University of Aix, spent a short time in jail in 1994 and was convicted of embezzlement in 2005. He is now in hiding in Togo.

Michèle Taburno-Vasarely, the second wife of Vasarely's son (who was working under the pseudonym of Yvaral until his death in 2002), is accused of stealing some of her father-in-law's pictures. A recent hearing in Chicago where she resides was unable to clear up ambiguities in the inheritance battle.

Pierre Vasarely had permission to auction off a large number of works to pay the foundation's debts and now plans to renovate the museum, and refill it with artworks.

The museums in Budapest and Vasarely's hometown of Pécs have already pledged to help with funding, and the city of Aix has also assured a grant for the renovation. The new president has big ambitions, hoping that, one day it will be as widely known as the Paul Cézanne Studio and Granet Museum. "We've still got a lot of work ahead of us," he admits. At least they are on the right path at long last.

PB/HP