They auction for 2,250 euros a portrait of Franco coming from the Pazo de Meirás

BarcelonaAt the Pazo de Meirás, before it became public property, there were many paintings of Franco in uniform and in a pose of launching himself into conquest; of his wife, Carmen Polo, all bejeweled and serious, as if she were about to scold someone, and colorful still lifes of flowers painted by the dictator. The images of the dictator with his unleashed ego – there were portraits of him in practically every room – coexisted with the gazes of dead animals he had hunted that hung on the walls.

Now, 687 lots of objects that are part of this universe of the dictator's family memory are up for sale. For example, a family portrait of the dictator with Carmen Polo and his daughter, which had a starting price of 80 euros, was sold for 2,250 euros at the auction of goods from the estate that the Franco family used as a summer residence for years. The auction, organized in Madrid by the house Magna Art Auctions, will last all this Wednesday, after having registered many requests, according to the organizers. Among the auctioned objects, one can find everything from furniture, works of art, and tableware to sheets, slightly yellowed, photographs of the dictator, or images dedicated by the king emeritus. Nothing very aesthetically attractive, but some nostalgic people seem to have pounced on them hungrily.

As detailed by Europa Press, the auction has also sold: for 10,000 euros, a 17th-century Talavera de la Reina ceramic pitcher, which had a starting price of 350 euros; an 18th-century East India Company soup tureen for 2,750 euros; a Chinese porcelain fishbowl for 2,500 euros; and a Turkish carpet from the early 20th century for 2,000 euros. Sheets, cutlery, candlesticks, and coffee sets are also being sold...

It is quite a spectacle, but it also has its shadows. The Association for the Recovery of Historical Memory (ARMH) registered a letter addressed to the Spanish government's Presidency to demand that, through the State Attorney General's Office, a precautionary suspension of this mass sale be imposed. The entity urges the State to verify whether these assets legitimately belong to the family or if, in reality, they are part of the National Heritage. The dictator's family already had to return the Pazo de Meirás estate to the State after the justice system demonstrated that the "gift" of the property had been made to the then-head of State and not to Francisco Franco in a personal capacity, and that the registration of the estate under his name in 1941 had been a pure simulation.