1967 Basel Picasso paintings purchase referendum

[2] But the fate of the paintings became uncertain following the 1967 Nicosia Britannia disaster, in which a Globe-Air flight crashed, killing 126 and leading to the Basel charter airline's bankruptcy.

[3] The Staechelin Foundation chose to sell works by Claude Monet, Paul Cézanne, and Alfred Sisley[3] as well as the La Berceuse by Vincent Van Gogh, all of which were hanging on loan in the Basel Kunstmuseum.

Franz Meyer and Peter Staechelin agreed that the two Picassos would be sold to the city of Basel for the sum of 8.4 million Swiss Francs, which was enough to pay for Staehelin's debts.

[3][4] To collect the amount needed, the cultural society of the city organized so called "Beggars Feasts", daughters of good-standing families cleaned shoes or offered meals[4] and students sold popcorn during school breaks.

[6] The amount of money collected was displayed above the entrance of the Kunstmuseum Basel,[6] which reserved a prominent room, where only the two Picassos in question together with Hans Holbein the Younger's portrait of his wife and their two children were presented, to show the current mood of the museum.

[7] A committee led by Albert Lauper,[8] who had lost money with the liquidation of Globe Air, opposed the loan and achieved enough votes for a referendum about the credit for the purchase.

[2] Having observed the elections, Pablo Picasso was overwhelmed by the result and invited Franz Meyer to visit him in his Mougins atelier in the south of France.