Miro was a senior figure in the surrealist movement in the 1920s and went on to establish himself as a sculptor and ceramicist during a seven-decade career. He is credited with influencing a generation of abstract expressionists, including American artist Jackson Pollock.
Christie's has put the highest estimated price tags on two of Miro's oil paintings. "Women and Birds" from 1968 is expected to fetch £4m - £7m, and "Painting," is valued between £2.5m and £3.5m. The current auction record for a Miro is almost £23m, paid for "Painting (Blue Star)" in 2012.
Other countries have offloaded their failed banks' art. The collapse of Lehman Brothers, the Bank of Ireland and South Korean savings banks have brought works by big-name artists to market in recent years.
Like elsewhere, though, the Portuguese auction will barely make a dent in monies owed: Christie's has estimated the Miro collection at around €36m, but the 2008 collapse of Banco Portugues de Negocios cost taxpayers at least €3.4 bn.
The Lisbon trial of 15 people allegedly to blame for the bank's collapse, amid allegations of corruption, fraud and mismanagement, is three years old.
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