HOW TO STORE A GIANT PAINTING

Many artists have collections of their own work, stored for the future. But, what happens when the art measures 14′ x 23′?  One of the largest paintings in the US is Carl von Marr’s Flagellants.  After a two year showing in Munich, the painting was returned to the Museum of Wisconsin Art in a tube, where it will remain until the Museum moves into a new building.  The secret to storing a painting on a tube is to wrap it with the paint on the outside, and the canvas on the inside.  If done correctly, the paint has enough flexibility to bend and stretch, and return to its original condition when remounted flat. 

The Flagellants was orginally painted in Munich over the objections of the Royal Munich Academy.  Carl von Marr went ahead with it, and it ended up being displayed at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago, where it was priced at $20,000.  In 1919, von Marr became the director of the same Royal Munich Academy that rejected his now famous painting!