Marilyn Thipthorpe
Dozens of works by the Spanish painter Joan Miro are to be auctioned in London, with the profits going towards helping refugees.
The sale at Christie’s on Thursday is aiming to raise £40,000 for the Red Cross.
The Barcelona painter’s grandson said he is donating the proceeds of the sale of 28 works because that is what Miro would have wanted.
“I consider myself as the torch-bearer for his wishes and try to do what he would do if he was still alive,” Joan Punyet Miro said.
The artist, who had republican sympathies in the civil war divide, was in France when the conflict broke out, and decided to stay in Paris.
His wife and daughter joined him and lived in France until 1940, when the invasion of Nazi Germany saw him flee back to Spain.
“He always wanted to help the most disadvantaged, the refugees and those in exile, and would be aware that what is happening today in Syria could happen tomorrow in Spain,” said Mr Punyet.
Since the Syria conflict erupted in 2011, more than 4.8 million refugees have fled the country.