The National Gallery is one of our most iconic public institutions. It is also supporting the arms trade.
In 2011 the National Gallery hosted an evening reception for weapons dealers, celebrating the first day of business at DSEi, the world’s largest arms fair.
Arms company Finmeccanica buys the opportunity to use the Gallery’s rooms for its ‘corporate entertaining’ – that is, for impressing its clients and lobbying decision-makers – for only £30,000 a year. By entering into this arrangement the Gallery is giving both practical support and a veneer of legitimacy to an industry based on death and destruction.
The Stop the Arms Fair coalition has started the Disarm the Gallery campaign – see our page hosted on the CAAT website for more info.