ANDREW LLOYD WEBBER DONATES NEARLY $52 MILLION TO BRITISH CULTURAL INSTITUTIONS

Andrew Lloyd Webber today announced that he plans donate nearly $52 million dollars to arts organizations in his home country. The funds for his donation comes from the composer’s sale of his Picasso painting, Portrait of Angel Fernández de Soto (also known as The Absinthe Drinker). The painting fetched $51.8 million with commission at a Christie’s auction last year. Dave Itzkoff of the New York Times reports that Webber’s donation is a response to the British government’s drastic cutbacks in funding to cultural institutions, a result of United Kingdom’s nationwide austerity program.