Paisley Art Institute: Works raise £1.5m as club sells treasures

Campaigners had called on the Scottish government to intervene but ministers decided it was a matter for the institute.

Paisley Art Institute is an collective run by artists and art lovers which holds an annual large-scale exhibition for contemporary artists.

The institute was formed in 1876 and has been collecting work since 1914.

Until recently it enjoyed a close relationship with Paisley Museum, which was established in the same year.

Its annual exhibitions were staged at the museum and its collection was held in storage.

The relationship became strained when the museum closed for refurbishment in 2018.

PAI was not happy with the offer of display space in the museum, which is due to reopen in 2025, or the selection of artworks for public display.

Since April, the institute has been gradually moving the works to the Glasgow Art Club in Bath Street, where the group has been staging their annual shows.

But they said the decision came at a price.

It needed to raise money to continue the charity’s work and took the radical decision to sell a quarter of its paintings at Lyon and Turnbull in Edinburgh.