«IT'S CALLED GOSSIP AND OF COURSE IT'S AN OBSESSION OF MINE»

HAVANA — US philanthropist Gilbert Brownstone has donated 120 works by Pablo Picasso, Joan Miro, Andy Warhol, Marcel Duchamp and five other leading artists to Cuba's National Museum of Fine Art. Brownstone, 69, personally delivered engravings and drawings as the first instalment of a donation from his impressive collection, which also includes works by Roy Lichtenstein, Andre Masson, Edouard Vuillard, Camille Pissarro and Georges Rouault, during a special ceremony on Monday."The rest of the works will arrive in the coming months," Brownstone, who holds dual Swiss-American nationality and is based in France, told AFP.The philanthropist, who said he has come to Cuba "very often" for the past nine years, hailed the communist island nation and arch-US foe for having "done so much for the culture of its people.""I think I can help in this fight," he added. "I will continue buying and donating works from the collection to the Cuban people."According to the manager of The Brownstone Foundation, Jean-Marc Ville, the works will be preserved at the museum in Havan but will also travel across the country so that more Cubans can enjoy them.