The Paul Gauguin painting of two Tahitian girls set a record sale price as the most expensive piece of artwork ever sold after its record-breaking price of $300 million. Nafea faa ipoipo? (1892) or When Will You Marry? had been on loan to the Kunstmuseum in Basel, Switzerland, for almost 50 years. The buyer is reported to be the Qatar Museums. Rudolf Staechelin, the seller and a retired executive of Sotheby’s living in Basel, confirmed the sale without giving the name of the buyer or the exact sale price.

The sale resulted from a dispute with the local government over whether the work could travel while the Kunstmuseum is closed for renovations. The loan contract has been a source of contention for the past few months. Museum officials indicated that the loss of the Gauguin is a reminder that “permanent loans are still loans.”

The new owner will not assume possession of the painting until January 2016. It is scheduled for traveling exhibits through 2015 beginning with a special showing in Basel at the Beyeler Foundation. It later travels to Madrid to the Reina Sofia Museum, and then to Washington, D.C. to the Phillips Collection.

Paris-born Paul Gauguin (1848-1903) was a Post-Impressionist artist with no formal art training. He did not like the constraints of 19th-century European society so moved to Tahiti in 1891. However, the capital city was already westernized by French officials, so Gauguin chose to live in native surroundings. While there, he developed his style using bright colors and exaggerated proportions.

He returned to Paris in 1893 to show his Tahitian paintings but critics felt his work was primitive. The artist went back to Tahiti and continued to paint, later moving to the Marquesas Islands in 1901. He died alone in 1903 after years of health problems. His work encouraged the Primitivism art movement of using primitive, native or non-Western themes. Even though Gauguin did not receive wide acclaim for his works while he was living, his Nafea faa ipoipo? has set the record sale price as the most expensive ever sold.