John Sainsbury got the last word.
Thirty years ago, the British supermarket mogul funded a new wing of London's National Gallery. The new wing had been controversial, but Sainsbury hired architects that created a design he loved, with one exception: Two non-load bearing pillars on the ground floor foyer. He hated them, and considered them an inefficient use of space. But Sainsbury was unwilling to create a new public controversy, so he hit on a way to make his protest public — eventually. He and a circle of friends hid a note in one of the false pillars, addressing it to 'those who find this note.'
"If you have found this note, you must be engaged in demolishing one of the false columns that have been placed in the foyer of the Sainsbury Wing of the National Gallery. I believe that the false columns are a mistake of the architect and that we would live to regret our accepting this detail of his design."
It seems he was correct, because the renovations included plans to remove the decorative columns.
Sainsbury died in 2022 at the age of 94.
