Those paintings were AUCTIONED!
That means somebody made a conscious decision to pony up their own cash and shell out.
Where’s the waste of taxpayer money here? Sounds like the cash flow went in the opposite direction this time.
Reminds of the story of the Shah of Iran being shown a painting of a donkey and told that the painting was appraised at $50,000; the Shah laughed and said for $50 he could buy a real donkey.
Not necessarily. It's common for art-auction purchases to be made by institutions, including public institutions. It's also common for price agreements to be made in advance, in order to inflate the tax-deduction for the contributor and the "value" for the seller.