Decades after World War II, a large number of paintings confiscated and hidden by Nazi’s have resurfaced. Michael Kimmelman’s article, In a Rediscovered Trove of Art, a Triumph Over the Nazis’ Will, talks about the discovery of over 1,500 pieces of artwork which were ransacked from German museums and personal collections. Artists of these paintings include Matisse and Courbet, Franz Marc and Max Liebermann, Marc Chagall, Max Beckmann and Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. Finding these paintings is an amazing occurrence to the art field. Not only do we get to see the works of many famous European artist, many other artists such as Dix (who Hitler hated) can now share their pieces of art with the world.
These paintings were discovered in a Munich home. The fact that so many valuable pieces of art (worth millions of dollars) were hidden in a single house is mind boggling to me. It makes me wonder why it took so long for these stolen paintings to rediscovered. I also question the authenticity of all these paintings. Although I am sure some, maybe even most of the 1,500 paintings are real; there are bound to be fakes in the mixture. How will people be able to differentiate the real paintings from the fake ones?
The fact that the Nazi’s stole and confiscated these paintings makes me wonder what will happen to the families of the people who originally owned the paintings. Will they be recompensated or given the painting back? I highly doubt the families will be recompensated, but I feel like they have been cheated. For instance a Matisse colored painting of a woman wearing pearls was identified by the Rosenberg family. They used to own that painting and have a smaller version in black and white.
Ultimately, this discovery is a happy event. I am thrilled that many new pieces of art have been discovered and I hope that the German authorities will publish a list of the paintings found. I am also curious to how the families, Jewish people and the museums where the paintings were stolen from will react.
It’s mind-boggling how so many paintings could be hidden in a single location and not have been located since the end of WWII. In a way, this may connect to the costly business of art retrieval. Many of these companies are charging higher prices to retrieve art and, thus, museums are unable to afford to do so. But it might just have been that no one remembered the paintings in the aftermath of WWII.
Naturally, it’s fortunate that these paintings have been recovered because discovering old art offers an opportunity to learn more about past artists. However, I do agree with your view that many of the original owners will not be reimbursed. It’s costly enough to find and transport these paintings as well as authenticating them (if they even do that). I hope, though, that many of these paintings will be housed in museums for all of us to view rather than in the private homes of rich collectors.
It’s also interesting to wonder how they’ll be able to authenticate so many paintings! It’ll definitely take a while if they attempt to do so.
I agree it is a crazy fact that the families that owned these artworks, probably mostly jews, will not receive them in return. But in truth they were probably murdered. When the Nazi’s kicked the Jews out of their homes they confiscated all their possessions and money and hid them. Their goal was to make a remembrance museum after Hitler killed all the Jews and took over the world of the Jews, of a religion and people that no longer existed.
On a lighter note think about the black market of stolen artwork. We spoke about whether the owner is the person who found the long lost piece or he one who payed for it before it was stollen. Same old question, no no one knows.
I wonder why it took so long for these lost artworks to be found. Sure, art isn’t the first aspect that people look for, but if a numerous amount of artworks were lost during the war, isn’t it obvious that something was wrong? The presence of forgery in art has been prominent in the modern ear for a very long time. This leads me to wonder if forgery was as big of a business during WWII as it is now. On another note, where will these newly founded artworks be housed? Will museums buy them? If so, from who?
I am extremely happy that the paintings were found. It’s a great discovery- studying them will allow us to learn more about history that may have been lost for decades. However, I also doubt that these paintings will be returned to the original owners. Simply because it would be impossible to identify who owned the paintings originally. The Nazis took everything from everyone without recording who it belonged to. Despite the fact that families may claim to have owned the paintings, it would be impossible to provide proof. There’s also the simple fact that unfortunately thousands of families were killed during the Holocaust, therefore those people would most certainly not be reimbursed.
I have actually been following this story closely. I am fascinated by the sheer size of the discovery. From what I read it appears that the German government has known about this for some time (2 years) and has kept it a secret. I believe the father of the mans house where the works were found was a high ranking Nazi, which explains a lot. In terms or compensation from what I read I think they are trying to piece everything together. The problem is, its nearly impossible to prove ownership. My guess is they will either sell the majority of the works and give the money to living survivors or donate all of the works to the Jewish museum either here or in Israel. Either way really interesting article and analysis!
That’s a crazy story. How did the Nazis get away with hiding so many pieces of art for so long? How were they not discovered? I cannot believe it. It is great that many hidden artworks are now being found. I do not think the families will be compensated although I think they should. There are just too many pieces of art and too many possibilities for the origin of each and every piece of art found. There is no way the families can prove they were the creators of the art so I don’t think they will return the art to the owners either. The only option would be to donate or sell the newly discovered art to a museum.
Fun fact: I think there was a piece similar to this a few months ago in the New York Times! By that I mean that a family had recovered pieces taken from them by the Nazis. That being said, this was still really interesting–I mean, 1,500 pieces! I can barely begin to imagine it. You were wondering about how people would know the genuine pieces from a forgery in your review, and here’s how: there are people who study paintings by a certain artist and become so well-versed in their brush style that they can pick out genuine pieces from forgeries. I’m sure they have scholars like those to differentiate with these pieces.
I’m very curious, though, about the Munich home where these pieces were found. Were people living there? If so, did they know about the paintings? If not, it’s possible that the paintings could have simply stayed there for a long time while a bank owned the home. In other words, I’m interested in finding out who owned the house at the time that the paintings were discovered. Fascinating article!
That’s such a large number of paintings! I’m really interested in the background of the house where they were found: who lives there, how did they get there, etc.? The current house owners must not have known about the paintings if it was kept quiet for so long. Though it’s sad, the benefits of these findings will probably be limited to the public rather than the families of the painters. The Nazi Regime probably didn’t care about who created these paintings, and did nothing to record their histories. Their goal was just to dispose of them. On the other hand, the art world will now have our eyes opened to an entire period of history we were once missing. I think they should make a museum, or more specifically a gallery in a museum, where these paintings can be showcased to the public. It’s powerful to see that these things have survived beyond Hitler’s reign. He could not stamp out every aspect of culture he wanted to.
That is great news! I am glad that unlike other dark moments in history where art pieces from a country are stolen and destroyed, the Nazis chose not to terminate the existence of those paintings. It is so sad what has happened with art that are not appreciated or discriminated against. I am just happy that this case of art confiscation was different. I like your comment about whether or not all of the found works are genuine. It is interesting how the paintings were all found in the same house, and just now! What happened in the past six decades? Maybe some of them were forged in the time gap…
Wow, I read your article and my imagination was running wild. During WWII as everyone knows, Hitler was burning a lot of the books and replacing it with his propaganda. So, I’m sure these paintings were supposed to be destroying and someone who saw the value in the art pieces risked his/her life to hide them. Kudos to them. As far as what I’ve been reading in the comments about “owning” the paintings, I think the paintings should be in a Museum, not given to a random family who claims to “own” the paintings.