One of Switzerland's leading museums plans to remove five paintings from its exhibition that are suspected of having been looted by the Nazis. These include works by Claude Monet and Vincent van Gogh, reports the BBC.
The paintings in question, part of the collection of the Kunsthaus museum in Zurich, are works by some of the most renowned artists in the world.
The works under investigation are: “The Artist's Garden at Giverny” by Claude Monet, a portrait of the sculptor Louis-Joseph by Gustave Courbet, a portrait of the poet Georges-Henri Manuel by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, “The Old Tower in the Fields” by Vincent van Gogh and “La Route montante” by Paul Gauguin.
The origin of the sixth work in the collection, “The Sultan” by Edouard Manet, is also being checked, but this painting will not be removed from the exhibition for now.
Kunsthaus Museum in ZurichShutterstock
Nazi shadow in paintings
As the BBC writes, there have long been suspicions about the origin of the works in the Emil Buhrle Collection – named after Germanwho made a fortune during World War II by producing and selling weapons to the Nazis.
The founding board of the Emil Buhrle Collection said in a statement that it is “committed to seeking a just and equitable solution for these works together with the heirs of the former owners (of the paintings – ed.), in accordance with best practices.”
The decision to remove the paintings from the exhibition came after a publication by the State Department earlier this year USA – and adopted by 22 countries – new guidelines aimed at dealing with the large number of cultural objects that were looted from their rightful owners during the war and have not yet been returned to their families – writes the BBC.
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