Wrocław. Anton Graff's painting has returned to the collections of the National Museum

On Friday, December 20, Anton Graff's work was presented to journalists. The painting “Self-portrait at the age of 72” will be shown at the permanent exhibition “European Art of the 15th-20th centuries.”

Before the war, Graff's work was in the collection of the Silesian Museum of Fine Arts in Wrocław. The painting was included on the list of the most important monuments of the Silesian Museum of Fine Arts that should be secured in the event of war. Therefore, in 1942, the work was sent to the museum depository in Kamieniec Ząbkowicki; later, no trace of him was lost. It was only in 1986 that the Swiss company Winterthur bought the painting from an art dealer. Winterthur is the hometown of Anton Graff (1736-1813).

The director of the National Museum in Wrocław, Piotr Oszczanowski, emphasized on Friday during the presentation of the painting that it had been recovered after many years of efforts by employees of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage. The procedure for the restitution of this work began in 2019.

– Anton Graff left behind nearly 100 of his own portraits. It is an excellent study of self-registration, tracking the progress of time, but also the truth about a man, an artist, a creator – said Oszczanowski.

He added that “Self-portrait at the age of 72” is a particularly valuable work for the National Museum in Wrocław. – Today, next to the recovered painting, we have another one by Graff. But there were four works by this artist in Wrocław collections before the war. Today they are in museums in Berlin and Dresden – noted the director.

In 2024, the Ministry of Culture initiated nearly 40 restitution cases in eight countries. 16 of them were successful, and 72 monuments returned to Poland.