Swiss Museum Removes Five Paintings Possibly Looted by Nazis

The Kunsthaus Zurich will remove five paintings to investigate whether the works were looted by Nazis.

The works are Jardin de Monet à Giverny by Claude Monet, The Old Tower by Vincent Van Gogh, La route montante by Paul Gauguin, Portrait of the Sculptor Louis-Joseph by Gustave Courbet, and Georges-Henri Manuel by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec--all loaned from the Foundation E. G. Bührle.

The foundation is named after its founder, Emil Georg Bührle, who manufactured armaments for both the Allies and the Nazis-making him Switzerland's richest man by the end of the Second World War-and amassed a collection of about 600 artworks. Many are on display at the Kunsthaus as part of a twenty-year loan, with the rest hanging in the homes of Bührle's living relatives.

The paintings' provenance will be investigated following the release of the US State Department's Best Practices for Restitution of Nazi-Confiscated Art, an expansion of the 1998 Washington Conference Principles. The latter allowed families to make legal claims to restitution or compensation for artworks confiscated by the Nazis. The State Department website quotes Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken, saying: "The Best Practices will bolster restitution efforts by more precisely defining what is considered Nazi-looted art and remedying processes that favor current possessors over rightful owners. Observing that Holocaust distortion is on the rise, he said that efforts to resolve restitution claims are more important than ever and he encouraged other countries to join the United States in endorsing the Best Practices." Twenty-five counties have endorsed the guidelines so far.

A sixth work at the Kunsthaus, Edouard Manet's La Sultane, is also under scrutiny, albeit for different reasons. The Foundation E.G. Bührle explains: "Due to the overall historical circumstances relating to the sale, the Foundation is prepared to offer a financial contribution to the estate of Max Silberberg in respect to the tragic destiny of the former owner."

Silberberg was a German Jewish industrialist who believed to have been killed at Auschwitz, and whose art collection was forcibly auctioned by the Nazis. There is debate on whether or not he was forced to sell La Sultane.