Gurlitt

The Gurlitt case refers to the discovery of a vast collection of artworks, many of which were suspected to have been looted by the Nazis during World War II, in the possession of Cornelius Gurlitt.

Cornelius Gurlitt (1932-2014) was the son of Hildebrand Gurlitt (1895-1956), an art dealer who worked for the Nazi regime. Hildebrand was tasked with selling artworks confiscated from Jewish collectors and museums, some of which he was allowed to keep for himself.

The collection remained hidden and largely unknown until 2012, when German tax authorities, during a routine tax investigation on a train, found Gurlitt carrying a large sum of cash. This led to a raid of his apartment in Munich, where approximately 1,280 framed and unframed artworks were discovered. Another cache of artworks was later found in Gurlitt's house in Salzburg, Austria.

The artworks included pieces by renowned artists such as Picasso, Matisse, Chagall, Renoir, and many others. The estimated value of the collection was believed to be worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

Following the discovery, a task force was established to research the provenance of the artworks and determine whether they had been looted from Jewish families during the Nazi era. Identifying the rightful owners and returning the artworks to their heirs proved to be a complex and lengthy process.

Cornelius Gurlitt initially agreed to cooperate with authorities and return any artworks that were demonstrably looted. However, he later became more resistant. Before his death in 2014, Gurlitt bequeathed his entire art collection to the Kunstmuseum Bern in Switzerland. The museum accepted the bequest, but only on the condition that it would continue the provenance research and restitute any looted artworks to their rightful owners.

The Gurlitt case raised important questions about the responsibility of museums and governments to address the issue of Nazi-looted art, and it highlighted the challenges involved in identifying and returning these works to their rightful owners. The case continues to be a subject of research and legal proceedings as efforts to resolve the remaining provenance issues continue.