Swiss museum settles with descendants of owners of 2 possibly Nazi-looted paintings
Settlements made after probe finds ‘problematic’ heritage; artworks by 19th-century French Impressionists can now remain on exhibition at Museum Langmatt in Baden, near Zurich
GENEVA, Switzerland — A Swiss museum said on Thursday that it had reached amicable settlements with the descendants of former owners of paintings that may have been looted or confiscated under the Nazis.
The two paintings in question were by 19th-century French Impressionist artists Paul Cezanne and Eugene Boudin.
Museum Langmatt, located in the town of Baden, near Zurich, published the results of a study into the origins of 13 of its paintings, most of them Impressionist artworks.
The paintings were acquired between 1933 and 1940 by Sidney and Jenny Brown, a wealthy couple from the industrial bourgeoisie of northern Switzerland.
The Langmatt villa — the couple’s former home — boasts one of the most important private collections of French Impressionist paintings in Europe.
The investigation, supported by the Swiss culture ministry, took three years.
For 11 of the works, “there was no evidence or proof of Nazi-looted art at the end of the project, or such a connection could be ruled out,” the museum said in a statement.
The remaining two were categorized as “clearly problematic” and the Langmatt Foundation “reached a just and fair solution with the descendants of the former owners” in line with the Washington Principles on Nazi-Confiscated Art.
One of them, “Fruits et pot de gingembre” (1890-1893), was one of three Cezannes sold by the Langmatt at auction in New York last year in order to dig the museum out of serious financial difficulties. It fetched $38.9 million.
The museum said that last year a document was found in an art market research archive in Cologne, Germany, which led to the conclusion that the sale of the painting to the Browns by an art gallery in Lucerne, Switzerland, in November 1933, “could be classified as a confiscation due to Nazi persecution.”
“The Langmatt Foundation then proactively contacted the heirs of the previous owner Jacob Goldschmidt (1896–1976) and reached a settlement agreement,” the statement said.
The study also found that Boudin’s “Fisherwomen on the Beach at Berck” (circa 1875-1878) was among the works sought by a German foundation that has developed a database of works looted under the Nazis.
“The Langmatt Foundation proactively contacted the heirs of the painting and reached a settlement agreement,” with compensation at market value, the museum said.
The painting can now remain in the foundation’s hands and be exhibited in Baden.
The Browns bought the painting in May 1936 from a gallery in Geneva. At the time, it was owned by Richard Semmel, a Jewish industrialist and art collector who died in 1950.
Due to Nazi reprisals, Semmel fled to Amsterdam in 1933 with large parts of his collection and sold most of it.
Switzerland in 1998 signed the Washington Principles, which commits its 44 signatory nations to track down and return art stolen by the Nazis to its rightful owners.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
