Camille Pissarro Painting Found in Gurlitt Trove Confirmed as Nazi Loot

Camille Pissarro La Seine vue du Pont-Neuf, au fond le Louvre (1902) has been found in Gurlitt's collection and determined as Nazi-looted. Courtesy of the Kunstmuseum Bern.

A fourth artwork from the Gurlitt trove has been identified as Nazi loot, art magazin reports.

The German Minister for Culture and the Media, Monika Grütters, has announced that the work is a 1902 oil painting by Camille Pissarro. The painting, titled La Seine vue du Pont-Neuf, au fond le Louvre, was found in Gurlitt’s apartment in Salzburg. The rightful owners of the piece have already been contacted, she added.

The painting was flagged as Nazi-looted more than a year ago (see Nazi Looted Pissarro Discovered in Gurlitt Trove Gifted to Bern), but it has taken the specially appointed task force until now to determine the artwork’s status (see also Kunstmuseum Bern Says Nazi-Era Gurlitt Trove Has 500 Works With Dodgy Provenance).

After a year of provenance research, the so-called “Schwabing task force” has identified four artworks as looted: along with artworks by Matisse, Liebermann, and Spitzweg, the Pissarro is the latest painting whose suspected status as Nazi loot could be determined.

The task force has also published documents online that were found in Gurlitt’s Salzburg residence, following accusations that it had ignored the documents.

Some 1280 paintings were found in Gurlitt’s apartment in Schwaben three years ago, and another 238 artworks were discovered two years later, in Salzburg, in 2014.

The return of the looted artworks by Matisse and Liebermann has already been set in motion, and the restitution of the painting by Spitzweg to its rightful owners is expected to be settled shortly, but the heirs have openly criticised the lengthy legal procedures (see Germany Criticized for Bureaucratic “Bullying” over Gurlitt Restitution).


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