Swiss museum removes art over Nazi looting fears

A prominent art museum in Switzerland has announced its intention to withdraw five paintings from an ongoing exhibition while it conducts an investigation into potential Nazi looting.

These artworks, part of the collection housed at the Kunsthaus Zurich museum, include pieces by renowned artists such as Claude Monet and Vincent van Gogh.

Questions regarding the provenance of works within the Emil Bührle Collection have persisted for some time. The collection is named after Emil Bührle, a German-born arms dealer who amassed wealth during World War II by manufacturing and selling weapons to the Nazis.

The decision to temporarily remove these paintings follows the release of new guidelines aimed at addressing the significant number of cultural artifacts that remain unrestituted to their rightful families.

The paintings under scrutiny are: “Jardin de Monet à Giverny” by Claude Monet, “Portrait of the Sculptor Louis-Joseph” by Gustave Courbet, “Georges-Henri Manuel” by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, “The Old Tower” by Vincent van Gogh, and “La route montante” by Paul Gauguin.

The foundation board for the Emil Buhrle Collection said in a statement it was “committed to seeking a fair and equitable solution for these works with the legal successors of the former owners, following best practices”.

A sixth work in the collection, La Sultane by Edouard Manet, has also come under further scrutiny but the foundation said it did not believe the new guidelines applied to it and that the painting would be considered separately.

“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,” it said.

Silberberg, a German Jewish industrialist, faced the tragic fate of having his extensive art collection sold at forced auctions by the Nazis. It is widely believed that he met his demise at the Auschwitz Nazi death camp during the Holocaust.

The Neue Zürcher Zeitung newspaper has reported ongoing discussions regarding whether Silberberg was compelled to sell “La Sultane” or if he did so voluntarily due to financial constraints.

Earlier this year, more than 20 countries, Switzerland included, endorsed new best practices proposed by the US State Department concerning the handling of Nazi-looted art. These guidelines commemorate the 25th anniversary of the 1998 Washington Conference Principles, which outlined a framework for restitution of items stolen or forcibly sold during the Holocaust era.

Despite the significance of these principles for families seeking the return of looted art, Swiss law currently imposes limitations on legal claims for restitution or compensation for works from the Bührle collection due to statutes of limitations.

During the announcement of the best practices in March, Stuart Eizenstat, the US secretary of state’s special advisor on Holocaust issues, estimated that “over 100,000 of the 600,000 paintings and many more of the millions of books, manuscripts, ritual religious items, and other cultural objects stolen have never been returned.”

Until his passing in 1956, Bührle assembled a collection of approximately 600 artworks. Many of these are now under the management of the Bührle Foundation and have been showcased at the Kunsthaus on a 20-year loan. The remainder are reported to adorn the homes of Bührle’s surviving relatives.