Kunstmuseum Basel rejects restitution of a painting
Published: Tuesday, Jan 16th 2024, 13:51
Updated At: Wednesday, Jan 17th 2024, 00:59
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The Kunstmuseum Basel is in talks about compensation for the purchase of a painting in 1940. The reason: the painting is "fugitive property". This was revealed in a press release issued on Tuesday.
"La muse inspirant le poète / Apollinaire et sa muse" by Henri Rousseau is the painting in question. In 1940, the Basel Art Museum bought the work from Countess Charlotte von Wesdehlen. In 2021, lawyers for a claimant contacted the museum, as the museum writes. The background to the purchase was to be investigated.
The Art Commission of the Kunstmuseum Basel has rejected restitution after examining the case. "Cases involving lost property require a just and fair solution in accordance with Washington principles," Felix Uhlmann, President of the Art Commission, told the Keystone-SDA news agency. The present case in particular shows the need for action. "However, these cases cannot simply be equated with looted property, where the focus is on restitution," Uhlmann explained.
Circumstances forced the sale
In contrast to "looted art", "fugitive property" refers to sales of art that no longer took place in fascist Germany. The Jewish woman von Wesdehlen was in Switzerland at the time of the sale after fleeing Nazi Germany. According to the report, she had to sell the painting for financial reasons, among others. This would hardly have happened without Nazi persecution. In addition, the purchase price was "low to unreasonably low", according to the report.
As can be seen from the report on the commission's decision, the museum paid 12,000 Swiss francs for the painting at the time. This was despite the fact that "both the intermediary dealer and the museum director knew that at least 20,000 francs would have been appropriate". It also states that the painting should have fetched at least 40,000 francs and up to 60,000 francs on the open market in 1940.
The history of the painting has already been dealt with in the Bergier report, among other things. Negotiations are currently underway with the claimant regarding financial compensation in an "appropriate amount". "An amount would be part of the negotiations and therefore confidential," said Uhlmann.
The history of the painting should be honored
At the same time, the history of the work is also to be honored in the exhibition in "an appropriate form and, if possible, in consultation with the claimant after Charlotte von Wesdehlen". "When the work is reintegrated into the collection in the main building, interested exhibition visitors will have the opportunity to call up detailed information via QR code, including the reasoned decision," said Uhlmann. This will be after the end of the current exhibition "Matisse, Derain and their friends" from January 21.
According to Uhlmann, the decision has positioned how the Kunstmuseum Basel intends to deal with "absconded property". "You have to look at every case, but the direction has been set," said Uhlmann. Restitution is also possible in exceptional cases of "fugitive property" - but not in the present case.
The art commission's decision was made in accordance with the principles of the Washington Declaration. These are a legally non-binding agreement to identify works of art confiscated during the National Socialist era and to find a just and fair solution with their pre-war owners or heirs.
©Keystone/SDA
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