German museum shows art from vast trove hidden for decades
BONN, Germany — Some 250 art works that a reclusive collector hid from the world for decades, including pieces likely looted from Jewish owners under Nazi rule, are going on show at a German museum.
The paintings being shown starting Thursday at Bonn’s Bundeskunsthalle — including works by Albrecht Duerer, Claude Monet and Camille Pissarro — are from the huge art collection hoarded by late collector Cornelius Gurlitt. Authorities first stumbled on the art, stored in Gurlitt’s Munich home, while investigating a tax case in 2012.
The exhibition focuses on works of art believed to have been taken from their mostly Jewish owners as part of Nazi persecution and on works whose provenance hasn’t yet been established.
The Bonn show is part of a double exhibition titled “Gurlitt: Status Report.” A parallel show in the Swiss capital Bern features some 200 works from the collector’s trove, mostly from artists who were defamed by the Nazis as “degenerate.”