GENEVA: Switzerland’s Langmatt museum on Thursday said 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. The museum, 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 G — 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 categorised 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.
Published in Dawn, November 29th, 2024
Dear visitor, the comments section is undergoing an overhaul and will return soon.