Displaying items by tag: kunstmuseum bern

Minutes after the Kunstmuseum Bern in Switzerland revealed for the first time a list of artworks Cornelius Gurlitt had stashed in his second home near the Austrian Alps, its promise of full transparency seemed to clear away decades of murky silence about a delicate Pissarro painting showing the Louvre in Paris and bridges spanning the Seine.

The picture, listed as “Paris Kathedrale,” was one of 250 artworks included in the “Salzburg collection” of Mr. Gurlitt, who died in May and left his entire estate to the museum.

After accepting the legacy of Cornelius Gurlitt, next steps are being taken after the Kunstmuseum Bern, the German Federal Government, and the Free State of Bavaria signed the agreement in Berlin on 24 November, 2014, and thus formally sealed it. As promised by the Kunstmuseum Bern, in the interests of transparency it is now making public the lists of the artworks that were discovered in Cornelius Gurlitt’s flat in the Schwabing district of Munich and his house in Salzburg.

The Kunstmuseum Bern is actively fulfilling its obligations after accepting the Gurlitt legacy. In consultation with the parties of the agreement and the task force of Schwabing Art Trove, the Kunstmuseum management has decided to release the lists of the artworks discovered in Schwabing and Salzburg as a first step.

Kunstmuseum Bern (Museum of Fine Arts Bern), Switzerland has agreed, today, to accept artworks from the collection of Cornelius Gurlitt's 1,300 works that has been bequeathed to the museum by German collector. Christoph Schaeublin of the Bern Art Museum told a news conference in Berlin that the museum would accept parts of the artworks bequeathed by Cornelius Gurlitt, who died in May at the age of 81.

The collection has been known colloquially as the “Munich Art Trove,” and collated by Cornelius Gurlitt’s father, Hildebrand Gurlitt. Gurlitt senior was one of four art dealers entrusted with selling so-called degenerate art during the Nazi regime’s rule. The collection includes a number high-value works from the period by Henri Matisse, Max Liebermann, Otto Dix, and Marc Chagall, among others. Originally estimated at the value of nearly £700 million - the value has dropped significantly as many pieces are believed to have been looted from Jewish families by the Nazis.

Jewish World Congress president Ronald Lauder has publicly threatened the Kunstmuseum Bern with an "avalanche" of lawsuits if the institution accepts the collection of approximately 1,300 artworks bequeathed to it by the late Cornelius Gurlitt - stated in an article published by German weekly "Der Spiegel." The museum is currently still in the process of making this delicate decision - whether or not to accept the collection - which includes works by Henri Matisse, Max Liebermann, Otto Dix, and Marc Chagall, among others famous artists.

Gurlitt died on May 6th of this year, leaving the entire collection to the Swiss museum - but nearly 600 works from the collection are suspected to be of questionable provenance, possibly Nazi loot.

The Swiss museum designated as the sole heir of German collector Cornelius Gurlitt’s trove of priceless art says it plans to vet the collection first before deciding whether to accept it.

Gurlitt died last month, two years after German authorities seized more than 1,000 artworks from his Munich apartment. Some of the items — including works by Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse and Marc Chagall — may have been looted from Jewish owners under Nazi rule.

The Kunstmuseum Bern said in a statement Tuesday it hasn’t yet been able to inspect the works or received an inventory.

German Nazi-era art hoarder Cornelius Gurlitt, who died on Tuesday, has made the Bern Art Museum in Switzerland his "sole heir".

The reclusive son of Adolf Hitler's art dealer is estimated to have amassed a collection worth up to a billion euros.

The museum said the news struck "like a bolt from the blue", given that it had had no relationship with Mr Gurlitt.

The collection was the subject of a long legal dispute over works that may have been taken illegally by the Nazis.