A painting by Claude Monet in the collection of the Zurich Kunsthalle is set to be put up for sale after the museum reached a settlement with the heirs of Jewish textile manufacturer Carl Sachs. Escaped from Nazi Germany to Switzerland.
Paintings 1865/1867, man holding umbrellaAccording to a press release from the museum, “” was the first painting sold by Sachs just weeks after arriving in Switzerland. He and his wife Margarete Sachs, important patrons of the arts in their hometown of Breslau (now Wroclaw, Poland), were allowed to leave Germany with only 10 marks each.
In 1934 they had already sent a number of paintings, including paintings by Monet, to Switzerland. “Monet” was one of 13 paintings sold by Sachs upon his arrival in Switzerland before his death in 1943. ” the museum said in a press release.
Imke Gielen of the Berlin Kunsthalle said: “The heirs of the Sachs family welcome the Kunstgesellschaft Zurich’s willingness to find justice for the work that Carl Sachs was forced to sell after he moved to Switzerland. s solution.
Museum spokesperson Christine Steiner said that no decision has yet been made on when and where the painting will be sold. However, she said the museum’s share of the revenue cannot be used to help the gallery reduce its deficit and instead, under ICOM rules, sales proceeds must be reinvested in the collection.
The foundation that owns the museum said earlier this year that its operating debt had increased to 4.46 million Swiss francs ($5 million), mainly due to a sharp rise in administrative expenses after the opening of a new expansion in 2021.
The Kunsthalle Zurich has announced that it will take a more proactive approach to provenance research and repatriation starting in October 2022. .
This runs counter to normal practice in Switzerland, where works sold by Jewish collectors after their escape have not historically been considered restitution cases.
