France to return its only Klimt to Jewish family forced to sell the painting by the Nazis

Unaware of its dark history, the French state bought Rosiers sous les Arbres in 1980

Credit: ALAIN JOCARD /AFP

France is to return a painting by the Austrian artist Gustav Klimt to its rightful heirs — a Jewish family who were forced to sell it by the Nazis.

The family has hailed the move as a “extraordinary and unparalleled”.

Unaware of its dark history, the French state bought Rosiers sous les Arbres (Rose Bushes Under the Trees) for the Musée d’Orsay in Paris in 1980. The 1905 work is the only Klimt France possesses in a public collection.

But French culture minister Roselyne Bachelot said restoring it to its rightful owners was an acknowledgement of the crimes they suffered as the painting bore witness to the "broken lives" of the Nazi era.

“This decision is our honour and the accomplishment of our duty in the face of history,” she said.

The painting had been bought by Nora Stiasny, from a well-known Austrian Jewish family. She had inherited it from her uncle, the Austrian industrialist and art collector Viktor Zuckerkandl, Ms Bachelot told a news conference at the Musée d’Orsay in Paris.

The Musée d'Orsay bought the work in 1980 unaware of its history

Credit:  REUTERS

Ms Stiasny was forced to sell it in August 1938 at a paltry price to survive financially, months after the Nazis annexed Austria.

In 1942 Ms Stiasny was deported to a concentration camp in Nazi-occupied Poland, and died the same year, along with her mother, husband and son.

The art dealer, who it later transpired was a Nazi sympathiser, held on to the masterpiece until his death in the 1960s. When the Musée d’Orsay bought it, there was no suspicion over its provenance.

"Today we know that it is indeed a work that was looted in Austria in August 1938," Ms Bachelot told reporters.

"The decision we’ve taken is of course a difficult one. It results in taking a masterpiece out of the national collections which is the only painting by Gustav Klimt which France owned.

"But this decision is necessary, essential. Eighty-three years after the forced sale of this painting by Nora Stiasny, this is the accomplishment of an act of justice."

The beneficiaries will be the descendants of Nora Stiasny’s sister. 

France is to return the only Klimt in its possessions to the heirs of a Jewish collector forced to sell it under the Nazis

Credit:  Alain Jocard/AFP

Their lawyer, Alfred Noll, hailed the move, saying: “The Musée d’Orsay had committed no fault, the purchase was made according to the law. But on a moral and political level, you have totally assumed your responsibilities.”

He added: “Today, the French Republic has shown it is a beacon.”

Ruth Pleyer, an Austrian researcher who has worked for 20 years on retrieved works the Nazis confiscated from the family, said: “Thank you very much for your extraordinary gesture. It is unparalleled.”

The French government will have to pass a bill to allow it to be released from the national collection and returned to the family.

In 2017 a floral Gustav Klimt painting was sold for nearly £48m at Sotheby’s in London.

After the Second World War, Germany returned 60,000 works confiscated by the Nazis.

Three quarters of these were returned to their rightful owners by 1950 on their request but 15,000 remained unaccounted for. France sold 13,000 of these but held onto 2,000 works, which are currently hanging in around 100 state museums.

However, it says it will return these to their rightful owners if a link to works can be demonstrated.