A masterpiece by Monet, looted by Nazi Germany during World War II, has been returned to the descendants of its original owner.
According to a CNN report on Wednesday, a rare work by French painter Claude Monet (1840-1926) was returned to its original owner’s descendants after more than 80 years.
The painting “Bord de Mer” (Seaside) is one of the Impressionist master Monet’s early works valued at approximately $500,000.
The original owners, Viennese Jews Adalbert “Bela” and Hilda Parlagi, purchased the painting in 1936. However, two years later, they fled the Nazi threat and entrusted all their belongings to a shipping company’s warehouse in Vienna.
They planned to either send the items to their new location or retrieve them later, but the German secret police confiscated everything in the warehouse. The painting was later sold through an auction led by a Nazi-affiliated art dealer, after which it disappeared.
The painting resurfaced in 2016 at an Impressionist exhibition in France. “Bord de Mer” was then sold to an antique dealer in New Orleans, Louisiana, and later passed to a couple in Washington state.
The couple put “Bord de Mer” up for auction in Houston, Texas. However, upon learning of its looted history, they agreed to turn the artwork over to the FBI last year.
The FBI then proceeded with returning “Bord de Mer” to the Parlagi family’s granddaughters, and the handover was finally completed on Wednesday.
The painting is not the only work looted by Nazi Germany that belonged to the Parlagi family. According to CNN, the family is still searching for the whereabouts of many other works, including a 1903 watercolor by French artist Paul Signac (1863-1935).
