Cache of ‘Degenerate Art’ Found

In2011, Bavarian customs police searched the home of Cornelius Gurlitt and founda cache of “lost” paintings estimated to be valued at one billion Euros.

Gurlitt,80, is the son of well-known art dealer Hildebrand Gurlitt.  The Munich art dealer is said to have boughtthe collection of some 1,500 works at knock-down prices after the Nazis came topower.  The Nazis confiscated or stolethe paintings, categorizing them as “degenerate art.”  The cache includes works from world-renownedartists such as Picasso, Matisse, and Chagall.

Theyounger Gurlitt is believed to have hoarded the paintings for half a century inhis squalid apartment and is suspected of selling some works and living off theproceeds.

See Tony Paterson, Looted by the Nazis, Found in a SqualidApartment: 1Bn Cache of ‘Degenerate Art’, The Independent, Nov. 3, 2013; see also Robert W. Wood, Found Nazi Art Valued at $1B Is Worth HowMuch After Tax?, Forbes, Nov. 3, 2013.

Special thanks toJim Hillhouse (Professional Legal Marketing (PLM, Inc.)) for bringingthis article to my attention.