"Roses under the trees", by Klimt, at the Musée d'Orsay.
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Wikipedia / Public domain
France will return to a Jewish family a painting by Gustav Klimt which it had been despoiled in 1938 in Austria, announced Monday the Minister of Culture, Roselyne Bachelot.
Roses under the trees
of the Austrian painter will be returned to the family of Nora Stiasny, a victim of the Holocaust, who had been dispossessed during a forced sale in August 1938.
The painting is for the moment inalienable under the law , since it belongs to the national collections.
But "the government will present a bill as soon as possible" to allow this restitution, said the minister.
The real provenance established recently
It is “the only painting by Gustav Klimt that France owned,” the minister stressed during a press conference at her ministry.
It was exhibited at the Musée d'Orsay, after having been acquired in 1980. At the time, nothing suggested a spoliation.
“It is in recent years that the true provenance of the painting has been established,” added Ms. Bachelot, which prompted the descendants to request restitution at the end of 2019.
"
Roses under the trees
is the witness of these lives that a criminal will has stubbornly sought to eradicate," Ms. Bachelot commented on Twitter.
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Roselyne Bachelot
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Orsay Museum
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