This 1911 oil on canvas 'The Father', now estimated at $6-8 million, was purchased in 1928 by a Jewish Polish luthier, David Cender, who lost his possessions when he was forced to settle in the Lodz ghetto.
Deported to Auschwitz, where his wife and daughter were killed, this musician survived and settled in France in 1958, where he died in 1966 without recovering possession of the painting.
Meanwhile, the work had reappeared in exhibitions and it turned out that it was Marc Chagall himself who had bought it, probably between 1947 and 1953 without knowing its origin, according to Phillips and the French Ministry of Culture. .
After the death in France in 1985 of the artist of Russian origin, "The Father" entered the national collections in 1988, then was assigned to the Pompidou Center and deposited at the Museum of Art and History of Judaism in Paris.
France had passed a law at the beginning of the year, unanimously in Parliament, to restore fifteen works of Jewish families looted by the Nazis.
A "historic" text and "a first step", because "spoiled works of art and books are still kept in public collections", said the Minister of Culture at the time, Roselyne Bachelot.
David Cender's heirs have decided to sell the painting, a common scenario 'when a work is returned so long after' because 'there are multiple heirs and the work cannot be divided', according to the VP by Phillips, Jeremiah Evarts.
The painting, a portrait of his father, was painted by Chagall in 1911, the year he arrived in Paris.
He is then "electrified by the modernism" of the city and his works of the time are "rare", because "many of them were destroyed when he left Paris to return to Russia in 1914", added M Evarts, saying he is certain that "The Father" will attract museums and major collectors.
The sale will take place during the New York Fall Auction.
Owned by Russian luxury goods retailer Mercury, New York-headquartered auction house Phillips condemned the invasion of Ukraine days after the war began in late February.
© 2022 AFP