The oil on canvas is a very expressive portrait of the Franco-Russian artist's father, who painted it in 1911 after moving to Paris.

The painting has had a tumultuous history, culminating in its auction in New York on November 15 for $7.4 million.

Its rightful owners, the heirs of a Polish-Jewish luthier, David Cender, decided to part with it shortly after France returned the painting to them.

But they asked that the buyer, who remained anonymous, lend it to be exhibited in a symbolic place for their community, the Jewish Museum of New York told AFP.

A request accepted, but the new owner added a condition: that the painting remain in New York, added the museum.

The work was purchased in 1928 by David Cender, who lost his possessions when he was forced to move to the ghetto in Lodz, Poland, in 1940.

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 been bought, between 1947 and 1953, by Marc Chagall himself, probably ignoring its origin, according to the French Ministry of Culture and the Phillips auction house, which put it up for sale.

After Chagall's death in France in 1985, "The Father" entered the French national collections in 1988, then it was assigned to the Pompidou Center and deposited at the Museum of Art and History of Judaism in Paris.

France returned it to the Cender family in 2022, after passing a specific law to return the work and fourteen others to descendants of despoiled Jewish families.

The director of the Jewish Museum of New York, Claudia Gould, said she was "honoured" to receive the painting on loan and to be able to exhibit it.

"The massive and systematic looting of works of art during the Second World War, and the rescue and return of many of them, is one of the most dramatic stories in 20th century art, which continues to have repercussions today. It is imperative that the Jewish Museum tells these stories,” she said in a statement.

The painting will be on display until January 1, 2024.

© 2023 AFP