Nazi-confiscated Monet goes on sale
The heirs of a Jewish couple forced by the Nazis to sell a Monet masterpiece before the Second World War were today due to collect some of the proceeds when the painting is auctioned.
Au Parc Monceau, which depicts a group of Parisian women in their Sunday best, is expected to fetch between £1.5m and £2m at Sotheby’s in London.
The auctioneers traced the 1878 painting back to Ludwig Kainer, a painter who worked for the Berlin opera and his wife Margret, after it was consigned to them from its anonymous European owner.
Nazis ordered the couple to sell it at a "Jew auction" in 1935 as part of a scheme to marginalise Jews and strip them of their property.
Mr Kainer died in 1967, but now an unprecedented deal with the owner means some of the proceeds will go to the couple’s descendents.
Philip Hook from Sotheby’s said the agreement was made without long legal proceedings and will be a "good template" for resolving future difficulties.
"The number of paintings which were wartime thefts is only just emerging. No two cases are the same but it is hoped this principle could become commonplace."
Au Parc Monceau is to be sold at Sotheby’s, West London, at 7pm tonight.
