Louvre Hopes New Exhibit Of Nazi-Looted Art Will Help Find Owners
Hitler looking at a piece of looted art. Image by YouTube
By Ari Feldman February 2, 2018
The Louvre Museum in Paris has a new permanent exhibit: paintings stolen by the Nazis during the Nazi occupation of France, CNN reported.
More than 1,700 paintings that were recovered from Nazi looting hang on the walls of the Louvre, but the 31 paintings in this special exhibit are unique: They have yet to be reunited with their owners.
“These paintings don’t belong to us. Museums often looked like predators in the past, but our goal is to return them,” Sebastien Allard, the head of the paintings department at the Louvre, told the AP.
Though the Louvre has a long-standing program of returning looted artwork, it is laborious, and requires the claimant to provide proof. Since 1951, only 50 pieces have been returned to their original owners.
“People who come forward need, for instance, to establish the proof that the artwork belonged to their grandfather,” Allard said. “They need to find old family pictures and payment slips, or gather testimonies. It can take years.”
World War II saw roughly 100,000 pieces of art looted from France by Nazis. About 60,000 pieces were recovered, with most going back to their original owners.
Contact Ari Feldman at feldman@forward.com or on Twitter @aefeldman
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.
If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
