Art dealer paid Nazis just 4,000 Swiss Francs for masterpieces
Art dealer paid Nazis just 4,000 Swiss Francs for masterpieces, it emerges, as the reclusive son is spotted for the first time since the discovery was made public
The art dealer whose son was found to have hoarded a treasure trove of masterpieces in his Munich flat paid the Nazis just 4,000 Swiss Francs for 200 paintings now thought to be worth millions, it has emerged.
Hildebrand Gurlitt was sold the collection – which included works by Chagall and Picasso – by Hitler’s propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels in May 1940, according to a purchase contract published by German paper Bild am Sonntag.
The 200 artworks branded “degenerate” by the Nazis are thought to be part of the stash of 1,406 pictures discovered last year in a Munich flat belonging to Hildebrand’s son Cornelius.
Hildebrand, who died in 1956, bought the oil paintings, watercolours and drawings via a foreign currency transfer to the bank account “E.K”.
“That was exactly 20 Swiss francs for each work which today are worth hundreds of thousands or millions – including Chagall’s The Walk, Picasso’s Farming Family and Hamburg Harbour by Nolde,” Bild am Sonntag said.
The property transfer took effect once the Propaganda Ministry’s bank had confirmed receipt of payment, the purchase contract says.
Hildebrand acquired a further 115 works of “degenerate” art from Goebbels’ ministry in 1941, according to Bild.
The Lion Tamer by Max Beckmann (Lt) and Alfred Flechtheim by Otto Dix (Bildarchiv Preussischer Kultur)
The Lion Tamer by Max Beckmann (Lt) and Alfred Flechtheim by Otto Dix (Bildarchiv Preussischer Kultur)
Germany’s Finance Ministry is in possession of further purchase and transfer agreements drawn up between Goebbels’ ministry and Hildebrand, the newspaper reports.
The art dealer had claimed until his death that his valuable art collection was destroyed in a fire.
That story was widely accepted until one week ago, when the Bavarian authorities admitted seizing 1,406 pictures from a Munich flat owned by Hildebrand’s 80-year-old son Cornelius.
The revelation prompted an international outcry and demands for both full disclosure of artworks seized plus an explanation of why the German authorities had hushed up their astonishing find since February 2012.
White-haired, reclusive Cornelius Gurlitt appeared to vanish into thin air after news broke of his impounded art collection.
Even the German authorities denied all knowledge of his whereabouts despite already charging the pensioner, an Austrian passport-holder, with tax evasion.
But French reporters claim to have tracked down the recluse near the same flat from which the multi-million euro art stash was seized.
The two “Paris Match” journalists say they spoke to the smartly dressed Gurlitt in a Munich shopping centre on Friday afternoon. Their report is likely to spark a frenzied local search for the recluse.
Gurlitt refused the journalists’ interview request, saying only: "Approval that comes from the wrong side is the worst thing that can happen.”
The magazine described him as angry and fearful, yet elegantly dressed. Its accompanying photograph of an elderly white-haired man dressed in a winter coat and scarf would be the first image of Cornelius captured on camera since his astonishing art stash was made public.
Separately, German authorities confiscated 22 paintings on Saturday from the house of Gurlitt's brother-in-law Nikolaus Fraessle near Stuttgart, Bild am Sonntag said, after Fraessle called police himself to hand the art works over.
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