Monet Discovered in Suitcase of "Nazi Art" Hoarder

The recent death of Cornelius Gurlitt unveiled yet another painting stolen by the Nazis worth millions of dollars.  When Gurlitt died early this summer at age 81,  a Monet painting was found in the suitcase he had brought to the hospital where he died.  He was a reclusive man, the son of a Nazi-era art dealer who amassed a giant secret collection of hundreds of works of art either by seizing paintings from Jews or seized from German art galleries when the government deemed them degenerate.


Many of the works, which were seized in early 2012 in an unlikely way, are believed to have been stolen or extorted from Jews under a Nazi scheme to systematically plunder valuable art collections.  They were discovered by chance in 2012 during a tax evasion probe.  1,200 paintings, drawings and sketches had been hidden in his Munich flat for decades.  He never married and called the paintings "the love of his life."

  When the government discovered the art work, Gurlitt struck a deal with the German government, to help them track down the rightful owners of the artwork.  Apparently he did not part with all of his treasures in his deal with the German government.  A Monet painting completed in 1864, "Vue de Sainte-Adresse" may be the painting he smuggled into the hospital with him before his death.  It's amazing that even 75 years after artwork from the Nazi era was seized, stolen, or otherwise acquired by Nazis, we are still finding hidden works.  In his will, Gurlitt left his estate to a Swiss museum.  I don't know how many of the hundreds of paintings he had from his father's theft of art in the 1930's and 1940's, but he must still have quite a lot.  The Swiss museum is considering whether or not to take the paintings.