Basel art museum rejects restitution claim for Henri Rousseau painting
Basel's Kunstmuseum has rejected a request to return a painting by Henri Rousseau acquired in 1940 and considered to be sold under duress. Talks are now underway for "fair and equitable" compensation.
The painting in question is La muse inspirant son poète (The muse inspiring the poet) painted in 1909 by Henri Rousseau, the Basel Kunstmuseum said on Tuesday. The museum bought the work in 1940 from Countess Charlotte von Wesdehlen.
In 2021, a claimant’s lawyers contacted the museum to request its return. The Kunstmuseum’s art commission then investigated the context in which the painting was acquired. The result was communicated to the claimant’s lawyers at a meeting in June 2022. According to the museum, the claimant’s representatives have asked for the work to be returned.
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Restitution requested in 2022
The Basel museum’s provenance research department has established the historical facts. A working group was set up to discuss possible solutions. The result was communicated to the claimant’s lawyers at a meeting in June 2022. According to the museum, the claimant’s representatives have asked for the work to be returned.
According to the Kunstmuseum, the sale of Henri Rousseau’s painting by Charlotte von Wesdehlen is one of a number of cases treated in Switzerland as sales of “duress property”. These are sales made by emigrants who fled Nazi Germany to an unoccupied foreign country between 1933 and 1945.
Sale for financial reasons
Charlotte von Wesdehlen, a Jew, fled Nazi Germany and was in Switzerland when the painting was sold. She had to sell it for financial reasons, which would not have been the case had it not been for Nazi persecution.
According to the art commission’s report, the sale price was “low, even unreasonably low”. The Kunstmuseum paid CHF 12,000 for the painting at the time, even though “the intermediary dealer and the museum director knew that at least CHF 20,000 would have been appropriate”.
In 1940, on the open market, the painting should have fetched at least CHF40,000, if not CHF60,000.
“Fair and equitable” solution
The Kunstmuseum considers that there is no right of restitution for this painting. The museum advocates negotiations for a “fair and equitable solution” in accordance with the Washington Principles. These negotiations have begun with a view to agreeing a “reasonable” amount of financial compensation, which in principle will remain confidential, Felix Uhlmann, chairman of the art commission, told Keystone-ATS.
The Fine Arts Commission and the Kunstmuseum adhere to the Washington principles. They believe that certain cases of sales of such artworks sold under duress should be judged in accordance with these principles. The restitution of such art is possible, but constitutes an exception. Such an exception “is neither obvious nor justified in the case” of Henri Rousseau’s painting, according to the museum..
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