Bern Art Museums returns Nazi-looted art collection to the owners
The owners of a Matisse painting which had been part of a Nazi-looted multi-billion-euro art collection from the late Cornelius Gurlitt of Germany, are "gratified" that the Bern Art Museum in Switzerland agreed to return the masterpiece.
Chrostopher A. Marinello, Rosenberg family representative: "The family is gratified that the museum has decided to take responsibility and adhere to the Washington Principles in returning the works that have been deemed looted from these families. We're also very grateful to the Federal Republic of Germany and the task force that has been appointed to assist in the research and the continued provenance research of the looted works of art."
The Bern Art Museum discovered in May it had been named sole heir of Gurlitt who secretly kept the collection of more than 1,200 artworks hidden for decades until tax inspectors stumbled upon them on a visit to his Munich apartment in 2012.