arts
Published 16th March 2021
Credit: Patrice Schmidt/RMN-Grand Palais/Musée d Orsay
Klimt painting sold under duress during Nazi era to be returned to heirs of Jewish family
Written by Antonella FranciniAmy Woodyatt, CNN
France will return a painting by artist Gustav Klimt to the heirs of a Jewish family forced to sell the artwork during World War II.
The painting, purchased by the French state in 1980,
was being kept at France s Musée d Orsay, one of Paris leading museums.
It previously belonged to Nora Stiasny, who lived in Purkersdorf, near Vienna, Austria.
Austria was annexed by the Nazis in 1938 during the Anschluss. Stiasny s property was gradually confiscated, and in August of that year, she was forced to sell to an acquaintance her painting now titled Rosiers sous les Arbres, or Rose Bushes Under the Trees at a reduced price in order to survive, France s culture minister Roselyne Bachelot said.