© Wikipedia
15. 06. 12. - 15:40
Leopold Museum settles over stolen painting
The Leopold Museum in Vienna has agreed to settle with the descendents of a woman whose Egon Schiele painting "Houses by the Sea" was stolen by the Nazis - and then ended up in their collection.
Rudolf Leopold, the founder of the Leopold Museum, acquired it in 1955.
The 1914 painting belonged to Jenny Steiner until she fled Austria in 1938, shortly after the Nazis marched into Vienna. She escaped to Paris and later emigrated to the U.S. with her two daughters. The painting was seized and sold by the Nazis, then later auctioned.
Vienna’s Leopold Museum agreed to pay 5 million dollars to the granddaughter of Steiner to keep the work in its collection.
And it has now settled with the other descendents for the remaining two-thirds of the painting.
The Leopold Foundation will finance the settlement by selling paintings, Peter Weinhaeupl, the managing director of the museum, said.
