A PAINTING that was among a huge trove of art stolen by the Nazis will be sold by a Jewish man who saw it being taken as a boy.
A total of 1,600 works of art taken by the Nazis during the 1930s — including pieces by Picasso and Monet — were discovered in 2012 and have started being returned to their rightful owners.
“Two Riders on a Beach,” by Max Liebermann, was rescued from the collection and returned to David Toren, 90, who saw the £550,000 (US$852,098) work being seized from his great uncle the day after Kristallnacht.
Toren — who is now blind — was 13 when Nazi officials took the painting, which is estimated to be worth £550,000, from his uncle David Friedmann in 1938.
The wealthy Jewish businessman, from Poland, was forced to relinquish all of his prized possessions, including “Two Riders on a Beach,” to a high-ranking Nazi official.
His great-nephew Toren watched as it was taken away and many of his family went on to die at Auschwitz, but he escaped by fleeing to Sweden and now lives in the U.S.
The Nazis sold the painting and it ended up in the hands of art dealer Hildebrand Gurlitt, who passed it on to his son Cornelius.
The collector died last year after pledging to return the paintings, which were found in his Munich apartment in 2012.
“Two Riders on a Beach” was returned to Toren, and is now up for auction at Sotheby’s, in London, with an estimate of £350,000 to £550,000.
(SD-Agencies)
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