Nazi-Seized Art Is Found: “Hoarders” Next?
A possible episode for my favorite trashy (literally) reality show, “Hoarders“? I’m talking about the cache of “lost†paintings just announced to have been found in a revoltingly messy Munich apartment. The art was looted by the Nazis before the Second World War. The cache contains some 1,500 works by Picasso, Matisse, Chagall and Klee and valued at an estimated $1.3 billion. Bavarian customs police discovered the sensational haul in the home of Cornelius Gurlitt, the 80-year-old son of well-known pre-war art dealer Hildebrand Gurlitt. The younger Gurlitt had hoarded the paintings in his Munich apartment for over half a century. But why is this a “Hoarders” episode? Because the apartment in which the paintings were found was said to have been an abandoned mess, full plates with the remains of rotting meals on them, food packaging, and old tins of canned food. It said that in some cases Picasso works were wedged between cans. According to Focus, authorities had in fact seized the works in 2011 but their existence had not been revealed until now.
