Approximately 80 years after it was looted by the Nazis, an expressionist painting has been returned to the descendants of a German-Jewish couple by the Royal Museums of Fine Arts in Brussels.
Michel Draguet, the museum’s director, said he felt no sadness whatsoever that the work would leave the museum complex.
“This restitution, the first by the Museums of Fine Arts, is a very strong signal: even decades later, justice can triumph,” Dermine said.
The return of the painting was also “an opportunity to remind people of the horrors” to which nationalism and the far right could lead, he said.
“To repair is to remember and to remember is to avoid the return of the worst.”.
“They are delighted that at least one of the missing paintings has been identified after 80 years and has now been returned.”.
“We never bought this painting, we were never the owners, we were the custodians for the Belgian state.” »