A Claude Monet pastel painting stolen by Nazis during World War II, which vanished for decades only to show up with a Louisiana art dealer, was returned Wednesday in New Orleans to the descendants of its original owners.
“Bord de Mer” was one of Monet’s early works and valued at over $500,000 by a Houston gallery that had put it up for auction.
It had vanished for decades, and the FBI began investigating the pastel painting when it was listed for sale.
The original owners, a couple in Austria named Adalbert and Hilda Parlagi, purchased the Monet in 1936 to hang in their home.
Before they could get the painting back, the German Gestapo seized everything that the Parlagis’ had hidden in that warehouse, US officials say.
The Monet was then purchased at auction by a Nazi art dealer and disappeared in 1941.
Since then, the FBI has been working to return the Monet to the Parlagi’s granddaughters, and the handoff was made Wednesday. »