A painting by famed French impressionist artist Pierre Auguste Renoir that was stolen by the Nazis in World War II was returned to the family of its original owner on Wednesday, after making its way through three continents.
Renoir's "Deux Femmes Dans Un Jardin" ("Two Women in a Garden"), painted in the last year of the artist's life, was handed over at a ceremony at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York.
The painting was originally owned by Alfred Weinberger, a well-known art collector in pre-war Paris. His granddaughter and sole living heir, Sylvie Sulitzer, who lives in southern France near Marseille, formally received the work at the ceremony.
"Since 2010, Madame Sulitzer has actively sought to recover the stolen works from her grandfather's collection," U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Geoffrey Berman said.
"When Madame Sulitzer learned in 2013 that 'Deux Femmes' was being put up for auction at Christie's, she made a claim for the work. After an investigation by my office and the FBI, the purported owner of the work voluntarily agreed to relinquish its claim to the 'Deux Femmes,' and as a result, we are able to return the painting to Madame Sulitzer today. The FBI's art crime team played an important role in investigating Madame Sulitzer's claim and securing the painting's voluntary return."
Speaking at the handover ceremony, Sulitzer said she was "very thankful to be able to show my beloved family, wherever they are, after all that they've been through, there is justice."
The painting will remain on loan at the museum, but according to reports, Sulitzer may sell it at auction later this year.
"The Nazis attempted to dehumanize and destroy the Jewish people," museum president Michael Glickman said. "And we remember the Holocaust as a history of individuals. And this in and of itself is an act of resistance. From the most unjust of times, a measure of justice is restored today. And we are grateful to be part of this history. We are honored that Miss Sulitzer is providing the opportunity to showcase this painting in our galleries to visitors from around the world, helping this institution reintroduce a lost artwork to the public for the first time in nearly 80 years."
Renoir painted "Deux Femmes" in 1919, shortly before he died. It was stolen by the Nazis from a Paris bank vault in 1941 and appeared at art sales in Johannesburg, London and Zurich, before arriving at Christie's Gallery in New York in 2013, where it caught the eye of both Sulitzer and the FBI.
The Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery Act, enacted by the U.S. Congress in 2016, extended the federal statute of limitations for seeking the return of Nazi-confiscated art to six years from the time of "actual discovery" of its identity and whereabouts.
The Nazis and their agents systematically stole and confiscated art and cultural property from Nazi-occupied territories. Many Jewish artists and collectors were also forced to sell their works, often for a pittance.
While many works were recovered by the allied armies soon after the war, many are still missing and feed into an illegal, multi-billion dollar international trade in stolen art works, estimated to be the third-largest after drugs and arms trafficking.
