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| Austrian court: Klimt paintings seized by Nazis to be returned
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Gustav Klimt
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An Austrian arbitration court ruled Tuesday that five paintings by Austrian art nouveau painter Gustav Klimt seized by the Nazis should be returned to their Jewish owner’s family.
The court ruled that "conditions have been met for the five paintings to be given back to the heirs of Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer."
Austrian Culture Minister Elisabeth Gehrer said the government would comply with the court’s decision which was not binding although the two parties to the lawsuit agreed in May to abide by the decision of the arbitration court.
The paintings by the early 20th century painter, which are currently displayed at the Belvedere gallery in Vienna, have been the subject of a legal battle between US citizen Maria Altmann, 89, Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer’s niece, and the Austrian state since 1999.
Together they are worth tens of millions of euros.
The paintings include two modernist masterpiece portraits of Adele Bloch-Bauer painted in 1907 and 1912.
Altmann, who lives in Los Angeles, told Austrian state television that she wanted the two main paintings in the collection, including the masterpiece portrait, to remain in Austrian museums, as she was willing to sell them.
She said she could also sell the other paintings but did not say which country she wanted them to be in.
A sixth painting, "Amalie Zuckerkandl", had been removed from the lawsuit.
Jewish industrialist
Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer was a Jewish industrialist whose wealth was seized by the Nazis after Germany annexed Austria in 1938. He died in 1946.
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Houses in Unterach on the Attersee from 1916
by Gustav Klimt.
This work is among the five paintings seized by the Nazis | The Austrian government claimed that the paintings belonged to the state as Adele Bloch-Bauer, who died in 1925, had asked her husband in her will to give the works to the Belvedere.
But Altmann’s lawyer said the paintings were not Adele’s to give away and that Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer had bequeathed the pictures to his family in his will.
Altmann said she was sorry an agreed settlement had not been reached earlier as she had suggested.
Vienna’s Jewish community welcomed the ruling, describing it as "important for Austria."
Possibility of acquiring the works
Gerbert Frodl, director of the Belvedere, has already said that the museum is "looking into the possibility of acquiring one or other of these works,"described as "absolute masterpieces."
Kunsthistorisches Museum director Wilfried Seipel called for help from patrons of the arts so that Austria did not lose "one of its most important works".
Asked about the possibility of buying one or more of the paintings for the national museums Gehrer said the budget for new acquisitions last year was 70 million euros (84.5 million dollars).
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Apple tree from 1912 by Gustav Klimt | "Buying the five works is far beyond our financial possibilities," she said.
"We shall have to find other means (of keeping the works). We are working on it," she said.
Some estimates have valued the collection at more than 150 million euros, including 50 million euros for the "Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I" alone.
In November 2003 a Klimt painting was sold at auction for a record at the time of 29 million dollars (24 million euros).
Klimt (1862-1918) was a key figure in the history of Art Nouveau and a founder of the Viennese Secession movement in 1897.
Besides the two portraits the works include "Apple Tree" from 1912, "Beechwood Forest" from 1903 and "Houses in Unterach on the Attersee" from 1916.
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