Musée D'Orsay ordered to restitute four masterpieces stolen during WWII and sold to Nazis

A court in the French capital of Paris ordered Musée D'Orsay to return four artworks that went stolen during World War II and were subsequently sold to the Nazis. The four masterpieces, which were created by artists Renoir, Cézanne, and Gauguin, were ordered last week to be given back to the heirs of Ambroise Vollard, a French art dealer, and the rightful owner of the prized possessions.

According to The Art Newspaper, the pieces include two paintings by Renoir: an 1883 seascape of Guernsey and a sanguine study, the Still life with mandolin painting by Gauguin, and the watercolor painting Undergrowth by Cézanne. However, this isn't the first time that the French judiciary has ruled in favour of Vollard.

Last year in May, another court said that the works were originally possessed by the art dealer even when he unexpectedly died in a car crash in 1939. The court confirmed the artworks were later stolen by people in line of his succession, who ended up selling them to Nazi officers, German museums, and dealers.

Vollard's heirs and their fight for restitution

In November, the judgment was also backed by the High Court. Fast forward to today, the administrative jurisdiction has demanded the restitution of the paintings. The culture ministry mentioned "to be restituted" on the four files of the artworks which were a part of a larger collection of about 2,000 other works that were found to have not been returned to legitimate owners in Germany after the war. 

The battle for restitution began in 2013, when Vollard's successors demanded the return of seven allegedly stolen works. While they are still waiting to receive three other paintings, the four artworks come as a major victory for them that was long meant to happen. François Honnorat, one of the attorneys of the heirs, told the outlet: “Although it seems normal for the State to check the history of the works, before restitution”, he “regrets that the process took ten years” as two heirs passed away during the period.