I was watching an excellent film today called Woman In Gold:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2404425/
It was about the return of this Klimt painting
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port..._Bloch-Bauer_I
In short, it was looted by the Nazis from a Viennese Jewish family and then displayed in the Belvedere Museum in Vienna.
Adele, the lady portrayed in the art work, wanted the painting to be gifted to the Belevedere if her husband (the owner) died after her.
Decades later, a reletive of Adele and her husband sued for the return of the painting to its rightful owner (played by Helen Mirren in the film) it was subsequently auctioned of for a world record price and is now in display in a gallery in New York.
It's great the rightful owner of this art work is recognised as such but it's quite sad and unfortunate that it's been taken away from the city it was created in, from a public museum accessible to the people of Europe and now privately owned and displayed in USA?
Is this an example of reparations failing - where the wishes of the most important person -Adele - have been ignored?
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2404425/
It was about the return of this Klimt painting
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port..._Bloch-Bauer_I
In short, it was looted by the Nazis from a Viennese Jewish family and then displayed in the Belvedere Museum in Vienna.
Adele, the lady portrayed in the art work, wanted the painting to be gifted to the Belevedere if her husband (the owner) died after her.
Decades later, a reletive of Adele and her husband sued for the return of the painting to its rightful owner (played by Helen Mirren in the film) it was subsequently auctioned of for a world record price and is now in display in a gallery in New York.
It's great the rightful owner of this art work is recognised as such but it's quite sad and unfortunate that it's been taken away from the city it was created in, from a public museum accessible to the people of Europe and now privately owned and displayed in USA?
Is this an example of reparations failing - where the wishes of the most important person -Adele - have been ignored?