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Swedish museum settles looted art case

(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-09-10 09:14

STOCKHOLM: A Swedish art museum says it has settled a 6-year-long dispute over a painting that was claimed by the heirs of a Jewish businessman who lost it when he fled Germany to escape Nazi persecution in 1939.

Related readings:  Holocaust survivor can sue museum for painting

Stockholm's Moderna Museet says a European art collector will buy German expressionist Emil Nolde's Blumengarten (Utenwarf) for an undisclosed amount from the heirs of Otto Nathan Deutsch.

Under the deal, the heirs will return compensation paid by Germany in 1961 for the lost artwork. The painting will remain at Moderna on loan for up to five years.

The museum says it bought the artwork from a Swiss gallery in 1967, unaware of its history. The 1917 canvas of brightly colored flowers is estimated to be worth between $4 million and $6 million.

AP