Kokoschka Work Sold in Nazi Era Returns to Dealer’s Heir
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A German government panel said a museum in Cologne should return a portrait by Oskar Kokoschka valued at 3 million euros ($3.9 million) to the heirs of Alfred Flechtheim, a Jewish art dealer persecuted by the Nazis.
“Portrait of Tilla Durieux” (1910) has been in the Museum Ludwig in Cologne since 1976. Flechtheim’s great-nephew Mike Hulton, a medical doctor based in California, filed a claim for the painting’s restitution in 2008, saying the dealer sold it under duress and didn’t get a fair price. The museum said Flechtheim was already in financial trouble before the Nazis came to power and sold the painting to pay off debts.