61340 Vorabseiten_e - Unabhängige Expertenkommission Schweiz

Beyeler in turn stated that he had purchased the painting from a private
individual in Switzerland in 1955 «who himself had bought it from a Paris
collector in the proper manner». «All the previous owner knew», continued
Beyeler,
«was that the French owner informed him that the painting had been sold
by Bernheim during the war. It is well known that the gallery had sold
various paintings during the war to friendly galleries and collectors». 140
The Bernheim-Jeune family did actually sell paintings themselves during the
war, but from Lyons or Lausanne. However, if the Paris gallery sold paintings,
the sellers were not members of the Bernheim-Jeune family, but Charles
Montag or Eduard Gras. 141 Beyeler had proposed to the Federal Political
Department that he himself would obtain the legal details. The Department
dissuaded him from doing so, as it was up to Bernheim-Jeune themselves to find
out about their rights. On 4 September 1957, it replied that a claim could be
filed through the normal legal channels.
«The action taken by the Galerie Bernheim seems questionable as it sold
several well-known paintings, which are also in different hands today, to
known buyers during the war precisely to pre-empt their removal and is
now trying to get them back – presumably because the value of these
paintings has increased since then. In other such cases, however, it has
already been defeated in court.» 142
On 4 December 1957, the French Embassy advised that the painting had not
belonged to the gallery, but had been part of the private collection. This
emerged from the written evidence provided by contemporary experts. 143 Other
paintings from the private collection had been restituted during the post-war
period, and therefore qualified as looted assets.
«If the painting was indeed liquidated as a Jewish asset, no one at the time
ought to have ignored the arbitrary nature of these public sales of confiscated
goods. It should be noted in this regard that several of the paintings
that appear on the same inventory for the hotel in rue Desbordes-Valmore
were found in Germany and restituted.» 144
The Bonnard painting came from the private collection of the Bernheim-Jeune
family and, having been painted by Bonnard for the family, was a very personal
possession. The subject of the painting is a table with a vase of flowers and a
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