Cornelius Gurlitt, the Nazis and a secret collection of masterpieces

The art collector left his magnificent selection of artworks to the Kunstmuseum in his will but who was he and how did he get hold of such a collection, asks William Cook

The first exhibition of the collection took place at the Kunstmuseum in 2017 (AFP/Getty)

Here in Bern’s Kunstmuseum, a grand art gallery in Switzerland’s compact capital, an exhibition has just opened devoted to one of the most significant art collections of the 20th century – that of Cornelius Gurlitt. The collection’s greatest hits are its French Impressionists (Degas, Monet, Renoir) and its German Expressionists (Franz Marc, August Macke, Otto Dix), but there are countless other masterworks. From Cézanne to Gaugin, from Dürer to Delacroix, it is truly a treasure trove of modern art.

But it’s not just the quality of his collection that makes Cornelius Gurlitt so significant – it’s the fact that he kept these paintings hidden from the world for half a century. For decades, these artworks were assumed to be lost forever – destroyed or mislaid during the carnage of the Second World War. The story behind their discovery raises important questions about the ethics of art collecting, and sheds a harsh, unforgiving light on the murky business of art dealing during the dark days of the Third Reich.

Our story begins 12 years ago, in September 2010, when Gurlitt, a 77-year-old German citizen, boarded a train in Zurich bound for his hometown, Munich. As his train crossed the border from Switzerland into Germany, the Bavarian police conducted a customs inspection. In Gurlitt’s luggage, they found an envelope containing €9,000 in cash. Suspecting him of tax evasion, they referred him to the public prosecutor.