Blood-Stained Museum

Last Thursday, I took the train from Uster where my cousin Brigitta lives, and spent the day in Zurich.  I visited the "Kuntshaus" (literally Art House), one of the largest and most important museums in Switzerland.  The museum consists of two buildings across the street from each other connected by an underground tunnel.  The museum focusses on European art from the Middle Ages to the 21st century, however it seemed disjointed and confusing to me, without a clear flow from one period to another.  You might find a painting by Monet in one hall, and then another Monet and some other Impressionists in another hall.

There is a large collection of paintings by Edvard Munch, the Norwegian artist best known for "The Scream".

"Portrait of Children" 1905

"Music on Karl Johann Street"  1889

Many of the well-known names of art were represented...

"Seated Woman With Hat"

by Pablo Picasso  1921

"Hollyhocks"

by Vincent Van Gogh 1886

"Val de Falaise"

by Claude Monet  1885

I noticed that the signs for a number of paintings said that the provenance was being investigated. In other words, it is not clear if the works were acquired through legal channels.

Then, when I went to the second building there was a separate collection with a large number of top-notch paintings by well-known artists.

"Water Lily Pond - Green Reflection"

by Claude Monet 1920

There were three of the large Monet waterlily canvasses.

"Landscape"

by Paul Cezanne 1879

"Self Portrait"

by Vincent Van Gogh 1887

"Summer Hats"

by August Renoir 1893

These and many other paintings were collected by Swiss arms dealer Emil Bührle.  He made his fortune selling arms to Nazi Germany, and in the post-war years was involved in illegal weapons deals.  During the war he amassed a fortune equivalent to 6 billion in present day U.S. dollars.  He went on art-buying sprees in Nazi occupied Paris.  It is unclear how many of the paintings in the Bührle collection were sold by or stolen from Jews during the persecution under the Third Reich.  The museum, at least, admits to the controversial nature of the collection.  However, in 2023 a panel of impartial researchers hired to study the provenance of the paintings resigned in protest over how the museum is dealing with the issue.

The entire controversy left a very sour taste in my mouth.  Even if the paintings were proven not to have originally belonged to Jews, the collection was amassed by a man with blood on his hands.  I couldn't help but wonder how many Allied troops were killed by the weapons that Bührle sold to the Nazis, or if the machine gun that nearly killed my father in the Battle of the Bulge was manufactured by his company.