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Edvard Munch's The Scream Claimed as Nazi Loot

15 October 2012
  • Edvard Munch's iconic "The Scream" will lead Sotheby's May 2 Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sale in New York.

    Edvard Munch's iconic "The Scream" sold for nearly $120 million at Sotheby's May 2 Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sale in New York.

    Sotheby's

A week ahead of Edvard Munch's "The Scream" going on view at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, claims that the iconic painting has a tragic history have emerged.

Rafael Cardoso, a Brazilian curator and a great-grandson of German-Jewish banker Hugo Simon, who owned the work in the 1920s and 30s, says his family contested the Munch's sale at Sotheby's last May.

Cardoso maintains that the painting's history has not been fully disclosed. He says the Munch may have been part of a forced sale by the Nazis when his ancestor was driven from Germany in 1933.

“We have no interest whatsoever in this except as a moral issue: in the general sense that the legacy of those who were wronged should be remembered and respected,” Cardoso said.

Financier Leon Black reportedly is the new owner of the near-$120 million artwork, the most expensive ever sold at auction.

Read more at New York Post
Categories: european art
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