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Friday, 22 April 2011 00:10

Museum to return $44m Klimt painting seized by Nazis

A section from one of Gustav Kilmt's most famous works. The MdM Salzberg have discovered that one of the Klimt pieces in their collection (not pictured) was looted by Nazis. A section from one of Gustav Kilmt's most famous works. The MdM Salzberg have discovered that one of the Klimt pieces in their collection (not pictured) was looted by Nazis. Photograph: Ho/AFP/Getty Images

An Austrian museum has announced plans to return a precious Gustav Klimt painting to the heir of its rightful owner after researchers discovered it was confiscated by Nazis during the second world war.

The painting, Litzlberg am Attersee, currently owned by the modern art museum MdM Salzburg, could be worth as much as €30m ($44m).

Research showed that the Nazis seized the 96-year-old painting from an apartment of a woman named Amalie Redlich in a village near Vienna. Redlich was deported to Poland, where she was killed, Salzburg deputy governor Wilfried Haslauer and the head of the museum, Toni Stooss, told reporters. Her 83-year-old grandson, Georges Jorisch, lives in Montreal, Canada.

The painting was bought by Salzburg art collector and dealer Friedrich Welz who exchanged it in 1944 for a piece from Salzburg's state gallery. It was subsequently taken over by the state gallery's successor, the Salzburger Residenzgalerie, in 1952 and later became part of the inventory of Salzburg's modern art museum.

"This is looted art, there's absolutely no question about that," Haslauer said in comments carried by Austrian radio Oe1.

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