Pissarro Painting to Remain in German Museum After WWII Restitution Settlement

After nearly a decade of negotiations, the Kunsthalle Bremen in Germany has reached a landmark agreement to retain Le Repos (Girl Lying in the Grass), a painting by Camille Pissarro, sold under duress by a Jewish family fleeing the Nazi invasion of the Netherlands in 1940.

The settlement honors the history of the painting’s original owners, the van den Bergh family, who sold it to fund their escape during World War II. While parents Jaap and Ellen van den Bergh survived, their daughters, Marianne and Rosemarie, tragically perished in Auschwitz. As part of the deal with the family’s surviving heir, Suzan van den Bergh, Kunsthalle Bremen will publish a detailed account of the family’s persecution and the forced sale of their art collection.

The museum, which acquired the painting in 1967, negotiated a private financial settlement, avoiding a protracted legal battle that could have led to the painting’s removal from its collection. Rudi Ekkart, a Dutch restitution expert involved in the talks, emphasized the importance of preserving family history in place of contentious litigation.

To commemorate the agreement, the Pissarro was unveiled at a ceremony at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. Kunsthalle Bremen Director Christoph Grunenberg described the resolution as a milestone in addressing historical injustices. The painting will remain on display in Amsterdam until March before returning to Bremen, where its history will be prominently shared.

This settlement underscores the ongoing efforts to reconcile art restitution cases with the legacy of Holocaust survivors and their families.