Heirs and Museum agree: Pissarro Painting remains in Kunsthalle Bremen

The painting "Girl Lying in the Grass" (1882) by Camille Pissarro (1830–1903), which has been in the Kunsthalle Bremen since 1967, remains part of the collection. Provenance research had shown that the former owner, Jaap van den Bergh (1908–1958), a Dutch citizen of Jewish descent, was forced to sell the painting in 1942 to finance his life of hiding to escape Nazi persecution.

The Kunstverein in Bremen, which sponsors the Kunsthalle Bremen, reached an agreement with the heir of the previous owner on a just and fair solution in accordance with the Washington Principles. The Cultural Foundation of Germany is funding part of the compensation payment.

Prof. Dr. Frank Druffner, acting Secretary General of the Foundation of the German Federal States says: "The painting 'Girl Lying in the Grass' not only exemplifies the significance of French Impressionist paintings at the Kunsthalle Bremen, it is also an important document of the culture of remembrance in the museum's holdings as a testament to the persecution of European Jews and Nazi art theft."

Research into the painting's provenance at the Kunsthalle Bremen began in 2010. In 2016, a discovery in a Dutch archive finally clarified its ownership during the German Wehrmacht occupation of the Netherlands. The painting was acquired during World War II by Hugo Oelze, a Bremen merchant living in Amsterdam, who ultimately bequeathed it to the Kunsthalle Bremen. Oelze had purchased the work through an intermediary who had acquired it from Jaap van den Bergh, former owner of the Bergoss textile company in Oss.

In May 1940, the German Wehrmacht invaded and occupied the Netherlands. Van den Bergh and his wife survived the occupation in hiding in Heemstede. Their daughters, Rosemarie Ida and Frieda Marianne, who were placed in a children's home, were betrayed and murdered after their deportation to the Auschwitz concentration camp.

The current agreement is the result of years of international collaboration between the Bremen provenance researchers and their Dutch colleagues at the Bureau Herkomst Gezocht, now the Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed (RCE). The painting "Girl Lying in the Grass" is one of the most important works in the Bremen Pissarro collection, which includes one drawing, 31 prints, and three paintings. It has been shown in numerous exhibitions worldwide.

Main Image: Girl Lying in the Grass" (1882) by Camille Pissarro