The contents of the treasury of the Munich

The apartment Cornelius Gurlitt was discovered in 1406 works of art. Among them are unknown self-portrait by Otto Dix, a valuable painting by Marc Chagall, Matisse's portrait painted, as well as works by Canaletto, Renoir and others

At a press conference held yesterday in Augsburg , breathless media showed pictures of paintings that were hidden from the public eye for the past 70 years. It is the largest collection of works of art , created in the years of the Nazi regime , belonged to the late art dealer Hildebrand Gurlitt . about its existence became known only after a search of his apartment in the 80 -year-old son of Cornelius Gurlitt . Previously it was thought that the dealer Hildebrand Gurlitt , a former mediator from the Nazis in the sale of "degenerate " art abroad , has lost his collection during the bombing of Dresden. In fact, all the time more than a thousand works were kept in the ordinary apartment building , and the storage conditions were pretty well - most of the works in very good condition , none of them are damaged, although some studies have contamination .

unknown self-portrait by Otto Dix , found in the apartment of Cornelius Gurlitt Source : bbc.co.uk

unknown works by Marc Chagall , found in the apartment of Cornelius Gurlitt Source : bbc.co.uk

Officials at the meeting with the journalists denied initial information that the search of the apartment Cornelius Gurlitt occurred in 2011 . According to them, the investigation began in 2011 , but the search took place in February 2012 . That is, Bavarian authorities are not silent for so long. It was named and the exact number of works . Total found 121 and 1285 framed work pieces without frames , ie, a total of 1406 (not 1500 as mentioned before). This painting, original graphics and prints , the earliest of which date back to the XVI century. The approximate cost of the collection has not been named ( the German media gave a figure of about 1 billion euros). Not all the works belong to the authorship artists, ranked as the Nazis to " degenerative ". In his Munich apartment were , among other things , found an engraving by Albrecht Dürer's portrait of the girl with the kid brush Gustave Courbet , graphic landscape Canaletto works by Henri de Toulouse- Lautrec and Pierre - Auguste Renoir .

Unknown portrait by Henri Matisse, was found in the apartment of Cornelius Gurlitt Source : bbc.co.uk

Work of Otto Dix " Leon " , found in the apartment of Cornelius Gurlitt Source : bbc.co.uk

Some works are destroyed , the existence of others is still not known. Thus, the discovery was "Self Portrait" by Otto Dix , dating from the period immediately after World War II, and influenced the attitude of the artist's work . Hitherto unknown works by Marc Chagall with passionate kissing has also been classified by experts as particularly valuable . Another jewel of the collection is a portrait of a seated woman by Henri Matisse , written probably in the mid-1920s .

Contrary to organizations that protect the rights of Holocaust victims and their heirs , the German authorities do not intend to publish the full list of works on the Internet . So they hope to prevent the flow of false restitution claims. Job owners are asked to contact them directly. You can imagine how difficult it is restitution of the works that have been illegally removed or sold under duress by their owners. The place where the pictures were taken , was not named for security reasons .

Another unsolved questions : where did Cornelius Gurlitt and what awaits him ? Authorities said that the reasons for his arrest yet and that his current whereabouts are unknown .

Prepared by Mary Onuchina , AI

Sources : artdaily.com , bbc.co.uk , reuters.com , artinvestment.ru