The Darkest Burden

This talk will centre on paintings, many deemed ‘degenerate’, that were either stolen or subject to forced sale from Jewish families in Germany in the 1930s. Some were auctioned in 1939 in Switzerland to raise funds for the Nazi party. Others vanished during the war. But in 2012, German border officers discovered a large amount of cash being carried by Cornelius Gurlitt, a reclusive art collector. Suspicious of tax fraud, police subsequently raided his flat and found a trove of art works, many of which were later proven to be Nazi-looted.

Desanka Rowell’s illustrated talk will bring the stolen work to life by exploring some of the issues raised, and the paintings’ place in the story of 20th-century art.