Uncommon Monet artwork restored to original owners over eight decades after its seizure by Nazis
"By the Sea's Edge" was among Monet's initial creations, reportedly worth over half a million dollars, according to a Houston gallery that decided to auction it off.
The artwork had been missing for several decades before surfacing on the market, prompting the FBI to launch an investigation.
Adalbert and Hilda Parlagi, a couple from Austria, were the original proprietors of the painting, acquiring it in 1936 to decorate their home. In 1938, allegedly due to the escalating tensions under the Nazi regime, the Parlagis were compelled to leave all their belongings, including the Monet, in the care of a Viennese shipping company's warehouse. They intended to either send the painting to themselves or collect it later.
Unfortunately, before they could retrieve the Monet, German Gestapo seized everything in the warehouse, as stated by US officials. The painting was then procured at an auction by a notorious Nazi art dealer and vanished in 1941.
More than seven decades later, the Monet resurfaced at an impressionism showcase in France. It was then bought and subsequently sold to a pair in Washington state, who later listed it for auction in Houston. However, they relinquished the painting to the FBI last year upon discovering its controversial past.
Since then, the FBI has been diligently working to restore the Monet to the Parlagi family's granddaughters, and the exchange took place last Wednesday.
The Parlagi family continues its quest to recover various other artworks pirated by the Nazis, such as a 1903 Paul Signac watercolor, which was also acquired by the same Nazi art dealer.
The investigation into the resurfaced Monet painting led to the discovery of its troubled past, tied to political events such as the Nazi regime's seizure of artworks.The Parlagi family's pursuit of justice in arts extends beyond the Monet, also involving the recovery of a valuable Paul Signac watercolor, affected by politics and conflicts of the past.
