The heirs of Piet Mondrian (1872-1944) claim that the painting Composition with blue (1926), in the Philadelphia Museum of Art, belongs to them. Entrusted to the art historian Sophie Küppers (1891-1978), companion of the artist El Lissitzky (1890-1941) – who was Jewish – it would have been, according to the beneficiaries, confiscated by the Nazis. Subsequently, his career is known. The New York collector Albert E. Gallatin (1881-1952) acquired it in 1939 via the Buchholz Gallery in New York, known for having sold works of “degenerate art”. The collector later gave the painting to the museum in 1952.
The Philadelphia Museum of Art considers itself the legitimate owner of the painting. Its director, Timothy Rub, begins by recalling that the museum supports “Fully restitution of works looted by the Nazis”, several works have recently been returned to German and Czech museums.
But the conditions d’acquisition of this work, visible for 70 years, have never been suspected, neither by the artist, nor by those around him. The director specifies that “Shortly after Gallatin acquired the work, he contacted Mondrian, they exchanged letters and Mondrian never questioned the ownership of the work attributed to Gallatin”.
Piet Mondrian had drawn up his will in favor of the artist Harry Holtzman (1912-1987) who, according to his heirs, “Died unaware that Mondrian, and therefore himself, was the owner of the work”. The table is now estimated at more than 88 million euros.
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