Gurlitt collection at the Kunstmuseum Bern:
Press Release Bern Kunstmuseum 17 February 2015
Pending Certificate of Inheritance Proceedings Cause Delays
The Bern Kunstmuseum's decision of November to establish a Gurlitt research body has been delayed because of the pending inheritance claim by Cornelius Gurlitt's cousin. The role of the research body will be to investigate all works and present its findings to the German Task Force which has sole decision-making power. Art historian Prof. Dr. Oskar Bätschmann will be supervisor of the research body and he will be assisted by three yet to be appointed research associates, all reporting to Bern's Trustees in the first instance. The research body will operate for six years with initial funding secured for the first twelve months. The Board regrets the delay occasioned by the inheritance dispute which means that even processing the restitution cases of the Matisse, Liebermann, and Spitzweg, which have already been clarified and endorsed by the Kunstmuseum Bern, will be impeded as long as the dispute about the inheritance is ongoing.
To read the press release as a pdf, click here
