Schiele work stolen by Nazis returns to heirs of his dentist

The Advisory Commission dealing with the restitution of cultural property seized from Jews at the time of Nazi persecution has recommended that the city of Cologne return the watercolor painted by Egon Schiele in 1917 entitled Crouching Female Nude to the heirs of Heinrich Rieger.

The latter, Schiele’s dentist and art collector in Vienna, had received the work from the artist himself. With the annexation of Austria to Nazi Germany in March 1938 and persecution as a Jew, Rieger was deported to Theresienstadt in 1942, where he died, his wife was deported to Auschwitz and killed there, and the art collection was totally dispersed. Only the couple’s son managed to escape to the United States and save himself.

It is certain that Crouching Female Nude still belonged to Rieger’s collection in 1938 and was later confiscated due to persecution of Jews.

The work is currently kept at the Ludwig Museum in Cologne and will now have to be returned to Rieger’s heirs as unanimously determined by the Commission.

Courtesy Museum Ludwig

Schiele work stolen by Nazis returns to heirs of his dentist

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