Austria to Restitute Five Klimt Paintings

UNCLAS VIENNA 000136

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE FOR EUR/OHI (SCARLIS) and EUR/AGS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KNAR PHUM PGOV AU
SUBJECT: Austria to Restitute Five Klimt Paintings


1. The GoA will transfer ownership of five Gustav Klimt
paintings currently in the possession of the federally
owned Austrian Gallery to a group of heirs led by Los
Angeles resident Maria Altmann. Education Minister
Elisabeth Gehrer announced today, January 17, that she
will order restitution of these paintings in accordance
with the decision of an independent arbitration panel
announced yesterday. The paintings include two of
Klimt's most famous works, "Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer
I" and "Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer II."


2. Altmann's group consists of heirs to the paintings'
original owner, Jewish industrialist Ferdinand Bloch-
Bauer. The Nazis forced Bloch-Bauer (and Altmann) to
flee Austria before World War II. Bloch-Bauer died in
exile in 1945. The Nazis seized the paintings and turned
them over to the Austrian Gallery.

Panel Decision
--------------


3. The panel found that the case involving the five
paintings met the criteria for restitution under
paragraph 1, section 1, of the 1998 Art Restitution Act.
According to the panel, Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer's heirs
were under pressure to leave the paintings with the
Austrian Gallery in order to receive export permits for
other art objects.

Future Fate of the Paintings Unclear
--------------


4. Los Angeles resident Maria Altmann, the most
prominent heir involved in the case, told Austrian TV on
January 16 that she wanted the two Klimt portraits to
stay in Austria. She said that the three landscapes,
however, would also be offered to museums outside
Austria, but not to private collectors. Minister Gehrer
noted that the government would hold talks with the heirs
about the future of the paintings, but stressed that the
purchase of even one painting would exceed the annual
budget for all federal museums. (According to Gehrer,
estimates of the value of the most renowned painting,
"Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I" range from 70 to 120
million euros.) The GoA would explore other options,
such as financing through private donations or possible
loans of the paintings by the heirs.


5. The decision ends a long legal dispute over the Klimt
paintings. After the Education Ministry's art
restitution council ruled against restitution of the
paintings in 1999, the heirs continued to pursue the
matter in an Austrian court, and subsequently in a U.S.
court. In March 2005, after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling
confirming that Altmann and the heirs could sue the
Austrian government in U.S. courts, the GoA negotiated a
binding arbitration process with the claimants.


6. The arbitration panel will now have to decide on the
case of a sixth painting, "Amalie Zuckerkandl," also held
by the Austrian Gallery. Maria Altmann and the Bloch-
Bauer heirs are the claimants in this case, along with
one other family.

McCAW