NH NewsThe painting has been withdrawn from the auction
NOS Nieuws•vandaag, 16:24
Thrift store De Kringloper in Naarden wonders whether among the items collected last year is a valuable painting by the French expressionist Chaïm Soutine (1893-1943).
It is currently unclear whether the painting is really his work. Because it is still unclear where the painting comes from and whether it may be stolen art, De Kringloper has withdrawn the painting from the annual auction. It is temporarily housed in a secret location, reports NH News .
At De Kringloper, like any thrift store, items arrive on an assembly line. Sometimes complete household effects, often also individual ‘pieces’. Because valuable items are also brought in on a regular basis, De Kringloper has been holding an annual auction for twenty years.
Just before such an auction, the store always calls in the help of an appraiser from the TV program Between Art and Kitsch, who assesses whether the pieces are indeed of value and possibly makes an estimate or price indication.
Worth a lot of money
When appraiser Rob Mulders saw the painting in question, he had no doubts. “I immediately knew: if this is an original painting by Chaïm Soutine, then it is worth a lot of money,” he says.
At the same time, another question arose, because what if the painting is indeed by Soutine, but was stolen during the Second World War or afterwards and then resold? In that case it is stolen art and auctioning the painting in Naarden could mean healing.
There is a note on the back of the work: a receipt stating that it was sold for 8,500 guilders to an anonymous person. That happened in 1948, in Breda. The receipt also states that it is a Soutine from 1937. The note may have been counterfeited, but according to thrift store director Ivo Korte, it looks credible at first glance.
These are all uncertainties that made Korte decide not to offer the painting at the auction for the time being, for which today was a viewing day.
No budget for research
The question is what will happen now. Between Art and Kitsch has no experts in the field of Jewish-French artists such as Soutine, the program has said. De Kringloper is now looking for an expert who can determine the authenticity of the painting and whether it is art theft.
But that won’t be easy. “In any case, it will take months to find out whether it is art theft, and if you want to know whether a painting is real, it will cost tens of thousands of euros,” said company director Mariette Hoeve. According to her, the store doesn’t have the budget for that.
secret place
If it turns out that it is indeed a Soutine, the painting will still be auctioned, director Korte announces. But not when it comes to stolen art. “Then it is not ours, and we have to look for the rightful owner,” said director Korte. “That won’t be easy, but there are experts for that too.”
Until then, the painting has been stored in a secret place. Not in De Kringloper and not at the office, manager Hoeve emphasizes. Because in the best case scenario, this painting is worth tons.
2023-11-18 15:24:23
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