A woman who donated a painting to the Rijksmuseum seven years ago wants the artwork back. 88-year-old Oosje Silbermann says against NRC that she was in a confused state at the time.
The woman’s granddaughter had a brain tumor and her life was feared. A voice in her head said that if she gave the precious painting away, her grandchild would be cured.
It’s about the canvas Composition that artist Bart van der Leck painted in 1918. The then director Wim Pijbes was happy with the painting, which according to experts who spoke to NRC is now worth about 3.5 tons. It is seen as one of the showpieces of the Rijksmuseum’s twentieth-century art department.
Careless
Now the Silbermann family has seized the piece of art. According to the writ of summons, the painting was “taken from her possession by the Rijksmuseum’s hasty and careless actions”. Due to the illness of her granddaughter, the then 81-year-old Oosje was, in her own words, incapacitated with regard to the donation.
According to the family, more research should have been done into the reasons behind the donation. “If the museum and the civil-law notary concerned had fulfilled their duty to investigate, as required by international museum rules, they would have been able to observe Oosje’s bad state of mind,” claim the plaintiffs. They want the donation to be reversed.
The current Rijksmuseum director Taco Dibbits says in a response that the museum acted in good faith in this matter. “If the judge decides otherwise, the museum will immediately return the painting by Bart van der Leck received as a gift in 2013 to the donor.”
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