A Claude Monet painting stolen from a Jewish couple by the Nazis during World War II has been returned to the family's descendants, officials have announced, the Guardian reports.
Adalbert "Bela" and Hilda Parlagi bought the work of art, called "Bord de Mer", at an auction in Austria in 1936. After Nazi Germany annexed Austria in 1938, the Parlagis had to flee, leaving their belongings in storage.
In 1940, the Nazis confiscated their property, including seven other works of art, and a Nazi art dealer bought this. Monet's painting, which dates to about 1865, "disappeared" in 1941, the FBI said in a press release.
Bela Parlagi searched for his stolen art after World War II until his death in 1981. His son also tried to find the family art, without success, until his death in 2012.
In 2021, FBI agents began investigating the stolen pastel after the Commission on Looted Art in Europe contacted authorities about it. The commission learned that an art dealer in New Orleans came into possession of the painting in 2017 and sold it to private collectors two years later.
The pastel was for sale at a gallery in Houston, Texas in 2023. FBI agents and NYPD detectives contacted the owners of the painting - who did not know its origin - and explained that it had been stolen.
The owners voluntarily surrendered the painting to the authorities and renounced their right to ownership. The work was returned to the Parlagis' granddaughters, Helen Lu and Françoise Parlagi.
"It is an act of justice that it has been returned," said Ee Veber, co-chair of the Commission for Looted Art in Europe. "It has a great sentimental meaning for the family," she added.
James Dennehy, assistant director of the FBI in New York, said his agents were "honored" to help recover the art.
"While this Mone is undoubtedly valuable, its true value lies in what it represents to the Parlagi family. It is a connection to their history, loved ones and a legacy that was almost erased. The emotions associated with returning something that was so brutally taken away cannot be measured in dollars - that's priceless," Denehi said in a press release.
About 20 percent of the works of art in Europe were looted by the Nazis, according to the National Archives. The World Organization for the Restitution of Jewish Property and the Conference on Jewish Material Claims against Germany released a report in March showing that 24 countries had "made little or no progress" in returning art stolen during the Holocaust.
The report estimates that more than 100.000 of the 600.000 "paintings and many other millions of books, manuscripts, religious objects and other cultural objects" stolen during the Holocaust have still not been returned.
About two dozen countries that have fallen behind in efforts to return Nazi art, including Russia and Turkey, are among more than 40 nations that endorsed the Washington Principles on Nazi-confiscated art in 1998. These principles are intended to encourage the return of looted art and cultural works.
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