A new gallery at Paris’s Musée d’Orsay presents Nazi-era looted artworks with back labels detailing provenance and wartime movement, marking France’s formal reckoning with art plunder.

Among the works is a Stevens painting once bound for Hitler’s Linz museum and later found at his Bavarian retreat; it was recovered after World War II by Allied forces and now sits in the MNR collection held in trust for potential heirs.

The MNR program identifies roughly 2,200 looted or unclaimed works, with many more recovered after 1945, while about 15,000 still lack identified owners; the 2,200 are the subset managed by French national museums.

Scholars and curators stress that these artworks are inseparable from the Holocaust and antisemitism, urging ongoing transparency and restitution without statutes of limitations.

Visitors connect with the labels and provenance records, such as Marie Duboisse who recognizes MNR marks and Daniel Lévy who plans to read provenance to link with relatives affected by the camps.

Leading voices highlight provenance research and the gallery’s broader mission, with reflections on the Shoah and the principle that crimes tied to looting have no statute of limitations.

Highlighted pieces include a Degas copy linked to Fernand Ochsé (deported and killed in Auschwitz), a Renoir tied to Alphonse Daudet’s wife, and a Cézanne whose authenticity is being reassessed.

The exhibit features Degas, Renoir, and Cézanne works with documented looting histories, and personal stories of visitors underscore the human impact of cultural plunder.

The display includes Renoir, Degas, and Boudin among others, aiming to trace memory and provoke thoughts on justice and restitution.

Inès Rotermund-Reynard, overseeing the dossier at Orsay, notes the investigative work can be complex, illustrated by Le Souper au bal by Degas, whose provenance involves several transfers and an initial Jewish buyer deported to Auschwitz.

The exhibit emphasizes that these artifacts are remnants of genocide and plunder, linking art history to the Shoah and striving to restore rightful ownership where possible.

Thirteen works, including pieces by Stevens, Degas, Renoir, and Cézanne, are presented with back-of-frame labels and inventory stamps that trace their trajectories.