Cornelius Gurlitt: One lonely man and his hoard of stolen Nazi art

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-26746697
BBC News
26 March 2014
Cornelius Gurlitt: One lonely man and his hoard of stolen Nazi art
By Stephen Evans

Cornelius Gurlitt hoarded more than 1,500 works of art, some stolen from Jews in Nazi Germany, for more than half a century. The BBC's Steve Evans was given exclusive access to the high-security storage depot where the 238 treasures he stored at one of his homes, in Austria, are now being held.

One day, no doubt, Hollywood will make a movie.

A reclusive man with his secret hoard of art. In the damp of his home, behind the shutters, spiders would crawl over masterpieces - until his secret was blown and his hidden trove uncovered...

...It will be a mystery film, too - how did a sad and lonely man hide such a big collection of pictures for so long. Cornelius Gurlitt would sell a painting when he needed the money (just the odd few millions) - but didn't the wise and intelligent of the art world ask any questions? Or did they not want to ask for fear of the answer?

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