The Monuments Men Foundation for the Preservation of Art is an American IRS approved
501(c)(3)
A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of the 29 types of 50 ...
not-for-profit
A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...
organization, which honors the legacy of those who served in the
Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives program during and after
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, more commonly known as the Monuments Men and Women. Today, the foundation continues their mission by recovering Nazi looted artworks, documents, and other cultural objects and returning them to their rightful owners. Raising public awareness is essential to the foundation's mission of "Restitution, Education and Preservation".
It was founded in 2007 by
Robert M. Edsel
Robert Morse Edsel (born December 28, 1956) is an American businessman and author. He has written three non-fiction books - ''Rescuing Da Vinci'' (2006), '' Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History' ...
, author of ''
Rescuing Da Vinci
''Rescuing Da Vinci'' is a largely photographic, historical book about art reclamation and preservation during and after World War II, written by American author Robert M. Edsel, published in 2006 by Laurel Publishing.
Summary
This book focuse ...
'', ''The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History'', ''Saving Italy: The Race to Rescue a Nation's Treasures from the Nazis,'' and ''The Greatest Treasure Hunt in History: the Story of the Monuments Men.'' The film ''
The Monuments Men
''The Monuments Men'' is a 2014 war film directed by George Clooney and written and produced by Clooney and Grant Heslov. The film stars an ensemble cast including Clooney, Matt Damon, Bill Murray, John Goodman, Jean Dujardin, Bob Balaban, Hug ...
,'' scripted, directed by, and starring
George Clooney
George Timothy Clooney (born May 6, 1961) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by George Clooney, numerous accolades, including a British Academy Film Awards, British Academy Film A ...
, is based on Edsel's best-seller and was released in February 2014 and has been shown in over 100 countries. The film was also privately shown at the White House for members of
President Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, Obama was the first Af ...
's administration.
The organization was one of the recipients of the 2007
National Humanities Medal
The National Humanities Medal is an American award that annually recognizes several individuals, groups, or institutions for work that has "deepened the nation's understanding of the humanities, broadened our citizens' engagement with the human ...
s presented by
President George W. Bush
George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...
. On October 22, 2015, after nine years of tireless work, the foundation succeeded in having the
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...
present the Monuments Men and Women, of all 14 nations, with the
Congressional Gold Medal
The Congressional Gold Medal is an award bestowed by the United States Congress. It is Congress's highest expression of national appreciation for distinguished achievements and contributions by individuals or institutions. The congressional pract ...
, the highest civilian honor bestowed by the United States. Four living members of the
MFAA attended the Congressional Gold Medal ceremony, including Monuments Man
Harry Ettlinger and Monuments Woman
Motoko Fujishiro Huthwaite.
History
![Monuments Men, Neuschwanstein Castle, Germany, 1945](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/38/Monuments_Men%2C_Neuschwanstein_Castle%2C_Germany%2C_1945.png)
The creation of the Monuments Men Foundation was announced by
Robert M. Edsel
Robert Morse Edsel (born December 28, 1956) is an American businessman and author. He has written three non-fiction books - ''Rescuing Da Vinci'' (2006), '' Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History' ...
during a ceremony on June 6, 2007, the 63rd anniversary of
D-Day
The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as D ...
, that celebrated
Senate
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
and
House
A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air condi ...
concurrent resolutions honoring the Monuments Men.
The foundation's mission and accomplishments have received bipartisan recognition by
President George W. Bush
George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...
,
President Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, Obama was the first Af ...
,
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Speaker of the House
John Boehner
John Andrew Boehner ( ; born , 1949) is an American retired politician who served as the 53rd speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 2011 to 2015. A member of the Republican Party, he served 13 terms as the U.S. represe ...
and Speaker of the House
Nancy Pelosi
Nancy Patricia Pelosi (; ; born March 26, 1940) is an American politician who has served as Speaker of the United States House of Representatives since 2019 and previously from 2007 to 2011. She has represented in the United States House of ...
; as well as many other members of Congress and celebrities.
Robert M. Edsel is the foundation's current chairman of the board. In November 2019, Anna Bottinelli (an alumna of the
Courtauld Institute of Art
The Courtauld Institute of Art (), commonly referred to as The Courtauld, is a self-governing college of the University of London specialising in the study of the history of art and conservation. It is among the most prestigious specialist coll ...
and
John Cabot University
John Cabot University (JCU) is a private American-style university in Rome, Italy. It was founded in 1972 and it offers undergraduate degrees, graduate degrees, and study abroad programs to English-speaking students. The university has more tha ...
) was nominated the foundation's new president.
The foundation launched the Monuments Men and Women Museum Network in 2021. Participating institutions have a direct connection to a least one member of the
Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives program —known as the "monuments men and women" —and include the
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is an art museum in Boston, Massachusetts, which houses significant examples of European, Asian, and American art. Its collection includes paintings, sculpture, tapestries, and decorative arts. It was founded ...
, the
Courtauld Gallery
The Courtauld Gallery () is an art museum in Somerset House, on the Strand in central London. It houses the collection of the Courtauld Institute of Art, a self-governing college of the University of London specialising in the study of the his ...
, and the
Berlin State Museums
The Berlin State Museums (german: Staatliche Museen zu Berlin) are a group of institutions in Berlin, Germany, comprising seventeen museums in five clusters, several research institutes, libraries, and supporting facilities. They are overseen ...
.
Notable discoveries and returns
ERR Albums
![NARA shaking hands](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a7/NARA_shaking_hands.jpg)
During the course of their research into the whereabouts of lost art, Edsel and the staff of the Monuments Men Foundation discovered four large, leather-bound photograph albums which documented portions of the European art looted by the
Nazis
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...
.
The albums were in the possession of heirs to an American soldier stationed in the
Berchtesgaden
Berchtesgaden () is a municipality in the district Berchtesgadener Land, Bavaria, in southeastern Germany, near the border with Austria, south of Salzburg and southeast of Munich. It lies in the Berchtesgaden Alps, south of Berchtesgaden; the ...
area of Germany, in the closing days of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
.
The albums were created by the staff of the Third Reich's ''
Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg
The Reichsleiter Rosenberg Taskforce (german: Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg or ''ERR'') was a Nazi Party organization dedicated to appropriating cultural property during the Second World War. It was led by the chief ideologue of the Nazi Par ...
'' (ERR), a special unit that found and confiscated the best material in Nazi-occupied countries, to use for exploitation.
In
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
, the ERR engaged in an extensive and elaborate art looting operation, part of
Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Germany from 1933 until his death in 1945. He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party, becoming the chancellor in 1933 and then ...
's much larger premeditated scheme to steal art treasures from conquered nations.
The albums were created for Hitler and high-level Nazi officials as a catalogue and, more importantly, to give Hitler a way to choose the art for his art museum, the
Führermuseum
The ''Führermuseum'' or ''Fuhrer-Museum'' (English: Leader's Museum), also referred to as the Linz art gallery, was an unrealized art museum within a cultural complex planned by Adolf Hitler for his hometown, the Austrian city of Linz, near ...
, which was planned to be built in
Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
.
A group of these photograph albums was presented to Hitler on his birthday in 1943, to "send a ray of beauty and joy into
isrevered life". ERR staff stated that nearly 100 such volumes were created during the years of their art looting operation.
In November 2007, at a ceremony with
Archivist of the United States,
Allen Weinstein
Allen Weinstein (September 1, 1937 – June 18, 2015) was an American historian, educator, and federal official who served in several different offices. He was, under the Reagan administration, cofounder of the National Endowment for Democracy in ...
, Edsel announced the discovery of the first two photograph albums and, separately, donated the albums to the
National Archives.
Weinstein called the discovery "one of the most significant finds related to Hitler's premeditated theft of art and other cultural treasures to be found since the
Nuremberg trials
The Nuremberg trials were held by the Allies of World War II, Allies against representatives of the defeated Nazi Germany, for plotting and carrying out invasions of other countries, and other crimes, in World War II.
Between 1939 and 1945 ...
".
The Murillo Paintings
Based in part on the research of the foundation, it was established in 2009 that two paintings on display at
Southern Methodist University
, mottoeng = "The truth will make you free"
, established =
, type = Private research university
, accreditation = SACS
, academic_affiliations =
, religious_affiliation = United Methodist Church
, president = R. Gerald Turner
, prov ...
's
Meadows Museum
The Meadows Museum, nicknamed "Prado on the Prairie", is a two-story, 66,000 sq. ft.art museum in Dallas, Texas on the campus of Southern Methodist University (SMU). Operating as a division of SMU's Meadows School of the Arts, the museum houses one ...
, created by Spanish master
Bartolomé Esteban Murillo
Bartolomé Esteban Murillo ( , ; late December 1617, baptized January 1, 1618April 3, 1682) was a Spanish Baroque painter. Although he is best known for his religious works, Murillo also produced a considerable number of paintings of contemporar ...
(1618–1682) were stolen from the
Rothschild family
The Rothschild family ( , ) is a wealthy Ashkenazi Jewish family originally from Frankfurt that rose to prominence with Mayer Amschel Rothschild (1744–1812), a court factor to the German Landgraves of Hesse-Kassel in the Free City of F ...
in Paris in 1941.
The paintings are of
Seville
Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula ...
's two patron saints,
Saint Justa and Saint Rufina, and are estimated to be worth more than US$10 million.
The foundation's research confirmed the existence of ERR cards for both paintings. ERR cards were a crucial part of the Nazi cataloguing system of looted works and are evidence that the paintings were indeed taken as part of the
Third Reich
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
's systematic looting process.
The Nazi ERR code is still visible on the stretcher of Saint Justa, while it appears to have been rubbed off from the same position on the stretcher of Saint Rufina.
The discovery was covered by the ''
Dallas Morning News
''The Dallas Morning News'' is a daily newspaper serving the Dallas–Fort Worth area of Texas, with an average print circulation of 65,369. It was founded on October 1, 1885 by Alfred Horatio Belo as a satellite publication of the ''Galvesto ...
'' and other notable outlets. Edsel noted that University and museum officials had "publicly acknowledged the correct provenance of these two paintings by Murillo, and more importantly, have now, by recognizing the Nazi theft of the artwork on the museum's website, contemporaneously endorsed the 'best practices' guidelines of both the
American Association of Museums
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
(AAM) and the
Association of Art Museum Directors The Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD) is an organization of art museum directors from the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
The AAMD was established in 1916 by the directors of twelve American museums and was formally incorporated in 1969 ...
(AAMD)."
Hitler's Tapestry
On December 16, 2016, the foundation, in conjunction with Dr Nick Mueller and the
National World War II Museum
The National WWII Museum, formerly known as The National D-Day Museum, is a military history museum located in the Central Business District of New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S., on Andrew Higgins Drive between Camp Street and Magazine Street. The ...
, facilitated the return to Germany of a 16th-century Burgundian tapestry, referred to as "Hitler's Tapestry", that once hung in
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
's Kehlsteinhaus or
Eagle's Nest, in Berchtesgaden, Germany.
Edsel first saw the tapestry in the
National World War II Museum
The National WWII Museum, formerly known as The National D-Day Museum, is a military history museum located in the Central Business District of New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S., on Andrew Higgins Drive between Camp Street and Magazine Street. The ...
in New Orleans, where it had been donated by Cathy Hinz, the daughter Lt. Col. Paul Danahy of the
101st Airborne.
In collaboration with the museum and Hinz, Edsel and his team established that Danahy had removed the tapestry from the Eagle's Nest and subsequently sent it home as a souvenir where it hung in the family dining room.
Further research by the foundation's team located Konrad Bernheimer, the grandson of the Jewish, Munich-based art dealer who sold the tapestry to Hitler's architect in 1938. Bernheimer told Edsel directly that he believed its sale was not forced as the full price was paid.
Thomas R. Kline, a
Washington D.C.-based attorney who specializes in art restitution, advised the foundation on the case and said multiple factors can go into determining if a sale was forced. Kline suggested that some Jewish gallery owners decided to sell collections for fear the
Nazis
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...
would inevitably confiscate the works if they refused to sell. Since Bernheimer ultimately made no claim to the tapestry, it was returned to the
Bavarian National Museum
The Bavarian National Museum (german: Bayerisches Nationalmuseum, links=no) in Munich is one of the most important museums of decorative arts in Europe and one of the list of largest art museums in the world , largest art museums in Germany. S ...
, the official heir to property once owned by Hitler, Göring, and the Nazi Party.
Awards
National Humanities Medal
![Bush 2007 National Humanities Medal](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/68/Bush_2007_National_Humanities_Medal.jpg)
The Monuments Men Foundation is one of the recipients of the 2007
National Humanities Medal
The National Humanities Medal is an American award that annually recognizes several individuals, groups, or institutions for work that has "deepened the nation's understanding of the humanities, broadened our citizens' engagement with the human ...
s. The award cited it for "sustained efforts to recognize the contributions of the scholar-soldiers of the Second World War". The award was presented by the 43rd president of the United States,
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...
.
Congressional Gold Medal
![Monuments Men Congressional Gold Medal (reverse)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fa/Monuments_Men_Congressional_Gold_Medal_%28reverse%29.jpg)
The Monuments Men and Women received the
Congressional Gold Medal
The Congressional Gold Medal is an award bestowed by the United States Congress. It is Congress's highest expression of national appreciation for distinguished achievements and contributions by individuals or institutions. The congressional pract ...
on October 22, 2015, after
President Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, Obama was the first Af ...
signed the initial bill in June 2014. Speaker of the House,
John Boehner
John Andrew Boehner ( ; born , 1949) is an American retired politician who served as the 53rd speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 2011 to 2015. A member of the Republican Party, he served 13 terms as the U.S. represe ...
served as the Master of Ceremony at the event which took place in
Washington D.C. Additional speakers at the event included then Senate Majority Leader
Mitch McConnell
Addison Mitchell McConnell III (born February 20, 1942) is an American politician and retired attorney serving as the senior United States senator from Kentucky and the Senate minority leader since 2021. Currently in his seventh term, McConne ...
, Senate Minority Leader
Harry Reid
Harry Mason Reid Jr. (; December 2, 1939 – December 28, 2021) was an American lawyer and politician who served as a United States senator from Nevada from 1987 to 2017. He led the Senate Democratic Caucus from 2005 to 2017 and was the Sena ...
, House Minority Leader
Nancy Pelosi
Nancy Patricia Pelosi (; ; born March 26, 1940) is an American politician who has served as Speaker of the United States House of Representatives since 2019 and previously from 2007 to 2011. She has represented in the United States House of ...
, Monuments Man
Harry Ettlinger, Monuments Woman
Motoko Fujishiro Huthwaite and Robert M. Edsel.
The foundation worked alongside officials from the
United States Mint
The United States Mint is a bureau of the Department of the Treasury responsible for producing coinage for the United States to conduct its trade and commerce, as well as controlling the movement of bullion. It does not produce paper money; tha ...
and their team of artists on the design of the Congressional Gold Medal honouring the Monuments Men Foundation; featuring a quote from
General Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...
.
Monuments Men and Women Museum Network
The foundation launched the Monuments Men and Women Museum Network in 2021. The international network was created to recognize the pre and postwar contributions of the
Monuments Men and Women, who influenced the growth and success of member institutions.
United States
*
Albright-Knox Art Gallery
The Buffalo AKG Art Museum, formerly known as the Albright–Knox Art Gallery, is an art museum at 1285 Elmwood Avenue, Buffalo, New York, in Delaware Park. the museum's Elmwood Avenue campus is temporarily closed for construction. It hosted e ...
(Buffalo, NY)
* Amon Carter Museum of Western Art (Fort Worth, TX)
*
Birmingham Museum of Art
The Birmingham Museum of Art is a museum in Birmingham, Alabama. It has one of the most extensive collections of artwork in the Southeastern United States, with more than 24,000 paintings, sculptures, prints, drawings, and decorative arts repres ...
(Birmingham, AL)
*
Cincinnati Art Museum
The Cincinnati Art Museum is an art museum in the Eden Park neighborhood of Cincinnati, Ohio. Founded in 1881, it was the first purpose-built art museum west of the Alleghenies, and is one of the oldest in the United States. Its collection of ov ...
(Cincinnati, OH)
*
Columbus Museum of Art
The Columbus Museum of Art (CMA) is an art museum in downtown Columbus, Ohio. Formed in 1878 as the Columbus Gallery of Fine Arts (its name until 1978), it was the first art museum to register its charter with the state of Ohio. The museum collect ...
(Columbus, OH)
*
Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum The Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum (formerly the Dallas Holocaust Museum Center for Education and Tolerance) is a history education museum in Dallas, Texas, in the West End Historic District at the southeast corner of N. Houston Street an ...
(Dallas, TX)
*
Dallas Museum of Art
The Dallas Museum of Art (DMA) is an art museum located in the Arts District of downtown Dallas, Texas, along Woodall Rodgers Freeway between St. Paul and Harwood. In the 1970s, the museum moved from its previous location in Fair Park to the Art ...
(Dallas, TX)
*
Hallie Ford Museum (Salem, OR)
*
Kimbell Art Museum
The Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, hosts an art collection as well as traveling art exhibitions, educational programs and an extensive research library. Its initial artwork came from the private collection of Kay and Velma Kimbell, wh ...
(Fort Worth, TX)
*
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is an art museum in Boston, Massachusetts, which houses significant examples of European, Asian, and American art. Its collection includes paintings, sculpture, tapestries, and decorative arts. It was founded ...
(Boston, MA)
* MacArthur Memorial Museum (Norfolk, VA)
*
Meadows Museum
The Meadows Museum, nicknamed "Prado on the Prairie", is a two-story, 66,000 sq. ft.art museum in Dallas, Texas on the campus of Southern Methodist University (SMU). Operating as a division of SMU's Meadows School of the Arts, the museum houses one ...
(Dallas, TX)
*
The National WWII Museum
The National WWII Museum, formerly known as The National D-Day Museum, is a military history museum located in the Central Business District of New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S., on Andrew Higgins Drive between Camp Street and Magazine Street. The ...
(New Orleans, LA)
*
Newfields (Indianapolis, IN)
*
Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts
Pennsylvania (; (Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, Maryl ...
Museum (Philadelphia, PA)
*
Philbrook Museum of Art
Philbrook Museum of Art is an art museum with expansive formal gardens located in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The museum, which opened in 1939, is located in a former 1920s villa, "Villa Philbrook", the home of Oklahoma oil pioneer Waite Phillips and his ...
(Tulsa, OK)
*
Princeton University Art Museum
The Princeton University Art Museum (PUAM) is the Princeton University gallery of art, located in Princeton, New Jersey. With a collecting history that began in 1755, the museum was formally established in 1882, and now houses over 113,000 works o ...
(Princeton, NJ)
*
Smith College Museum of Art
The Smith College Museum of Art (abbreviated SCMA), is an art museum in Northampton, Massachusetts connected with Smith College. The museum is known for its compilation of American and European art of the 19th and 20th centuries, including works by ...
(Northampton, MA)
*
Toledo Museum of Art
The Toledo Museum of Art is an internationally known art museum located in the Old West End neighborhood of Toledo, Ohio. It houses a collection of more than 30,000 objects. With 45 galleries, it covers 280,000 square feet and is currently in th ...
(Toledo, OH)
* U.S. Army Airborne & Special Operations Museum (Fayetteville, NC)
*
Williams College Museum of Art
The Williams College Museum of Art (WCMA) is a college-affiliated art museum in Williamstown, Massachusetts. It is located on the campus of Williams College, and is close to the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA) and the Clark Ar ...
(Williamstown, MA)
Europe and the United Kingdom
* Anhaltische Gemäldegalerie Dessau (Dessau, Germany)
*
Alte Nationalgalerie
The Alte Nationalgalerie ( ''Old National Gallery'') is a listed building on the Museum Island in the Mitte (locality), historic centre of Berlin, Germany. The gallery was built from 1862 to 1876 by the order of King Frederick William IV of Prussi ...
(Berlin, Germany)
*
Bode-Museum
The Bode-Museum (English: ''Bode Museum''), formerly called the Kaiser-Friedrich-Museum (''Emperor Frederick Museum''), is a listed building on the Museum Island in the historic centre of Berlin. It was built from 1898 to 1904 by order of Germa ...
(Berlin, Germany)
*
Gemäldegalerie (Berlin, Germany)
*
Neues Museum
The Neues Museum (English: ''New Museum'') is a listed building on the Museum Island in the historic centre of Berlin. Built from 1843 to 1855 by order of King Frederick William IV of Prussia in Neoclassical and Renaissance Revival styles, it ...
(Berlin, Germany)
*
Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe
The Staatliche Kunsthalle (State Art Gallery) is an art museum in Karlsruhe, Germany.
The museum, created by architect Heinrich Hübsch, opened in 1846 after nine years of work in a neoclassical building next to the Karlsruhe Castle and the ...
(Karlsruhe, Germany)
*
The Courtauld Gallery (London, U.K.)
Australia and New Zealand
*
Auckland Institute and Museum (Auckland, New Zealand)
Film
The 2014 film ''
The Monuments Men
''The Monuments Men'' is a 2014 war film directed by George Clooney and written and produced by Clooney and Grant Heslov. The film stars an ensemble cast including Clooney, Matt Damon, Bill Murray, John Goodman, Jean Dujardin, Bob Balaban, Hug ...
'' is loosely based on the non-fiction book ''The Monuments Men'' by Robert Edsel and Bret Witter. It follows an
Allied
An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...
group from the
Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives program who are tasked with finding and saving pieces of art and other culturally important items before
Nazi
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
s destroy them during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
after the "
Nero Decree
The Nero Decree (german: Nerobefehl) was issued by Adolf Hitler on 19 March 1945, ordering the destruction of German infrastructure to prevent its use by Allied forces as they penetrated deep within Germany. It was officially titled Decree Con ...
". The film stars an
ensemble cast
In a dramatic production, an ensemble cast is one that is composed of multiple principal actors and performers who are typically assigned roughly equal amounts of screen time.Random House: ensemble acting Linked 2013-07-17
Structure
In contrast to ...
including
George Clooney
George Timothy Clooney (born May 6, 1961) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by George Clooney, numerous accolades, including a British Academy Film Awards, British Academy Film A ...
,
Matt Damon
Matthew Paige Damon (; born October 8, 1970) is an American actor, film producer, and screenwriter. Ranked among ''Forbes'' most bankable stars, the films in which he has appeared have collectively earned over $3.88 billion at the North Americ ...
,
Bill Murray
William James Murray (born September 21, 1950) is an American actor and comedian. He is known for his deadpan delivery. He rose to fame on ''The National Lampoon Radio Hour'' (1973–1974) before becoming a national presence on ''Saturday Nigh ...
,
John Goodman
John Stephen Goodman (born June 20, 1952) is an American actor. He gained national fame for his role as the family patriarch Dan Conner in the ABC comedy series '' Roseanne'' (1988–1997; 2018), for which he received a Golden Globe Award, an ...
,
Jean Dujardin
Jean Edmond Dujardin (; born 19 June 1972) is a French actor and comedian. He began his career as a stand-up comedian in Paris before guest starring in comedic television programmes and films. He first came to prominence with the cult TV series ...
,
Bob Balaban
Robert Elmer Balaban (born August 16, 1945) is an American actor, author, comedian, director and producer. He was one of the producers nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture for ''Gosford Park'' (2001), in which he also appeared.
Balab ...
,
Hugh Bonneville
Hugh Richard Bonneville Williams (born 10 November 1963) is an English actor. He is best known for portraying Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham, in the ITV historical drama series ''Downton Abbey''. His performance on the show earned him a no ...
, and
Cate Blanchett
Catherine Elise Blanchett (; born 14 May 1969) is an Australian actor. Regarded as one of the finest performers of her generation, she is known for her versatile work across independent films, blockbusters, and the stage. She has received nu ...
. A formal portrait was taken of the cast with Robert M. Edsel and Monuments Man
Harry Ettlinger as part of the film's promotional material.
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Heritage organizations
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National Humanities Medal recipients
Arts foundations based in the United States
Arts organizations established in 2007
2007 establishments in the United States