''The Foxes'' (german: Die Füchse) is a 1913 painting by German painter

Franz Marc Franz Moritz Wilhelm Marc (8 February 1880 – 4 March 1916) was a German painter and printmaker, one of the key figures of German Expressionism. He was a founding member of ''Der Blaue Reiter'' (The Blue Rider), a journal whose name later b ...

. It was held by the

Museum Kunstpalast The Kunstpalast, formerly Kunstmuseum Düsseldorf is an art museum in Düsseldorf. History The roots of the museum go back around 300 years. In 1932, the collection of the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf (Academy of Art) was housed in the Kunstmus ...

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in th ...

until returned to the heirs of Kurt Grawi in 2022, and sold at auction by them.

Analysis

Prior to painting ''The Foxes'' in 1913, Marc was inspired by French

Cubism Cubism is an early-20th-century avant-garde art movement that revolutionized European painting and sculpture, and inspired related movements in music, literature and architecture. In Cubist artwork, objects are analyzed, broken up and reassemble ...

and the

Orphic Orphism (more rarely Orphicism; grc, Ὀρφικά, Orphiká) is the name given to a set of religious beliefs and practices originating in the ancient Greek and Hellenistic world, associated with literature ascribed to the mythical poet Orpheus ...

works of

Robert Delaunay Robert Delaunay (12 April 1885 – 25 October 1941) was a French artist who, with his wife Sonia Delaunay and others, co-founded the Orphism art movement, noted for its use of strong colours and geometric shapes. His later works were more abstra ...

. ''The Foxes'' reflects Marc's breakdown of the animals into abstract forms, presented in harmonized colors. The crystalline composition resembles

stained glass Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...

windows in medieval churches.

Provenance

Jewish investment banker

Kurt Grawi Kurt is a male given name of Germanic or Turkish origin. ''Kurt'' or ''Curt'' originated as short forms of the Germanic Conrad (name), Conrad, depending on geographical usage, with meanings including counselor or advisor. In Turkish, Kurt (surn ...

purchased the painting in 1928. Following the rise of

Nazi Germany 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 ...

, Grawi was forced to sell much of his art collection and was incarcerated in

Sachsenhausen concentration camp Sachsenhausen () or Sachsenhausen-Oranienburg was a German Nazi concentration camp in Oranienburg, Germany, used from 1936 until April 1945, shortly before the defeat of Nazi Germany in May later that year. It mainly held political prisoners ...

. He was released after several weeks and escaped to

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

. Grawi still owned ''The Foxes'', however, and sold the painting in 1940 to German-American film director

William Dieterle William Dieterle (July 15, 1893 – December 9, 1972) was a German-born actor and film director who emigrated to the United States in 1930 to leave a worsening political situation. He worked in Hollywood primarily as a director for much of his ...

. The painting was acquired by German businessman

Helmut Horten Helmut Horten (8 January 1909 Bonn – 30 November 1987, Croglio, Switzerland) was a German entrepreneur who built up and owned the fourth-largest chain of department stores in Germany: the Horten AG. Early life Helmut Horten was born on Janu ...

in 1961, and he donated it to the

city art collections in 1962.

Restitution

In 2017, the heirs of Kurt Grawi made a restitution claim for the painting. In 2021, the German advisory panel on Nazi-looted art urged the city of Düsseldorf to return the painting from the

to the Grawi family. By then, the painting was valued between €15–€30 million. According to ''

Der Spiegel ''Der Spiegel'' (, lit. ''"The Mirror"'') is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. With a weekly circulation of 695,100 copies, it was the largest such publication in Europe in 2011. It was founded in 1947 by John Seymour Chaloner ...

'', however, the city of Dusseldorf did not want to restitute the painting, and while promising it return, Dussedorf was at the same time arguing that the sale had been voluntary and that the Grawis had been able to pay the special taxes levied on Jews by Nazis implying they still had resources. In January 2022, after months of "legal tug-of-war", Dusseldorf's Kunstpalast Museum restituted ''The Foxes'' to the Grawi heirs. It was sold at an auction at

Christie's Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie (auctioneer), James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, at Rockefeller Center in New York City and at Alexandra House in Hong Kong. It is ...

for £42.6 million in March 2022.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Foxes, The Paintings by Franz Marc 1913 paintings Foxes in art

Analysis

Provenance

Restitution

See also

References

External links