Jewish Family Wants ‘The Scream’ History Explained
The heirs of a German-Jewish banker who claim the famous Edvard Munch painting “The Scream” was looted from him by the Nazis want a New York museum to explain its history in its new display.
The 1895 work by Edvard Munch is set to go on display Oct. 24 at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the New York Post reported.
New York billionaire Leon Black purchased the painting last spring at a Sotheby’s auction for nearly $120 million.
Hugo Simon owned the painting in the 1920s and 1930s, but the banker and top art collector was to forced sell it and flee Germany after the Nazis came to power in 1933.
His heirs contested the sale before the auction in the spring, but now say it is a moral issue and are calling on MoMA to explain in its display the painting’s “tragic history,” the Post reported, citing Rafael Cardoso, a Brazilian curator and Simon’s great-grandson.
Simon consigned “The Scream” to a Swiss gallery before he and his family left Germany for Paris. In 1940, after the Nazis invaded France, Simon and his family immigrated to Brazil on fake passports.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30