An oil painting by Finnish painter Albert Edelfelt “Under the Birches / Children in a Birch Forest by the Haiko Fjord” from 1882, lost during World War II, found its way to the collection of the National Museum in Warsaw thanks to the efforts of the Ministry of Culture, National Heritage and Sport.
The ceremony of handing over the war loss took place on Tuesday at the National Museum in Warsaw. It was attended, among others, by the Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Culture, National Heritage and Sport Piotr Gliński, and Director of the National Museum in Warsaw Łukasz Gaweł.
“As a result of World War II, Poland lost over half a million works of art. For many years we have been systematically trying to recover these masterpieces. At the Ministry of Culture, National Heritage and Sport, there is a special department, a section in this department that deals with the recovery of works of art. There are various works carried out with many specialists, environments, in Poland, and around the world. It is teamwork, but the core of this work is the professional preparation of people, who work with us in the Ministry,” said Deputy Prime Minister Gliński.
As he said, “there are over 80 restitution processes underway at different stages, so we can expect to meet again soon due to recovery of specific works”.
The Minister of Culture pointed out that “the issue of recovering works of art is very complicated due to the period which elapsed since World War II, the stories that are always individual and complex, and the lack of goodwill”.