Seven works on paper by Egon Schiele have been restituted to the heirs of Fritz Grünbaum, a Jewish cabaret performer killed at Dachau concentration camp in 1941 after being forced to surrender his art collection to the Nazis. Six of these pieces will be auctioned at Christie’s New York in November 2024, with three watercolor portraits—including *Stehende Frau (Dirne)* (1912), *Selbstbildnis* (1910), and *Ich liebe Gegensätze* (1912)—headlining the 20th Century Evening Sale on November 9, and three more offered in the Impressionist and Modern Works on Paper Sale on November 11. Estimates range from $150,000 to $2.5 million per work, and proceeds will be split among Grünbaum’s heirs, who plan to fund a scholarship program for young musicians.
This auction marks a pivotal moment in a long-running restitution saga involving dozens of Schiele works looted from Grünbaum. The heirs’ legal efforts, aided by the Manhattan District Attorney’s office, have shifted the cases from civil to criminal court, signaling a tougher stance on Nazi-looted art trafficking through New York. The sale also highlights Christie’s role in handling contested artworks, following two other Schiele pieces from the same collection that sold for $500,000 and $2.5 million in 2023. The outcome could set a precedent for how auction houses and collectors navigate restitution claims tied to Holocaust-era looting.