Masterpiece Story: Queen Mother Idia of Benin
Africa is a beautiful continent filled with sweeping landscapes and mighty rivers. Its history is filled with great kingdoms and large empires. Its...
James W Singer 10 May 2026
#looted art
Masterpiece Story: Le Quai Malaquais et l’Institut by Camille Pissarro
An Impressionist masterpiece—looted by the Nazis, hidden for decades in a vault in a Swiss bank, subject of a controversial restitution, and linked...
Javier Abel Miguel 19 April 2026
Masterpiece Story: Chambri People’s Ancestor Mask
Ancestor Mask is a masterpiece of Papua New Guinean art. It symbolizes a vanishing tribal lifestyle rarely seen outside of...
James W Singer 15 April 2026
The Story of Raphael’s Lost Portrait of a Young Man
Have you ever seen this painting? It is currently missing; in fact, it has been missing since 1945. Let’s explore the story of one of the most...
Zuzanna Stańska 6 April 2026
Colonial Looting of African Art: A Century in Exile
Have you ever wondered how European modern artists were inspired by African art? They certainly didn’t travel to the continent. The answer is...
Jimena Escoto 25 February 2026
Bruno Lohse—Art Dealer of the Third Reich
In 2007, the Zurich prosecutor’s office opened vault number 5 of the Zürcher Kantonalbank. But something felt off; the vault was huge, more like a...
Javier Abel Miguel 23 February 2026
Plunder and Survival: Suzanne Loebl’s Account of Nazi Art Looting
Written by Holocaust survivor Suzanne Loebl with Abigail Wilentz, Plunder and Survival (Bloomsbury, 2025) traces the Nazi looting of art across...
Javier Abel Miguel 16 February 2026
Colonial Looting of African Art
Have you ever wondered how European modern artists were inspired by African art? They certainly didn’t travel to the continent. The answer is...
Jimena Escoto 15 February 2026
The Most Outrageous Stories Behind Damaged Artworks
A few years ago, two Chinese women drove their Mercedes SUV into the Forbidden City in Beijing. That event created quite a controversy. The least you...
Michel Rutten 9 February 2026
How a Dutch Still Life Made Its Way Home After WWII
What happens to artworks and cultural treasures as a nation prepares for war? In the case of Jan van Huysum’s Vase of Flowers, the Dutch still...
Natalia Iacobelli 4 February 2026
The Schloss Collection: A Story of War, Looting, and Restitution
Among the many artistic depredations that devastated France under Nazi rule, the looting of the Schloss collection came to be seen as a defining...
Javier Abel Miguel 4 February 2026
10 Most Important Masterpieces Lost During World War II
Art theft and looting occurred on a massive scale during World War II. It all started with Adolf Hitler’s unsuccessful career as an artist. He was...
Zuzanna Stańska 4 February 2026
