In September 2010, aboard a train from Switzerland, German customs agents were carrying out a routine check when they approached Cornelius Gurlitt.  The man, who seemed nervous, was in possession of 9,000 euros and was not registered with the police—which is mandatory in Germany.  Officials issued a search warrant for his Munich apartment, expecting to find undeclared euros or evidence of questionable bank accounts.

Instead, when they executed the search warrant in the spring of 2011, they discovered a cache of approximately 1,500 paintings that had been seized by the Nazis and were reportedly destroyed.  The collection, which includes works by Picasso, Renoir, Matisse, Chagall, and Klee, is thought to be worth over 1 billion euros and represents one of the largest recoveries ever of looted art.

How did these lost masterpieces end up in a shabby Munich apartment? Gurlitt’s father was Hildebrandt Gurlitt, a prominent art dealer whom Joseph Goebbels appointed to sell off for cash “degenerate” works of art that had been confiscated or purchased at knock-down prices from Jews.  Gurlitt reported that the artworks—many of which appeared in the 1937 Degenerate Art exhibition—had been destroyed during the bombing of Dresden. In fact, it seems that he kept many for his personal collection.

Over the years, Cornelius Gurlitt has been selling paintings off piece-meal, which is how he has managed to survive without any official bank account; he faces jail time for tax evasion and money laundering.  And the paintings?  Since the discovery, art historians have been working to find heirs to the artworks.  However, if rightful heirs are not found, many of the paintings could be returned to Gurlitt, apparently in spite of the fact that he likely does not have clear title to the works, given the manner in which his father acquired them.

While the rediscovery of these paintings is no doubt good news for the art world and for the heirs to these works, crucial questions remain unanswered.  For instance, while sources maintain the discovery was kept quiet for nearly three years because of potential legal implications tied to ownership and restitution, others have raised concerns about the possibility of a cover-up.  Focus alleges that officials purposely kept the discovery secret.  Furthermore, although the elder Gurlitt claimed during interrogation by American forces that his collection had been destroyed in Dresden, it is unclear whether the postwar German government ever tried to confirm its destruction.

Lastly, and perhaps most troubling, how was Gurlitt able to sell paintings over the years without arousing suspicion? Even in 2011, after the raid on his apartment, he reportedly managed to sell a work by Max Beckmann for roughly $1 million dollars at Lempertz auction house in Cologne.  Did Lempertz fail to research the provenance of the painting? One would think, given the artist, the work would warrant a check of works confiscated by the Nazis and/or those deemed “degenerate.” It is hard to imagine that such a painting would have escaped notice.  Hopefully this question, as well as many others that this find raises, will be answered in the near future.