The Art Of Painting Was “Sold” To The Nazis
Photo Credit: VCG Wilson/Corbis via Getty Images
Hitler loved art so much that he didn’t always steal it. Sometimes he took it, then paid money to make it look like he bought it. This is exactly what happened with the Art of Painting. Count Rudolf Czernin of Vienna owned the painting during World Warr II when he was forced to sell it to Hitler.
Sitting on an offer from the American government for six million dollars, the Count accepted a far inferior offer from the Nazi Regime. The Monuments Men recovered the painting in 1945 before it was scheduled to be blown up. It is currently on display at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. Still ahead, how Adam and Eve barely survived World War II.