'Degenerate Art' shipment to Switzerland delayed

The planned shipment from Germany to Bern, Switzerland, of works of so-called "Degenerate Art" from the collection of Cornelius Gurlitt, son of the Nazi art dealer Hildebrand Gurlitt, has been put on hold due to "unforeseen difficulties," announced the Museum of Fine Arts Bern. Since Switzerland does not belong to the EU, customs laws complications have caused the delay.

For this reason, a planned media event which was to preview some of the works for an upcoming exhibition has been postponed.

But Nina Zimmer, the director of the Museum of Fine Arts Bern, believes that that this "legal formality" can be resolved within a few days, she told DW.

In November, a double exhibition at The Museum of Fine Arts Bern and the Bundeskunsthalle in Bonn entitled "Dossier Gurlitt. 'Degenerated Art' - confiscated and sold," will present Cornelius Gurlitt's extensive collection of art. In Bern the focus of the presentation lies in art that was considered "degenerate," and in Bonn on works from the Gurlitt family circle.

Read more: 'Suspicious' art from Nazi dealer to go on show in Germany

So far "zero percent" of the works had arrived in Bern, said Zimmer. The works are being kept in an "art warehouse in a large city in Germany." It is still unclear how many of them were from the Gurlitt bequest.

Gurlitt's father Hildebrand was one of Adolf Hitler's art dealers. When Cornelius Gurlitt died in May 2014, he bequeathed his collection of around 1,500 works, worth many millions of euros, to the Museum of Fine Arts Bern.

Already on Tuesday, the Bundeskunsthalle Bonn had presented some works from the controversial Gurlitt collection - 250 such works will make up the Bonn exhibition.

Rein Wolfs, the head of the Bonn museum told DW the exhibitors hope "among other things, for new information about their previously unresolved origin."

Read more: Unanswered questions abound after death of 'art hermit' Gurlitt