Stefanini Collection restitutes work by Ferdinand Hodler

The Jewish woman Nathan fled Frankfurt from the Nazi regime in 1937, first to France and then two years later to Geneva. She had inherited an extensive art collection from her husband, parts of which she had already sent to Basel in 1931, including Hodler’s work. Nathan had French and Swiss citizenship, but she lost both of them when she married the German Hugo Nathan. She was not naturalized again in Switzerland after her escape. Switzerland tried to get rid of Jewish refugees during the Nazi regime in Germany or did not allow them to enter the country at all. Some refugees like Nathan received a residence permit, but had to renew it regularly and also prove that they had sufficient financial resources.

Based on Nathan’s general and specific situation, the Commission assumes that she had to sell pictures from her husband’s collection in order to ensure her livelihood and stay in the safety of Switzerland. According to the internationally recognized rules for dealing with such cases, the work would be considered confiscated due to Nazi persecution.

In 1998 it ended up in the art collection of property owner Bruno Stefanini in Winterthur. The art collection falls short of the description. Stefanini collected pretty much everything, from art and furniture to clothing and curiosities of all kinds. The collection of its founder, who died in 2018, is now managed by the SKKG. Last year, the historian Severin Rüegg, who works for the foundation, told the SZ that, purely statistically speaking, there must be stolen art in the collection. Several cases are currently being examined. One has now been confirmed.

The case is explosive because there has been intensive debate in Switzerland for years about another art collection suspected of being looted: that of the arms manufacturer Emil Bührle. It is on permanent loan at the Kunsthaus Zurich, where the provenance of the works purchased primarily between 1936 and 1956 is currently being examined. Several cases of stolen art have already been identified. And the collection also includes a work that belonged to Martha Nathan: “The Supper” by Claude Monet, acquired by Bührle in 1944.

How to properly handle the collection is a constant topic of contention between the Kunsthaus, the foundation that manages the collection, and the city of Zurich. The restitution from the Stefanini collection now increases the pressure on research into the Bührle collection, also from the perspective that Jews were exposed to persecution-related pressure even in supposedly safe Switzerland.

The picture “Lake Thun with Blüemlisalp and Niesen” by Ferdinand Hodler will soon be available to the public. According to the lawyers for Martha Nathan’s heirs, it will be exhibited at the Bucerius Kunst Forum in Hamburg from September 2026.