An early work by Impressionist master Claude Monet was returned to the descendants of its rightful owner in New Orleans last week after it was reported missing during World War II.
Descendants Helen Lowe and Françoise Parlagi, as well as co-chair of the Commission on Looted Art in Europe, Anne Webber, sat down with Fox News Digital for exclusive interviews about their experiences.
“Bord de Mer,” an 1865 work of art, depicts a beach in Normandy near Le Havre called Sainte-Adresse, liberated during the D-Day invasion by Allied Forces in 1944. The painting is estimated to be worth up to $700,000 Smithsonian Magazine.
“While this Monet is undoubtedly valuable, its true value lies in what it represents to the Parlaga family,” James Dennehy, deputy director in charge of the FBI in New York, said in a statement after the work was returned to the family. “It is a reference to their history, loved ones and heritage that was almost erased. The emotions associated with reclaiming something so brutally taken cannot be quantified in dollars – they are priceless.”
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Monet's early work “Bord de Mer” from around 1865 depicts a beach in Normandy, France, near Le Havre. (Kat Ramirez for Fox News Digital)
The painting was purchased by Wojciech “Bela” Parlagi in 1936 during an auction in Vienna, Austria. He and his wife Hilda, who was ethnically Jewish, had to suddenly flee Vienna in 1938 after the Anschluss, or “union,” with Nazi Germany.
“Bord de Mer” was one of countless works of art left behind by the Parlagis when they became refugees. Eventually the Parlagis moved to London, and in 1938 their antiques and works of art, including Monets, were stored in a shipping container.
“During their trip to London, they asked a shipping company in Vienna to pack everything in their apartment. They literally closed the door and left it, so they asked him to pack up everything, including their artwork, and take it to a warehouse and then ship it to London,” Webber told Fox News Digital.
“But the Nazis had a different idea and what they did was to seize the property, confiscate it in 1940 and put it up for sale in 1941 and 1942.” – she said.
Adalbert Parlagi never gave up his efforts and hopes to recover the “Bord de Mer” and countless other works of art looted by the German Gestapo. He died in 1981.
“(Parlagi) wrote to the shipping company in Vienna. He wrote this to the Austrian government. He wrote to the Austrian Federal Heritage Office. He asked them all for help in finding out what happened to all his property. The shipping company told him they were confiscated and auctioned,” Webber said.
Anne Webber is shown with Claude Monet's “Bord de Mer”, which he helped recover through his research with the Commission on Looted Works of Art in Europe. (Kat Ramirez for Fox News Digital)
“He also made attempts to obtain compensation, because compensation procedures were established after the war, and both Germany and Austria refused to give him any compensation, justifying it by not knowing where his works of art were and having no evidence of what happened to A coin taken by the German Reich,” Webber said. “All this was the typical experience of people after the war.”
After Wojciech's death in 1981, his son Franz took up his father's cause to recover the lost works of art. Franz attended the 1998 Washington Principles meeting on Nazi-confiscated art, where 44 governments gathered in Washington, D.C. to discuss the recovery of cultural property looted by the Nazis.
Franz Parlagi died in 2012 without recovering the Bord de Mer or any of his father's priceless works.
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Lowe and Françoise Parlagi, granddaughters of Adalbert Parlagi, were approached by the Commission on Looted Works of Art in Europe in 2014 to find the Monet work. Webber has gathered years of research from across Europe on the “Bord de Mer” and countless other works of art owned by Adalbert.
In 2021, the Looted Art Commission presented its detailed research to the FBI's Art Crime Team.
“We have always collected a very extensive and detailed file with information and documentation showing all the evidence that the (Parlagi) family owned them, when they acquired the works of art, where they acquired them, evidence of loss, evidence of sale by the Nazis, we have evidence of confiscation,” he said Webber. “So we gathered all the evidence we could. And that's when we contacted the FBI.”
Monet's painting was discovered by the FBI in New Orleans with the Schlamp family in 2023, after being purchased from art dealer MS Rau in New Orleans. The late Dr. Kevin Schlamp and surviving wife Bridget Vita told Fox News Digital they were “shocked” to discover the true origins of the work.
Granddaughters of Wojciech “Bela” Parlagi express their thanks and praise after receiving their grandfather's “Bord de Mer” pastels on paper on October 9 in New Orleans. (Kat Ramirez for Fox News Digital)
According to the FBI, “The Schlamps voluntarily relinquished the work and waived ownership rights. The cooperation of the Schlamp family was key to the successful resolution of this case, and their diligence in ensuring the return of the pastel is highly commendable.”
In May 2024, a judge of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana ruled that “Bord de Mer” lawfully belonged to Lowe and Françoise Parlaga, with power of attorney vested in Webber.
On October 9, the Schlamp and Parlagi families met in person at the FBI's New Orleans Field Office in connection with the formal repatriation of the Bord de Mer to the descendants of Adalbert Parlagi.
“Bord de Mer” is presented to the public for the first time after it was thought lost after the Nazis looted Monet's work during World War II. (Kat Ramirez for Fox News Digital)
“We are proud to support the work of the Art Crime Team, especially in this case,” Special Agent in Charge Lyonel Myrthil of the FBI in New Orleans said in the release. “Nothing can justify the hateful and vile behavior of the past, but we are very grateful to the Schlamp family for their role in righting this wrong. We need and appreciate the continued support of the public and the entire arts community to ensure more successes like this in the future.”
Webber said she was proud of the work done by the decades-old, multi-continental team, but urged the world to pay attention to the countless cultural treasures lost during World War II.
“It's very important that we all, as people, have rules that we live by,” she said. “We have human rights conventions. We say that, you know, property belongs to the people who own it and that they have the right to possess it equally. These were enshrined in the conventions that the Americans and the British adopted after the war and which we saw at the Nuremberg War Trials conference.
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“These were crimes against humanity. So they are very important today, whether you are in the UK or in America, whether you or your family live in Switzerland or Spain, wherever you are. This is very, this is all very important today. It cannot be more important today than it was in the past.
