WUPPERTAL.- More than eight decades after Nazi persecution forced the dispersal of one of Germany's important private art collections, a painting by Max Slevogt has been returned to the family of its former owner. The Von der Heydt Museum in Wuppertal announced on November 9, 2026, that it had restituted Birds of Paradise (Paradiesvögel), painted in 1900, to the heirs of Eduard Fuchs, a writer, cultural historian, art collector, and outspoken opponent of National Socialism.

The decision follows research into the painting's ownership history and the circumstances under which Fuchs was compelled to sell his collection in the 1930s. Although the work passed through an auction house rather than being permanently seized directly by the Nazi authorities, investigators concluded that its sale was inseparable from the persecution Fuchs suffered.

For the museum, which acquired the painting in 2006, the restitution means surrendering an artwork that had belonged to its collection for nearly two decades. For Fuchs's descendants, it represents the recovery of a small but significant part of a cultural legacy broken apart under the Nazi regime.

A collector whose political convictions made him a target

Born in 1870, Eduard Fuchs established himself as a writer and cultural historian whose publications, particularly his multivolume Illustrated History of Morals, brought him considerable financial success. He used his income to assemble a substantial collection of paintings, drawings, and caricatures.

The collection was housed in his villa in Berlin-Zehlendorf, where Fuchs and his wife Margarete surrounded themselves with works reflecting his broad interests in art, political satire, and cultural history.

Fuchs was particularly interested in Impressionism and maintained personal relationships with artists including Max Slevogt and Max Liebermann. His connection to Slevogt extended beyond collecting: he supported the painter early in his career, acquiring works at a time when the artist had yet to achieve widespread recognition.

But Fuchs was also deeply engaged in politics. A founding member of the Spartacus League in 1918, he subsequently joined the German Communist Party before becoming associated with the Communist Party Opposition in 1929.

His socialist convictions and antifascist activities placed him in immediate danger when Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933.

Following the Reichstag fire in February of that year, Fuchs fled Germany to avoid arrest. He found refuge in France, but exile did not protect his property from the Nazi authorities. His assets were seized, portions of his art collection were confiscated, and his financial affairs were placed under official control.

Although the restrictions on his property were later formally lifted, Fuchs remained unable to exercise meaningful control over his assets from abroad. He was also required to pay the Reich Flight Tax, a financial burden used by the Nazi state against people leaving Germany.

Facing these circumstances, he instructed his daughter Gertraud to arrange the liquidation of his remaining property.

Beginning in 1937, the collection that had taken decades to assemble was dispersed through a series of auctions. The proceeds did not provide Fuchs with unrestricted access to his wealth, and funds held in a trust account were eventually confiscated by German tax authorities in 1941.

Fuchs never returned to Germany. He died in Paris on January 26, 1940. His wife Margarete escaped to New York later that year and died in 1953.

A painting's journey through the art market

Slevogt painted Birds of Paradise in 1900, during the early period of his artistic development. The oil on canvas, measuring 71 by 100.5 centimeters, reflects his interest in the effects of light, color, and the textures of natural subjects.

Slevogt, who lived from 1868 to 1932, is regarded as one of the principal figures of German Impressionism, alongside Max Liebermann and Lovis Corinth.

The painting was in Fuchs's collection by 1909 at the latest and was most likely acquired directly from the artist. Its early history reflects the close relationship between the collector and the painter.

That relationship became part of a much darker history in June 1937, when Birds of Paradise was offered at Rudolph Lepke's auction house in Berlin.

The buyer was Hildebrand Gurlitt, a Hamburg art dealer whose name would later become closely associated with investigations into artworks that changed hands during the Nazi period. Gurlitt subsequently sold the painting to Fritz Slevogt, a cousin of the artist.

The work continued to circulate through private ownership and the art market before appearing at Kunsthaus Lempertz in Cologne in 2004. Two years later, the Von der Heydt Museum purchased it from the auction house.

Its arrival in Wuppertal brought the painting into a public museum collection, but questions about the circumstances of its departure from Fuchs's ownership remained significant.

The museum's subsequent provenance investigation reconstructed the painting's history and examined the financial and political pressures that surrounded the 1937 sale.

Researchers concluded that Fuchs had not been able to dispose of his collection under ordinary circumstances. His persecution, forced exile, financial restrictions, and inability to control the proceeds meant that the auction constituted a loss resulting from Nazi persecution.

On that basis, the Wuppertal City Council approved the painting's restitution to his heirs.

Restitution as historical responsibility

The decision was made in accordance with the Washington Principles, adopted internationally in 1998 to guide the handling of artworks confiscated or lost as a consequence of Nazi persecution, and Germany's subsequent commitment to finding fair and just solutions for affected families.

These principles recognize that the history of art dispossession under National Socialism cannot always be understood simply through records of direct confiscation. Sales carried out under coercion, persecution, or severe restrictions may also require restitution.

Dr. Sabine Rudolph, the lawyer representing Fuchs's heirs, thanked the City of Wuppertal and particularly the museum for its cooperation in researching the painting's provenance.

Museum director Dr. Roland Mönig acknowledged that returning the work meant losing a painting from the collection, while emphasizing that addressing historical injustice was more important than retaining it.

"The restitution of Max Slevogt's 'Birds of Paradise' means that the Von der Heydt Museum is losing a painting," Mönig said in a statement translated from German. "But we are gaining something far more important: the certainty that we have acted responsibly toward history."

For Wuppertal's cultural authorities, the case also serves as a reminder that the consequences of Nazi persecution continue to be reflected in the ownership histories of artworks held by museums.

Dr. Hagen Lippe-Weißenfeld, the city's head of culture, sports, security, and public order, described the restitution as both a moral and historical responsibility. He emphasized that acknowledging the persecution of Fuchs carries significance beyond the legal return of a single painting.

Another chapter in the recovery of the Fuchs collection

The restitution is not the first involving artworks once owned by Eduard Fuchs.

In 2024, the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart returned another major work by Slevogt, the 1899 triptych The Prodigal Son, to the collector's heirs. That painting had also been sold after Fuchs was forced into exile.

Other efforts to trace the dispersed collection have brought renewed attention to Fuchs's role as a collector, writer, and patron of artists, as well as the systematic destruction of his financial security under National Socialism.

The recovery of individual objects helps reconstruct a collection that had originally been assembled for intellectual and artistic purposes rather than simply as an investment.

There is also a new development in the history of Birds of Paradise. The painting appears in the catalogue for Ketterer Kunst's December 5, 2026, Day Sale in Munich, where it is listed as lot 152 with an estimate of €40,000 to €60,000.

The auction house's published provenance identifies the work as having been restituted to the heirs of Eduard Fuchs in 2026 and states that it is free of restitution claims. The listing indicates that the painting is now returning to the market following its restitution.

For the Von der Heydt Museum, the decision brings to a close nearly two decades of ownership. For the descendants of Eduard Fuchs, the return restores a work that once formed part of a remarkable private collection.

The story of Birds of Paradise shows how a painting's history can extend far beyond the artist's studio, carrying traces of friendship, political persecution, exile, and the continuing effort to address losses that occurred generations ago.