Poland Secures Return Of Gorgeous Artwork From Danish Auction Stolen During World War Ii

Poland Secures Return Of Gorgeous Artwork From Danish Auction Stolen During World War Ii

A gorgeous 20th century painting has been donated to Polish cultural authorities following its reappearance after 70 years.

Recorded as being housed in a girl’s school in the city that would become Wroclaw after World War II, it never resurfaced following the end of the conflict until last year when it appeared at auction in Denmark.

Entitled Summer, it depicts a rustic yet beautiful woman breastfeeding one infant while cradling another amidst a golden sea of corn or wheat.

A lynchpin to the story is that a region that was once part of Germany, called Lower Silesia, was given over to Poland after the war. The agreement included all state-owned cultural and historical works, but many were either looted or destroyed during the conflagration of Europe.

Summer was painted by Danish artist Bertha Wegmann in 1906, likely during a visit to Lower Silesia. It was purchased by the Silesian Artists’ Association, which donated it to the Silesian Museum of Fine Arts in the city of Breslau (now known as Wroclaw, and part of Poland), which in turn loaned it to the prestigious Viktoria School for Girls.

Reported as missing in 1947, it became one of over 100,000 items currently missing from Poland.

„Lato” wraca do Wrocławia. Zaginiony obraz Berthy Wegmann od dziś ponownie w @NM_Wroclaw.

Obraz „Lato”, namalowany przez duńską artystkę Berthę Wegmann na początku XX w., wrócił do Wrocławia. W 1906 r. dzieło zostało kupione przez Śląskie Towarzystwo Artystyczne i przekazane do… pic.twitter.com/R9dXd8739O

— Ministerstwo Kultury i Dziedzictwa Narodowego (@kultura_gov_pl) October 24, 2025

Though it was well-documented by name and description, no photograph of it was registered by the school and so when works by Wegmann that may have been similar, or indeed the very work in question, appeared at UK and Israeli auctions in the past, Poland’s culture ministry was unable to make a full claim for its repatriation.

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Then last year, an international art database center Art Loss Register notified Poland that a Wegmann work was up for auction in Denmark entitled Young Woman Breastfeeding Her Twin Infants in a Cornfield. The back of the frame bore a label in the Polish language, and the ministry submitted its documentation to the auctioneers with a request that it be returned.

The painting had been inherited by a young Danish couple with no idea of its origin or value, and so they decided quite generously to give it to the Polish authorities who have prepared it for display at the Wroclaw National Museum.

Polish culture minister Marta Cienkowska expressed “special thanks to the family of the painting’s previous owners, thanks to whose kindness and understanding it was returned to us today”.

Since 2008, a total of 805 works lost during wartimes have been recovered by the ministry.