[Eriksson]

the question of the heirs. Transferred part of the official article from Malmö Museum, which I present to you .

... "The works of Russian artists were not returned immediately after the end of the exhibition, but were stored in Malmo in anticipation of the end of World War II. However, there was a revolution, and Russia was plunged into further chaos.
Issuance of stored paintings began in 1923, when Igor Grabar arrived Malmö, and on behalf of several Russian artists going to get them to work for exhibition in New York. He also had a power of attorney from a pair of artists or their heirs - to sell a few works, eksponirovashihsya on the Baltic exhibition. Museum of Malmo, to keep all these years, Russian art, would, however, get a clearer paper and identity before giving the art, as the situation in Russia was still unclear. In addition, the museum provided a list of paintings that he would like to purchase.

Most of the paintings, thus, were sent to America, where the spring of 1924 an exhibition of Russian art. Paintings that have not gone to New York and the ones that the museum did not want to buy, were sent to different addresses in Europe. The rest was deposited with the rule of the Baltic Exhibition in Malmo Museum.

It was very difficult to return the paintings of Soviet Russia, because no insurance company was not prepared to provide valuable insurance for transportation. In 1929, however, two paintings by Pavel Kuznetsov had been sent back, and two of his works in the museum received a gift.
Twenty years later, in October 1948 the Soviet embassy in Stockholm has received a request about the paintings Serov, who died in 1911 - who owned the work of the Baltic exhibition. A response was given that the paintings belonged to the widow and her children Serov, and that the works were selected for participation in the exhibition in New York, 1924, the year. The embassy then announced that a portrait of the Finance Minister Witte of Serov, in accordance with the catalog of the exhibition, belonged to the heirs of Serov. Malmö Museum, said in this connection that the portrait of Witte was deposited in the Baltic museum exhibitions, and was then extradited to the heirs at the time of Serov. Other paintings Serov, who also belonged to the heirs, were taken from an exhibition in New York, where they demanded the issuance widow Serov. Portrait as Witte does not officially belong to anyone, and could have been delivered only to the person presenting the right of the owner, for example, the heir Serov.

In autumn 1948 the Embassy of the USSR demanded the return of paintings by Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin. Artist's widow filed this proxy. Despite the fact that the museum asked her to buy a few works by the artist, the Soviet Union was not prepared to leave more than one picture, namely, "working".
Since then nobody made any formal request for extradition of the remaining paintings, more than any works from the museum was not issued. When the Soviet Union in 1920 presented the first such formal requirements, the city of Malmo in him dismissed on the grounds that Russia has not officially participated in the Baltic exhibition. So the Soviet state can not make any formal requirements on the remaining property.

Since nobody could preyavit power of attorney or podverdit the right owner for the remaining paintings. We Grabar in 1923 had full authority of all those who still lived in Russia. Some pictures prinadllezhavshie artists or individuals that have remained in Malmo, since difficulties in their extradition and sent were so great that the museum finally just dropped the case and forgot about it. The owners of the paintings vanished in the chaos of those years. Clarity about who or what work once belonged to someone, can never be established. In the archives there are no documents that point to specific individuals. One would expect that someone someday will submit documents to prove ownership, but, apparently, all the documents have not survived.
Mystic round of Russian painting in the collection of the Art Museum of Malmo not possible to understand, but the largest collection of centuries of Russian art outside Russia this does not become worse. With the fall of the USSR Russian journalists and Russian muzzev began to explore this theme. We will wait for them to additional information. "