Paul Klee Painting Once Owned by Walter Benjamin Thwarted from US Debut Because of Mideast War
Paul Klee’s Angelus Novus (1920), once owned by philosopher Walter Benjamin, was unable to travel from Israel to New York due to conditions linked to the Israel–US war in Iran, preventing its planned American debut. The work was meant to appear in “Paul Klee: Other Possible Worlds,” which opened last week at the Jewish Museum in New York, but is instead shown as an authorized facsimile with wall text noting that international transport delays have postponed shipment of the original. Jewish Museum director James S. Snyder told The New York Times that the Israel Museum’s loan “remains operative” and will proceed when conditions allow. The museum had already planned to substitute a facsimile after one month because the original is an extremely light-sensitive oil transfer and watercolor on paper; Benjamin acquired it in 1921 and later discussed it in his 1940 essay “Theses on the Philosophy of History.”
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This story was covered in Museums for Sale, War Shadows the Art World