Renoir’s work from around 1879 is an unassuming picture, smaller than a sheet of printer paper. Looking at it, no one would guess that this little painting has had such an adventure. American collector Saidie May and her husband Herbert May purchased the painting in 1925 from the Parisian art gallery Bernheim-Jeune. Upon her passing in 1951, her entire art collection was left to the BMA. However, a few months later the same year, the work was stolen from the museum.
Decades later, “On the Shore of the Seine” resurfaced at an auction house in 2012. The seller said that she had discovered it in a box of odds and ends she had bought at a flea market for seven US dollars. A curious reporter from the “Washington Post” researched this mysterious painting and found that it was indeed one of the objects stolen in 1951.
After that, who owned the painting was a matter for the FBI and the courts. At the time of the robbery six decades ago, Fireman’s Fund had insured the BMA and paid the loss of 2,500 US dollars.
“We are thrilled to welcome this charming painting back.”
"Having paid the loss, Fireman's Fund had a good claim to ownership of the painting," said Ryan Russell, an attorney at Fireman's Fund. "However, we decided to assign our rights to the museum, so the painting could once again be enjoyed by the public."
“We are thrilled to welcome this charming painting back to the museum, to re-introduce it to the people of Baltimore and to reunite it with the many masterpieces from Saidie May’s collection,” said BMA Director Doreen Bolger.
The painting will be part of the exhibition “The Renoir Returns” running from March 30 to July 20, 2014 at the BMA. The show reunites it with more than 20 artworks from the collection of Sadie May.