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NEW YORK — A painting by Swiss artist Paul Klee that was stolen from a New York gallery in 1989 has been recovered after a Montreal gallery owner became suspicious and turned it over to U.S. authorities.
Robert Landau turned the 1930 painting, "Portrait in the Garden," by the neo-impressionist artist over to U.S. authorities after a Florida art dealer tried to sell it to him. It had been stolen from the Marlborough Gallery.
"Once we found out it was stolen, we called Homeland Security in Washington," Landau said Wednesday. "We don't deal in stolen art."
U.S. authorities then handed the painting over to the London-based Art Loss Register, which maintains a 350,000-item database of stolen artworks.
Christopher Marinello, executive director of the Art Loss Register, praised Landau for his actions.
"He was very honorable," Marinello said. "We wish that every dealer were like the Landau Gallery and that they searched before they bought everything."
A spokeswoman for the Marlborough Gallery, Janis Gardner Cecil, said the $100,000 painting is now owned by Marlborough's insurer, Lloyd's of London, which will auction it.
The painting, gouache on paper, shows the figure of a woman surrounded by flowers.
Klee, 1879-1940, was influenced by German expressionists and by the cubism of Picasso. He was also part of the Bauhaus school of architecture and design.
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