According to the Ministry’s statement, a lesser-known and poorly documented painting by Gustav Klimt was exported from Hungary by misleading the Hungarian cultural heritage authority with manipulated images and false information. As a result, Minister János Lázár ordered an internal investigation, which concluded that the Ministry would file a formal complaint, initiate the amendment of the relevant legislation, and propose the classification of the painting as protected.
The Ministry recalled that in 2023, a private individual requested an export permit from the heritage authority for a painting described as “Unknown Artist: African Male Model, oil on canvas, height: 65 cm, width: 53.5 cm, unsigned.” The applicant valued the painting at HUF 50,000. Based on the data provided and the photograph submitted, the authority determined that the export of the artwork was not subject to an export license under Hungary’s cultural heritage protection laws.
However, it was later revealed that the painting was, in fact, a long-lost artwork by Austrian painter Gustav Klimt, missing from public view and scholarly records for nearly a century. This prompted Minister János Lázár, Minister of Construction and Transport, to order an investigation.
As the statement highlights, the Ministry found that the applicant had submitted false information in the request: the artist, title, and value of the painting were all misrepresented. Contrary to legal obligations, the applicant failed to report that the painting bore a stamp identifying it as part of the Klimt estate. The stated reason for export—relocation to Austria—was also untrue, as the painting later surfaced at art and antique fairs in Maastricht and New York.
Furthermore, the application included a low-quality, cropped, and misleading photograph of the artwork, which did not show the full image, was blurry, significantly distorted in color, and deliberately concealed the Klimt estate stamp.
The Ministry also referenced the statement of Zsófia Végvári, Head of Complex Painting Examination Laboratory, who had already identified the painting as a portrait by Gustav Klimt during an examination commissioned by the private applicant in 2022. The results of that examination were only made public in 2025 through her personal blog. Végvári concluded that the painting—later appearing in the international art trade under the title “African Prince”—was painted in Vienna in 1897. The analysis clearly identified the stamp marked “Gustav Klimt Nachlass”, which is visibly legible in the photographs taken during the 2022 examination. No trace of this stamp can be seen in the photographs submitted with the 2023 export request.
To prevent similar cases in the future, the Ministry is also initiating a legislative amendment to ensure that all export license procedures for artworks include a mandatory physical inspection of the item concerned.
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