Death of collector who hoarded art looted by Nazis

Gurlitt was thrust into the spotlight in November when authorities, following a report by German magazine Focus, disclosed they had seized 1,280 works by artists, that included Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse and Marc Chagall, from his Munich apartment more than a year earlier. They discovered the works while investigating a tax case after Gurlitt aroused their suspicions during a routine customs check on a Zurich-Munich train in 2010. Some of the pieces, by Matisse, Chagall and Otto Dix, were previously unknown.
Gurlitt inherited the paintings, prints, drawings and sculptures from his father, Hildebrand, a dealer who traded in works confiscated by the Nazis.