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Siegfried Kramarsky (April 14, 1893 – December 25, 1961) was a German American banker, philanthropist, and art collector of Jewish descent.

Life

He was the director of the Amsterdam branch of the banking firm Lisser & Rosenkranz, headquartered in Hamburg, from 1923 until 1938. In light of the rise of Nazism in neighboring Germany, Kramarsky emigrated to Canada, and later New York City.

While in Amsterdam, Kramarsky compiled a large art collection that included several paintings of Vincent van Gogh. Shortly before the German invasion of the Netherlands, he bought Daubigny's Garden and the Portrait of Dr. Gachet from Franz Koenigs. In 1990, the latter was sold by Kramarsky's heirs to Ryoei Saito for $82.5 million, making it one of the most expensive paintings in the world.

Art collections from Kramarsky

• Vincent van Gogh:
  Porträt des Dr. Gachet
  1890, private collection
• Vincent van Gogh:
  Der Garten Daubignys
  1890, Hiroshima Museum of Art
• Vincent van Gogh:
  Die Brücke von Trinquetaille
  1888, Privatsammlung, Leihgabe im Kunsthaus Zürich
• Vincent van Gogh:
  Schuhe
  1888, Metropolitan Museum of Art

References

1. "Bio" (PDF). media.americanjewisharchives.org.
2. McBeth, Brian S. (2008). Dictatorship & Politics: Intrigue, Betrayal, and Survival in Venezuela, 1908–1935. University of Notre Dame Press. p. 265. ISBN 978-0-268-03510-5.
3. "Siegfried Kramarshy Dies at 68; Helped Jews to Flee Germany; Ex-Banker Left Country in '23, Then Helped Others". New York Times. December 26, 1961.
4. "Prominent Zionist Dies in Manhattan". The Troy Record. December 26, 1961. p. 2. Retrieved August 24, 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
5. "Where is the portrait of Dr Gachet? The mysterious disappearance of Van Gogh's most expensive painting". The Art Newspaper - International art news and events. 2019-11-15. Archived from the original on 2022-02-10. Retrieved 2022-02-10. When the Portrait of Dr Gachet was sold at Christie's in 1990 the Koenigs name did not appear in the published provenance in the catalogue, although it now appears that it passed through his hands. However, the Koenigs heir believes that the picture was then acquired by Kramarsky in questionable circumstances
6. "A van Gogh Now at Met Is to be Auctioned". New York Times. January 24, 1990.

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