The recycling of Chaim Soutine’s works under Vichy and beyond

by Marc Masurovsky

[Editor's note: this article was updated on 31 July 2025].

In  the fall of 1940, in the early months of the German occupation of France, the irreverent, Byelorussian Jewish artist Chaim Soutine, best friend of Modigliani and countless other Jewish and non-Jewish artists, was introduced by his benefactor, Madeleine Castaing, to  Marie-Berthe Aurenche, Max Ernst's ex-wife,   Owing to the increasing repression against foreign-born Jews, Soutine and Aurenche were forced to hide in the French countryside. In 1942, Soutine offered Castaing one of his paintings which she then refused to purchase. Offended by her behavior, Soutine issued a pronunciamento whereby she could never again purchase any future works of his under any circumstance whatsoever. Caprice? Or did he really mean it? Regardless, Madeleine Castaing continued to have access to his paintings, albeit through third-parties, including through his new girl-friend. The Castaing family were and continue to be the largest collectors of Soutine's works, including his small graphic production.

Like all Jews in Vichy France, Chaim Soutine was forced to wear the Yellow Star as of mid-1942, something that he had never dreamed would happen to him in his adopted country, France. His status as a foreign-born Jew had also earned him something close to house arrest in Champigny-sur-Veude, a small town of the Indre-et-Loire in central France where he had sought refuge.

Suffering for years from an ulcer condition, Soutine’s health worsened to the point where he had to seek medical attention at the risk of being arrested and deported. It did not help matters that he worked ten to twelve hour days. Unable to drive directly to Paris, he and Aurenche took several days to reach the capital where, on August 7, 1943, Soutine’s ulcer burst open. The bad boy of inter-war Expressionism in France, Chaim Soutine, died on August 9, 1943, of a perforated ulcer on an operating table in Paris. His friends buried him at the Cimetière Montparnasse. Aurenche paid for the grave with the proceeds from some of Soutine's paintings.

According to the catalogue raisonné of Soutine's works, which came out in 1993 under the collaborative pen of Maurice Tuchman and Esti Dunow, an examination of the wartime ownership trail of Soutine's paintings—landscapes, portraits, and still lifes—reveals the following: 

-Of the 17 landscapes that he executed under severe stress as a hounded Jew, 8 ended up in “private collections”, one was acquired by Gérard Magistry, one by the Castaing family, two by the Galerie Louis Carré in Paris, one by Alain de Lesché, and one by Marie-Berthe Aurenche.

-Of the two Still Lifes in Soutine’s catalogue raisonné which were dated after 1940, Martin Fabiani bought one and the Galerie Louis Carré the other.

-Of 6 portraits, 4 went to the Castaing family, one to the Galerie Louis Carré, and another into the vortex of a “private collection.”

Gérard Magistry is a lawyer, an art collector and the brother of Madeleine Castaing.

Alain de Lesché [Leché], a viscount and early fan of Soutine’s works, was also a first-class opportunist who dallied with the German occupiers and ended up with a rather tidy number of illegally-acquired works.  His name can be found on numerous Allied lists of art dealers and collectors friendly to the German occupiers. He also was one of the principals of the Galerie de France.

Martin Fabiani, a legendary merchant in his own right, earned most of his fabulous wealth during the Vichy years.

Marie-Berthe Aurenche was Soutine's last official girlfriend until his untimely demise. She allegedly mad off with an unknown number of Soutine's paintings that she felt should be hers regardless of inheritance and estate laws.

The Galerie Louis Carré remained open throughout the entire Vichy era, exhibited numerous  non-representational artists (Jewish and not Jewish), despite the occasional visits to the gallery by German cultural hawks and Vichy watchdogs and censors.

The key to Soutine's legacy may lie in part with Marie-Berthe Aurenche. Down on her luck, emotionally unstable (ask Max Ernst what he had to go through with her, but we should also listen to how Aurenche described her relationship with Ernst), one could easily argue that she had hit the jackpot with Soutine. Moreover, a powerful and extremely resourceful business woman like Madeleine Castaing used Aurenche  to maintain a commercial access to Soutine’s works. She is the other part of the Soutine problem.

One might wonder:

Was Soutine a glamorous "Jewish" project for the deeply Catholic Castaings (Marcellin and Madeleine)? After all, it is the chic thing to do for a patroness of the arts to "adopt" an exotic, avant-garde artist like Soutine and treat him like a race horse. He's good for the money as long as he plays by the Castaings' rules. Or else.... 

Aurenche, on the other hand, believed that Soutine, the product of a quintessentially Eastern European Jewish shtetl life, secretly harbored desires to convert to Christianity. That discussion deserves its own special treatment in another forum. But it's sufficiently outlandish and offensive to warrant at least a mention so that our readers can give this idea some thought.

Shortly after Soutine's death, Aurenche packed up his belongings.  Since she was ‘Aryan,’ no one gave her a hard time. She lived the rest of her life using the proceeds of the sales of Soutine's paintings to maintain her standard of living until she committed suicide in the early 1960s. Her grave at Cimetière Montparnasse is adorned with a gigantic Christian cross, while Soutine's name is on a small plaque affixed on one part of her funereal slab as if she "baptized" her favorite Jew posthumously. A bit sordid when you think of it.

Did Soutine leave a will?  If not, he died intestate.

Can the non-Jewish girlfriend of a deceased foreign-born Jewish artist inherits his works automatically upon his death in 1943 under prevailing antisemitic laws? if so, are such dispositions still valid after the fall of the Vichy regime and the defeat of Nazi Germany?

According to filial law which is the golden Napoleonic rule of inheritance, girlfriends have no rights to the decedent's property if he died intestate.

How did the remainder of the creative output of Chaim Soutine end up in the clutches of a highly unstable but well-connected non-Jewish companion? More work is needed here. 

Case closed...for now.

Postscript: When next you go to Paris, do visit the Cimetière Montparnasse.  After you enter through the main gate on Boulevard Edgar Quinet, turn right, go to the end of the alley, turn left.  Count to 10.  Look to your right next to some bushes. You will see a substantial, dark-grey, moss-covered tombstone with Marie-Berthe Aurenche's name on it.  On top of it, on a tiny square piece of white marble are etched the name of Chaim Soutine, his year of birth and year of death.  Fitting tribute for one of France's greatest artist of the 20th century?  I don't think so.

Tombstone of Chaim Soutine in Cimetière Montparnasse
Source: Find A Grave