October 13, 2017: as it was reported earlier, the long-lost painting -
"The White Willows at Pond" by Vasily Polenov was found at the Kiel Museum of Art (Kunsthalle zu Kiel) in Kiel, Germany.
On September 26, 2017 an official handover ceremony was held in the city of Kiel. Among its participants on the Russian side were Mrs. Lipovenko - director of Taganrog Group of Museums, Mrs. Balina - Rostov Oblast minister of education, Mr. Ksenofontov - director of the Cultural Affairs Office at the Russian Embassy in Berlin.
"The White Willows at Pond" was made by Vasily Polenov in 1881 and came into a private collection in Taganrog many years before the Russian revolution. In 1920s it became part of the local lore and history museum's (known as "Alferaki Palace") exhibition and on August 27, 1943 it was displaced in an unknown direction.
It first surfaced in 1959, when it was put up for sale at a Munich art gallery. In 1975 it was acquired by Georg Schäfer and decorated the interiors at castle Alt Schloss Obbach in Euerbach, Germany. On March 12, 1986 the amount of 40000 German marks was paid by Schleswig-Holstein's regional government to make it a property of Kunsthalle zu Kiel.
The journey of the lost painting ended a few days ago when it was delivered by diplomatic mail to Taganrog Group of Museums.