Nazi art valued at $1.35 billion was found in a closet in Munich.

During a routine tax evasion instigation authorities in Germany found Nazi looted art, including works by Picasso, Chagall and Matisse.

According to the German magazine Focus, art works that had been looted by the Nazis was found in a closet of an 80 year old recluse in Munich. The Nazi art is worth about $1.35 billion.

The magazine reported that a Matisse painting that was found among the Nazi art used to belong to French art dealer Paul Rosenberg, who represented famous artists, including Picasso and Matisse. Rosenberg fled France in 1940.

Investigators valued the Nazi-plundered art works at about 1 billion euros, which is about of $1.35 billion.

The Nazi art was found behind cans of food and cartons of juice two years ago when tax investigators were checking up on Cornelius Gurlitt. Gurlitt’s father, Hildebrand Gurlitt, directed a museum and was an art collector himself.

Customs officials first noticed Gurlitt in 2011 during a routine search during a train trip from Switzerland to Munich. Gurlitt had a large amount of cash in an envelope on him. Focus reports that the police raided Gurlitt's apartment in the Schwabing district of Munich in spring 2011 when they found the Nazi art treasure trove. It is believed that Gurlitt inherited the Nazi art from his father and he sold pieces when he needed money.

300 paintings of the Nazi art works are thought to be part of the 16,000 that the Nazis deemed "degenerate art." Other pieces might have been bought from Jewish collectors who were fleeing Germany.
Hildebrand Gurlitt was half Jewish. He was forced out of his museum job when Hitler came to power.