Rose Valland, the heroine of France died on September 18, 1980, at 82 years old. She devoted her entire life to art and the restitution that so many families sought. Rose was a very quiet child with a thirst for knowledge. Born in 1898 her mother had to apply for grants so she could attend university In 1918 she began at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Lyon which would take her to Paris where she would attend the Beaux-Arts, Sorbonne, and Ecole du Louvre.
Incredibly smart she was able to absorb everything she read and learned languages quickly. All of this would be useful in 1939 as Hitler and his thirst for art was moving across Europe. Rose spent the war years at the Jeu de Paume, cataloging everything with her photographic memory, noting every piece of art, where it was taken from, and where it was going. Quiet and rather plain looking they never saw her as a threat but she put her life in danger every day.
After the war, Rose was an integral part of the Ministry of Culture, and the Monuments Men to retrieve more than 60,000 pieces including paintings, statues & objets d’art.
In 1968 she officially retired but never stopped working. Just after the war, she met Joyce Heer a British translator working for the US Embassy. They lived together in her small apartment on Rue de Navarre until they moved to a cottage in Ris-Orangis. Rose continued to write and published three books dedicated to art and the race to save it. Joyce died in 1977 and Rose lived out her remaining years alone, surrounded by her notes and books until she died in 1980. The two are buried together in Saint-Étienne-de-Saint-Geoire, where she grew up.
One of my largest driving principles is that everyone knows how amazing Rose Valland was. I am thrilled to see that there is now a petition to have her interred in the Pantheon. The highest honor for any figure in French history and one she deserves more than anyone. Please sign the petition and share it with anyone you know.
We released a wonderful podcast about her in 2020 and if you haven’t listened to it yet please do so you can learn more about this amazing and brave woman.