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Paul Rosenberg, Art Dealer of the Avant-Gardes, in the Torment of the Second World War, by Emmanuelle Polack In 1910, Paul Rosenberg opened an art gallery at 21 rue La Boétie in Paris (VIIIe). The art dealer, with visionary talent, alternated exhibits, presenting “classic painters” and the avant-garde. Just before the outbreak of World War II, Paul Rosenberg could boast that he had the two masters of contemporary art under contract : Picasso and Matisse. Victim of German ordinances as well as Vichy's antisemitic measures, Paul Rosenberg quickly left France on June 17, 1940 to protect his family to immigrate (via Portugal) to the United States. Before leaving, he took measures to protect his personal collection and stock by moving them outside of Paris. During the war, he continued his gallery on 57th street in Manhattan, unaware of the extent of artistic spoliations on the other side of the Atlantic of which he was a victim. In the immediate postwar period, Paul Rosenberg began a difficult battle to retrieve his stolen works, some of which had transited through the Parisian and international art markets. He died in 1959, without having retrieved his entire collection, leaving his heirs a hollow legacy and a combat to continue.